Category: Australian News

The Greens have referred the legislation to build a nuclear waste dump in South Australia to a Senate Inquiry for scrutiny of the laws and the process that led to this point.
“The Coalition has decided Kimba on SA’s Eyre Peninsula, home to some of the country’s best agricultural land, is the place to dump the nation’s radioactive waste,” South Australian Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“The site selection process for a nuclear waste dump has been dodgy from the start. It’s ripped small communities apart and Traditional Owners have vehemently objected to the proposal. It’s clear there isn’t broad community support for a nuclear waste dump in Kimba, despite what former Minister Matt Canavan would have everyone believe.
“The Government’s plans will result in ships of radioactive waste passing through South Australia’s regional roads, streets and waters for decades to come. Port Augusta, Whyalla, Port Pirie and Port Lincoln and every town living along potential transportation route, should have been consulted and given an opportunity to have their say.
“A radioactive waste dump in the heart of our food bowl puts at risk our clean, green reputation and our state’s key grain export industry.
“The Greens aren’t leaving it to the community of Kimba to hold the line on their own. A Senate Inquiry will give the entire proposal the scrutiny it needs.
“South Australians have already said no to nuclear, but this government doesn’t listen. It’s far more interested in building a radioactive waste dump than investing in renewable energy and our growing potential for green industry.”

Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP has slammed Angus Taylor’s dim-witted plan to ditch support for solar and wind in favour of unproven and ineffective Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.
In a speech today, the Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister will signal a shift away from renewables towards Carbon Capture and Storage and brown hydrogen.
“Angus Taylor’s one KPI is in his job description and he can’t even meet it,” said Mr Bandt.
“The only energy sources in Australia that have cut pollution are wind and solar. Now is the time to be backing them in and supporting investment, not cutting support.
“CCS won’t save coal and it won’t save people from the climate crisis. For over a decade this has been hailed as the miracle cure, but it’s just snake oil.
“Australia could be a renewable energy superpower, exporting our wind and solar to Asia through green hydrogen. This is the vision we need from Angus Taylor instead of more of his CCS pipedreams.
“Angus Taylor should extend the Renewable Energy Target to drive the clean energy revolution that will save us from the climate emergency.”

The Morrison Government is actively subverting democracy by twice in the past two sitting weeks using procedural games to avoid greater transparency on rorts.
The Government has today blocked Greens Senate Leader Larissa Waters from postponing a motion which would require them to disclose when ministers have departed from advice of independent bodies under Commonwealth Grants Guidelines, with risk of pork barrelling.
Last week, the Government used its numbers in the lower house to narrowly avoid voting in the House of Representatives on a motion to pass the Greens’ bill for a national corruption watchdog with teeth.
“The Government has pulled some extraordinary manoeuvres recently to twist the procedures of parliament and cover up rorts,” she said
“When a minister doesn’t follow the Commonwealth Grant Guidelines or advice when allocating a grant, they have to tell the Treasurer why – but it stays secret.
“Today the government blocked a Greens motion that would have lifted the secrecy and exposed any pork barrelling of all grants funds covered by Commonwealth Grant Guidelines on an ongoing basis.
“The Morrison Government prefers to keep their rorts secret and gag any dissent.
“They won’t improve transparency over how grants are made, they won’t release the Gaetjens Report and they won’t vote for a Federal ICAC.
“The Greens won’t stop pushing for disclosure of other grants fund rorts.
“Taxpayer money is not just a slush fund for Ministers to further their own interests. If a Minister ignores the advice of officials, the public deserves to know why,” she said.
 

Senator for South Australia and Greens Environment Spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“This is a huge win for the community, the environment and SA’s tourism and fishing industries. It is good for the planet and jobs.
“The community who cherish our pristine coastline, the tourism industry that depends on it, and the fishing industry that relies on clean waters have all fought so hard against these environment-destroying plans. Congratulations goes to them.
“They have proven there was no social licence for an international oil giant to drill in our waters, and that people power can win.
“South Australians love our gorgeous Bight and we want it protected for future generations and the rest of the world to come and experience.
“What we need now is World Heritage protection. The Greens’ Bill for World Heritage Listing would give the Bight the protection it needs and deserves from any other oil and gas companies proposing to put it at risk. I call on all other Members of Parliament to back it.
“This decision also shows this is the beginning of the end of fossil fuels. Opening a new fossil fuel basin in the middle of our ocean was always madness. Moving to net zero emissions by 2050 means we must reduce pollution now, not give the green light to new polluting projects.”

