Category: Australian News

Today’s meeting of the Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council has left the River system in crisis, robbed the environment, and has left South Australia high and dry.
“Today’s meeting has delivered a major blow to the environment, with cuts to crucial environmental water and a delay in plans designed to restore the health of the River” said Senator for SA and Greens Spokesperson for the Murray-Darling, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
“Rather than tackling over-allocation and mismanagement of water, Water Ministers today cut water to the environment. This means less water for the River to survive, while big irrigators can keep damming, pumping and making profits.
“The only winners out of the today’s meeting are the big irrigators upstream who have continued to expand irrigation, despite the drought.
“What we’ve seen today is a concerted, planned effort from the upstream states to cut obligations to the environment and roll South Australia.
“NSW’s refusal to help return the promised 450gl to the River as required in the Plan throws South Australia under the bridge.
“When the Murray-Darling Plan was agreed to, all signatories — that is, all the States — agreed to return 3,200 gigalitres of water to the River, that commitment is now effectively dead.
“The SA Water Minister should hang his head in shame. How did he let this happen?
“SA Premier Steven Marshall needs to front up to South Australians and explain what he’s going to do with his capitulating, weak Minister who has sold out our state and surrendered the Rivers health.”

Greens Senator Janet Rice has slammed the government’s failure to act as farmers suffer the effects of the climate emergency, following a damning report released today from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

The report found that the climate crisis has sunk Australian farms’ average annual profits by 22% and that crop farmers have been hit the hardest, losing $1.1bn in revenue a year since 2000.

Senator Janet Rice, Greens spokesperson for Agriculture and Regional affairs said

“This is the cost of our climate crisis. It’s unacceptable that Australian farmers are losing around $18,600 per farm and yet the government is still failing to act on the climate emergency that’s causing this loss.

“Farmers and rural Australians are on the frontline of the climate crisis and this drought is devastating families and leaving communities to perish.

“Instead of helping regional communities and farmers, the coal-hugging Liberal-National Coalition have lifted pollution and done everything in their power to make global heating worse.

“The LNP seem more interested in cosying up to their coal, oil and gas lobby mates than they are in supporting farmers.

“The Bureau of Meteorology predicts that drier than average weather will continue, so we must ensure farmers have what they need to adapt.

“The Morrison government can’t just throw money at the problem as a bandaid during times of crisis. This is an ongoing crisis, made worse by the government’s failure to address the root cause of drought, fund long-term drought resilience programs, and take urgent climate action.

“It is only by cutting pollution that we can reduce the impact of droughts and alleviate the effect on farmers.”

The Prime Minister should stop fudging the figures and get on fixing southern Tasmania’s traffic woes, starting with delivering on the Airport Roundabout.
In 2017, the Liberals promised the Airport Roundabout in Hobart would be finished next year.
Instead, Tasmanians stuck in airport traffic will be still waiting months before they see the first shovel in the ground.
Worse still, there is confusion about total funding for the Hobart-Sorell Corridor.
There was $154 million promised for both the Hobart-Sorell Corridor and the Hobart Airport Roundabout but with blowouts to the Airport Roundabout there is now just $86m available for the rest of the Hobart-Sorell corridor.
We also know from MYEFO that just $25.2 million of the Infrastructure Fast Track will flow to Tasmania this year – less than 15 percent of the Tasmanian package.
Tasmanian locals as well as visitors deserve a plan on infrastructure and jobs from Scott Morrison.
They deserve an answer on whether the Liberal Government will properly fund the over-run over the airport roundabout, and what that means for upgrades to the whole corridor.
In addition – when will all this actually happen?
This Government, now in its seventh year, is continuing to demonstrate it has no plan to boost jobs and no plan on the economy.

Official data shows 1190 fewer Tasmanians are engaged in apprenticeships or traineeships than when the Federal Coalition took office more than six years ago.
That’s a drop of 12.5 per cent.
Over the same period, the Government has issued more than 500,000 visas to overseas workers to cover the skills shortages created by its cuts to TAFE and training.
Tasmanian employers are crying out for qualified workers.
The skills crisis in engineering, health, trades, technicians and construction is hurting the Tasmanian economy and denying young people a pathway to secure, well-paid jobs.
Nationwide, since the Liberals were elected six years ago, Australia has lost around 150,000 apprenticeships and traineeships.
Scott Morrison has no plan to fix the skills crisis he created.
He has no plan to create more jobs or to lift wages for those who are employed.
Australia is perfectly placed to reap the benefits offered by the extraordinary economic growth in our region.
But to take full advantage of this growth we must train Australians so they have the skills and qualifications to exploit the looming opportunities in manufacturing and construction.