Greens MPs have used the Federal Parliament to demand justice for Julian Assange, as his extradition hearing begins in London.
In the House of Representatives today, Greens Leader Adam Bandt has called for Mr Assange to be brought back to Australia, while in the Senate, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson today questioned the government and yesterday moved a motion urging the Parliament not to be silent on the criminalisation of journalistic activity.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:
“The government needs to intervene to bring Julian Assange back to Australia.
“The criminalisation of journalism must end. If this government wants to show its commitment to protecting press freedoms and protecting democracy, it needs to bring Julian Assange home and protect him from extradition to the United States.
“It is a terrifying precedent that foreign nations could extradite and charge journalists who have exposed their wrongdoings. It’s time for the Foreign Minister to intervene.
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said:
“The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, yesterday labelled the treatment of Julian Assange a ‘modern showtrial’ because they want to make an example of him.
“The case of Julian Assange extends far beyond the case of one person on trial – it gets to the heart of how we uphold the tenets of democracy, human rights and press freedom.
“We must not let this debate devolve into one about the character of Julian Assange – he is an Australian citizen, a journalist, and urgently requires Government intervention.”

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP, has commended Australia’s leading climate scientists for their courage in warning that both Liberal and Labor’s climate policies are dangerously inadequate.
Three of Australia’s leading specialists on climate change – Professor Will Steffen, Professor Lesley Hughes, and Dr Pep Cannadell – have today warned that Australia needs to hit net-zero carbon emissions before 2050, including significant reductions in the next ten years, if we’re to keep global warming well below 2 degrees and honour the Paris Agreement.
Professor Will Steffen was the scientific expert advising Labor on the carbon price as part of the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee.
Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP said:
“The verdict is in. Australia’s top scientists have said that the Liberals’ climate targets won’t stop runaway global warming but nor will Labor’s ‘net zero by 2050’.
“The scientists back the Greens in demanding real action by 2030 and a plan for coal, because otherwise it will be too late.”
“We need critical action in the next decade if we’re to protect ourselves and the planet from the worst impacts of global warming.
“At current rates, we risk hitting 1.5 degrees of warming by 2030. That’s just ten years from now.
“Beyond that, we’ll start hitting tipping points that will make it harder, if not impossible, to keep climate change under control.
“By the end of this decade, scientists fear we could see the collapse of ice shelfs in Antarctica that would lead to 3-4 metres of sea level rise, all in my children’s lifetime.
“This disastrous summer of fires happened at just one degree of warming and things stand to get worse. This should be a wake-up call that we need action now, not in decades to come. We don’t have any time to waste.”

The Liberals, Nationals, Labor and One Nation have refused to support the Greens call for the NSW Government to reinstate the moratorium on floodplain harvesting and water pumping.
Greens Spokesperson for Water Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Federal Parliament could not wipe it’s hands of this issue.
“The New South Wales Government has selfishly lifted its moratorium on floodplain harvesting and water pumping, jeopardising the entire Murray-Darling River system,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“Southern basin users are rightly outraged. Preventing floodwater from flowing downstream to towns without drinking water, dry catchments and areas where fish species are facing collapse in favour of corporate irrigators is despicable.
“It is concerning that the moratorium was lifted after lobbying from large irrigators upstream. The reports surrounding the decision raise more questions over the integrity of the Murray-Darling Basin management.
“The Murray-Darling Basin is on the verge of collapse and family farms, river communities and the environment need national leadership.
“The Water Minister Keith Pitt needs to intervene. Critical human need and the future of the River must come before greedy corporate cotton irrigators.
“We need transparency and accountability, not just of floodplain harvesting and water pumping, but management of the whole system. States getting away with making decisions that only benefit them and their corporate mates will not guarantee water to those who really need it or the sustainability of our biggest river system into the future.”