Greens’ Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, responded today to the release of the Mid-Year Economic Forecast and Outlook (MYEFO).
“Today’s MYEFO has confirmed that Scott Morrison is not interested in governing.
“In the face of unheralded economic conditions and a climate emergency, the government is running idle.
“Interest rates are at record lows. Wages, productivity and spending are all in a slump. The enormity of the climate crisis is dawning on the nation.
“So what does the government offer up? A hope that house prices will return to their record highs.
“Property speculation, not productive investment: that’s the mantra of the Property Council PM.
“The bringing forward of $4.2 billion in infrastructure spending is scraps off the edge of the table. Non-defence capital spending is still in decline over the forwards estimates. And the government is still paying down debt when what we actually need is government to invest in job creating infrastructure.
“This government wants households to take on more debt while it takes on less debt.
“This economic pigheadedness is distorting the whole economy, making housing less affordable, and leaving us more exposed to the climate emergency.
“The Greens have put together 5-point stimulus plan to kick-start the economy and to act on the existential crisis that is climate change.
The Greens Stimulus Package would:

1. Accelerate and expand the pipeline of green infrastructure investment in electricity generation, transmission and storage, energy efficient public housing and public transport.
2. Create thousands of jobs to protect and restore Australia’s flora, fauna, land and sea.
3. Remove the Commonwealth public sector wage cap and commit to lifting wages by 4% per annum.
4. Immediately increase Newstart and Youth Allowance payments by at least $75 a week.
5. Unleash private sector wage growth by legislating to reverse the cuts to penalty rates and peg the minimum wage to 60% of the median full-time wage.

Australian Greens Disability Rights & Services spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said the vast majority of the government’s reduced budget surplus of $5.1 billion – announced today in the Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook – was coming from a structural underspend in the NDIS.
“This is a government who is boasting about balancing their books on the backs of disabled people and our families,” Steele-John said today.
“A structural underspend to the tune of $4.6 billion in the NDIS means there is money that was allocated to disabled people in their plans that they haven’t been able to spend because this Liberal government has so disastrously mishandled the roll-out of the scheme over the last 7 years.
“The reality of the last 25 years of economic growth in Australia is that we’ve seen a massive concentration of wealth in the hands of a very small group of people that has lead to slower economic growth, and an explosion in social inequality.
“It’s time for us to move past the idea that a credit rating is the best measure, or even a good measure, of how well our society is functioning and start aligning what we prioritise in the budget with the values that our community holds, like caring for people and protecting the planet.”

Australian Greens Senator and Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has released figures showing that The Gardens outside Newcastle is the deadliest track in New South Wales. The second deadliest tracks were Gosford, Nowra and Lismore with six deaths each. Wagga Wagga was the most likely for a dog to die, with one in five race meets resulting in a dead greyhound.
Across all tracks in New South Wales, stewards reports reveal that throughout 2019, 63 dogs died on track and 2,530 dogs were injured in greyhound racing. The most common reason dogs were put down was a fractured hock, which in most cases should not require euthanasia. Dogs are being killed because they are no longer profitable, showing that the industry hasn’t changed.
Senator Faruqi said:
“2019 has been another brutal year in greyhound racing, with dogs dying across the state. Across NSW at least one dog has been killed and 48 injured on track each week, but the Newcastle track is the deadliest with 8 dogs dying for the sake of a bet this year.
“Greyhound racing can never be made safe for animals. We know that only half of dogs make it out of racing alive. Drugging and doping of dogs continues. The original reasons for the ban are still very much present. We must reinstate the ban on this so called sport once and for all.
“$41 million in taxpayer money has been sunk into greyhound racing and gambling industry since the Liberal’s backflip and dogs are still breaking their necks, spines and legs for the sake of a bet. I’m dismayed that taxpayers are propping up this bloodsport. At the very least, we cannot allow public money to subsidise the gambling and racing industry.
“This is the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds more dogs are killed each year off track with the Government’s annual report showing that in 2018-2019, 538 dogs died off the track from injuries or because they are considered ‘unsuitable for rehoming’, which is the latest industry euphemism for disposable dogs. We know 40% of dogs still leave racing in a body bag.
“Forcing dogs to run and putting them at risk of death and injury for human entertainment and gambling is unacceptable.
“We also know that many of these dogs die after suffering entirely treatable injuries, such as a fractured hock. The owners simply don’t want to pay vet costs once a dog no longer turns a profit which is appalling. These dogs are quite literally running for their lives.” she concluded.
Tracks, Deaths and Injuries (according to Stewards Reports)

Track	Deaths	Injuries	Race meets	Deaths/Meet	Injuries/Meet
Bathurst	2	118	49	0.04	2.41
Broken Hill	0	1	3	0.00	0.33
Bulli	1	113	45	0.02	2.51
Casino	2	122	50	0.04	2.44
Coonabarabran	0	1	1	0.00	1.00
Coonamble	0	3	1	0.00	3.00
Dapto	2	118	47	0.04	2.51
Dubbo	4	117	37	0.11	3.16
Gosford	6	141	46	0.13	3.07
Goulburn	4	271	76	0.05	3.57
Grafton	2	150	49	0.04	3.06
Gunnedah	3	50	23	0.13	2.17
Kempsey	0	1	1	0.00	1.00
Lismore	6	103	41	0.15	2.51
Maitland	2	93	46	0.04	2.02
Morree	1	1	1	1.00	1.00
Muswellbrook	0	4	2	0.00	2.00
Nowra	6	134	46	0.13	2.91
Potts Park	1	8	2	0.50	4.00
Richmond	4	292	99	0.04	2.95
Tamworth	1	1	1	1.00	1.00
Taree	0	3	1	0.00	3.00
Temora	0	8	5	0.00	1.60
The Gardens	8	250	99	0.08	2.53
Wagga Wagga	5	84	25	0.20	3.36
Wauchope	0	3	2	0.00	1.50
Wentworth Park	3	338	101	0.03	3.35
Young	0	2	1	0.00	2.00
Grand Total	63	2530

Manufacturing jobs are the heart of regional Queensland. There is no better example than the aluminium industry, which directly employs 3,000 hardworking, highly skilled Australians in good regional jobs. Almost 900 of those jobs are in Gladstone at the Boyne Island smelter.
Australia has a long and proud history as an aluminium producer and I want to see the aluminium industry grow, not shipped offshore because of the energy policy mess created by Scott Morrison.
Australia is the world’s largest producer of bauxite and a substantial producer of alumina. We have been producing aluminium for well over 50 years, but Australia now only has four aluminium smelters left. These smelters are crucial employers in regional centres and produce a strategically and economically vital metal.
Aluminium isn’t just another industry, It’s strategically important in sectors like construction and transport.
Through their inability to deliver a national energy policy, the Liberal National Government has placed the future of Australia’s aluminium industry at risk.
Since the Government’s energy crisis began in 2015, wholesale electricity prices have increased by 158 per cent. In the months since the embattled Energy Minister Angus Taylor took office, wholesale prices have risen by 20 per cent.
Rio Tinto, which has a stake in three out of four Australian smelters, has said Australian energy costs “are very, very high by any kind of global standard”, and as a result, “the current situation is not sustainable.”
Producers have been warning for years that the price and reliability of our energy system isn’t good enough to sustain a local industry able to compete internationally. Boyne Island has previously had to cut staff and production during periods when power prices have become unsustainably high. There continues to be a risk of plant closures.
Internationally, it is clear that the future of the industry is in low carbon aluminium, supported by renewable power, a future the Liberal Nationals are dead against.
The future of the aluminium sector is threatened by the LNP’s big headed refusal to accept a future driven by new technologies and new opportunities.
Its strength, durability, flexibility, corrosion resistance and the fact it is 100 percent recyclable, makes aluminium the perfect metal to support not only the industrial economies of the last century, but the clean energy economies of the future.
Labor is calling for the Government to finally get its act together, deliver a national energy policy that supports new investment in clean affordable, reliable energy, and support a crucial sector that their incompetence has put at risk.
They need to do this urgently, before we see any of our four aluminium smelters close.  If there are any further closures in this important industry, the blame will lie with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Energy Minister Angus Taylor.

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) confirms the resilience of the Australian economy and that the Budget is on track to return to surplus for the first time in 12 years.
Despite significant revenue write-downs on the back of sustained global and domestic economic headwinds, surpluses of $5 billion this financial year and cumulative surpluses of $23.5 billion over the forward estimates are expected to be delivered.
Budget surpluses are expected to continue to build to over 1 per cent of GDP in the medium term.
Spending growth remains under control, with just 1.3 per cent average annual real growth in spending over the forward estimates period and payments as a share of GDP at 24.5 percent in 2019-20 falling to 24.4 percent by 2022-23, below the 30-year average.
As part of our responsible and considered economic plan our tax-to-GDP ratio remains below our cap of 23.9 per cent.
The outlook for the Australian economy is positive. GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2019 has been stronger than it was in the second half of 2018 with MYEFO confirming that the economy is forecast to grow by 2¼ per cent in 2019-20. Growth is forecast to improve to 2¾ per cent in 2020-21, which is faster than any G7 nation and well above the OECD average of 1.6 per cent.
As the IMF and the OECD have done, we have downgraded global growth in 2019 and 2020 as economies the world over experience the challenges from global trade tensions.
The labour market remains strong with more than 1.4 million jobs created since we came to Government. Jobs growth of 2.0 per cent through the year is stronger than any G7 economy and more than double the OECD average of 0.9 per cent and almost three times the 0.7 per cent growth Australia was experiencing when we came to office.
The strong labour market has seen welfare dependency drop to its lowest level in 30 years, which is helping to keep real growth in spending to the lowest of any Government in 50 years.
As part of our responsible fiscal management, we continue to make prudent assumptions for commodity prices – the iron ore price is assumed to decline to US$55 per tonne by the end of the June quarter 2020, while metallurgical coal prices are assumed to remain at US$134 per tonne and thermal coal prices are assumed to remain at US$64 per tonne.
The Government’s management of Australia’s finances has ensured we have the capacity to deal with domestic and international challenges including the devastating drought and global trade tensions. The Government is continuing to invest record funding in the essential services Australians rely on, while at the same time delivering tax relief and restoring the nation’s finances to pay down debt.