The Prime Minister must address the national crisis of women’s death by violence with a $5 billion investment in domestic violence response and full implementation of recommendations from previous inquiries, say the Greens.
Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on Women, Senator Larissa Waters, said, “The Prime Minister stood in parliament this week and said “the system” has failed Hannah Clarke, he must take responsibility for ending this crisis in deaths from violence.
“The Prime Minister has the purse strings to the system and can fix it.
“It’s time the Prime Minister puts words into action with additional funding for prevention and frontline services so no domestic violence survivor seeking help is ever turned away.
“Women’s services keep warning of the urgent need for more funding for the Family Court, prevention and early intervention programs, specialist legal and support services, crisis accommodation and housing support to improve the family law system.
“We must listen to what these front line services say will make a difference, calls for more inquiries are not what the sector is asking for.
“The truth is any new inquiry into domestic and family violence is probably going to conclude what all the others have already recommended: more funding and resources for prevention and more funding and resources for crisis and support services.
“The Greens won’t stand in the way of another inquiry but the Government has form ignoring domestic violence  inquiry recommendations and this can’t be another excuse for delaying urgently needed funding.
“The existing family law inquiry will have its potential effectiveness undermined if witnesses don’t think they’ll get a fair hearing, so the committee must be depoliticised by removing Pauline Hanson as deputy chair after her remarks.
“I’ve written to committee members asking for Hanson’s removal as deputy chair, after the Government refused to answer whether they will remove her, and I’ll pursue this through the committee.
“This year nine women have lost their lives to violence.The government needs to stump up the funds and fix this crisis,” she said.
Background
Senator Waters’ motion in the Federal Senate today:
Senator Waters: To move—that the Senate— (a)notes that:
(i)in his statement to Parliament regarding the murders of Ms Hannah Clarke and her children on 24 February 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “We must reflect on how and where the system failed Hannah and her children, as it has failed so many others. It’s so frustrating. It’s so devastating”, and
(ii)women’s services have consistently identified the need for more funding for the Family Court, prevention and early intervention programs, specialist legal and support services, crisis accommodation and housing support to improve the family law system; and(b)calls on the Federal Government to adequately fund domestic, family and sexual violence and crisis housing services to ensure that all women and children seeking safety can access these services when and where they need them.

Greens Senate Leader Senator Larissa Waters has today introduced a bill in the Senate to ban thermal coal mines in the Galilee Basin, effectively outlawing the Adani mine and Clive Palmer’s proposed coal mine.
She said opening up the Galilee Basin for thermal coal mining was a carbon bomb that would push global warming to unsafe levels and kill off the Great Barrier Reef.
“The Galilee Basin is a carbon bomb and in reality the science demands we don’t open up a single new coal mine,” Senator Waters said.
“We need to keep that Galilee coal in the ground and today I have a bill that will do just that.
“If the Galilee Basin were to be mined and it was a country, it would be the seventh largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
“Australia’s emissions continue to rise and millions of hectares of the country were burnt over Summer due to climate-fuelled bushfires. We desperately need a climate plan and that climate plan means getting out of thermal coal.
“We cannot afford to open up a new coal basin right when the rest of the world is embracing renewable energy and is transitioning towards an economy that can support workers and keep the planet liveable.
“It’s time we had a real jobs plan for Queenslanders, not fake promises of coal mines that we hope will never eventuate otherwise our climate is cooked.
“We need a genuine transition plan that supports coal-affected communities, re-trains them where that’s necessary and oft times it won’t be as those skills are transferable to other industries, especially clean energy or mine rehabilitation.
“Big coal is very generous in their donations to both the old parties, holding back action on climate change and renewable energy in this country for years.
“We must transition out of dirty polluting fossil fuels and towards the clean, jobs-generating export market future of renewable energy,” she said.

Debate commenced in the Senate today on the Greens ‘Climate Trigger’ Bill which would require climate impacts and carbon emissions to be assessed before large-scale projects are given environmental approval.
The Bill will now go to the Senate Environment and Communications Committee for consideration through public hearings and written submissions.
Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who introduced the Bill, said:
“The Climate Trigger Bill will ensure big projects like new coal mines, oil and gas drilling and large-scale land clearing are assess for the pollution they make before being given approval.
“Our climate is on the brink of collapse, as we continue to burn and mine coal, oil and gas, our ecosystem is crumbling
“To reach Net Zero Emissions by 2050 we need to act now. We need to put in place new environment laws that ensure major coal, oil & gas projects are assessed for their impact on climate change.
“There’s no point committing to reducing pollution, while giving the green light to new polluting projects.
“These new laws are a common sense, reasonable step towards getting this country on the right track for dealing with climate change.
“The bill will now go to inquiry and it will be open to the community, organisations, experts and business to feed back their advice and make submissions on the proposed laws.”
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Climate Trigger) Bill 2020, Explanatory Memorandum and Second Reading speech can be found here.