A STRONGER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE ECONOMY

The Government is accelerating and creating new road and rail projects to tackle congestion and to get people home sooner and safer.
The total transport infrastructure investment will be over $100 billion over 10 years, including an additional $4.2 billion over the next four years.
Over half of this additional funding will be spent in regional areas, giving a much needed boost to these communities.

STRENGTHENING AND SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES

The Government is providing significant support to those affected by drought with almost $1.3 billion in additional payments and loans committed since the Election.
More than $300 million will be invested in the Drought Communities Program to help eligible councils to complete local capital works and drought relief projects.
The Government is also redirecting $200 million from the Building Better Regions Fund into drought-affected communities and funding an extra $138.9 million in Roads to Recovery in 2020 for 128 Local Government Areas impacted by drought.
The Government is also assisting drought-affected communities with two-year interest-free loans to support cash flow for farmers and other viable businesses.

QUALITY AND SAFETY IN AGED CARE

All Australians deserve safety and quality care as they age, so the Government is taking steps to strengthen the aged care system while the Royal Commission continues its work in the lead up to its final report next year.
The Government will provide $624 million to respond to the Interim Report of the Royal Commission, and to build on recent improvements to standards, oversight, funding, and transparency in the care of older Australians.
This includes an additional 10,000 home care packages, improved medication management, more dementia training and support for aged care workers and providers, and more work to remove younger people with disability from residential aged care.
This funding is part of the record funding that we are already providing for aged care, with total spending on aged care expected to increase from $21.4 billion in 2019-20 to $25.4 billion in 2022-23.
The Government is also working to deliver longer-term reforms that will enhance the quality of care for older Australians in line with the findings of the Royal Commission.
The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook for the 2019-20 financial year is available via the Budget website.

Data released in the ATO’s Tax Transparency Report today showing that a third of our largest companies paid no corporate tax last year are proof that the system is rigged in favour of big corporations who make massive political donations, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
“We have two sets of rules in this country: one for big corporations who can afford to donate to Labor or the Liberals and another for the rest of us – and this report proves it,” Di Natale said.
“What kind of message does it send when a multi-billion dollar corporation like Whitehaven Coal pays less tax than a nurse on $54,000 a year? It’s time that we ended the loopholes that allow big, polluting companies to opt out of paying their fair share towards our essential services.
“If you can afford to make massive political donations so political parties will deliver policies that increase your company profits, then you can afford to pay your fair share of tax,” said Greens Democracy Spokesperson Sen. Larissa Waters.
“Our democracy is sold out. We need to stop the rorts that let big corporates get away with tax avoidance and remove the toxic influence of donations from our parliament .”
NOTE: Of the top 100 companies that paid no tax, 22 are fossil fuel companies:
EXXONMOBIL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LTD
AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG PTY LTD
CHEVRON AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD
SHELL ENERGY HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED
PEABODY AUSTRALIA HOLDCO PTY LTD
YANCOAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED
HOPE DOWNS MARKETING COMPANY PTY LTD
QGC UPSTREAM HOLDINGS PTY LIMITED
SANTOS LIMITED
BHP (AUS) DDS PTY LTD
PIONEER SAIL HOLDINGS PTY LTD
PUMA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) HOLDINGS PTY LTD
WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED
INTERNATIONAL POWER (AUSTRALIA) HOLDINGS PTY LTD
PETRONAS AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED
CNOOC GAS AND POWER (AUS) INVESTMENT PTY LTD
QUADRANT ENERGY HOLDINGS PTY LTD
ULAN COAL MINES LIMITED
CLERMONT COAL MINES LTD
BANPU AUSTRALIA CO. PTY LTD
CONOCOPHILLIPS AUSTRALIA GAS HOLDINGS PTY LTD