Category: Australian News

Research released today by The Australia Institute showing taxpayers are funding private dams for big business, further proves corporate corruption is killing the Murray Darling Basin and inflicting further suffering on farming communities, the Greens say.
“Corporate irrigators are ripping off the River, ripping off their neighbours and ripping off the taxpayer,” Greens Spokesperson for Water Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“It’s outrageous private dams that stop water flowing to downstream users and the environment, are being built with public money for the exclusive use of big business, and yet no public information on these dams exists.
“There should an urgent audit of water licences and storages, both public and private. We also need a Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin to get to the bottom of this mismanagement.
“Dams are not the answer and they are definitely not a drought policy. If the Federal Government really wants to help farmers and ensure the sustainability of our food bowl, they’ll start by getting a climate policy and cleaning up the mess they’ve made in the MDB.”

The Australian Government must use every diplomatic means at its disposal to insure that Turkey does not invade Kurdish-controlled Rojava in Syria following President Donald Trump’s latest erratic and dangerous foreign policy decision, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
“Any invasion of Kurdish-controlled areas by Turkish forces could displace hundreds of thousands of people and would almost certainly trigger a humanitarian crisis in one of the most stable and secure parts of Syria. Syrians have suffered enough,” Di Natale said.
“The Kurdish people have put their lives on the line to help defeat ISIS. They have helped the Yazidi people escape genocide. President Trump’s dangerous and erratic decision, enacted apparently with no foresight or consideration of the consequences, is an act of callous betrayal.
“Kurds have been persecuted across the Middle East: in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. To abandon them now, while Turkish President Erdogan has made it clear that he intends to attack them given the chance, would be a disgrace and against our strategic interests.
“We know that Erdogan intends to settle ethnic Syrian refugees in these Kurdish areas once they’ve been removed, which would be an act of ethnic cleansing.
“Scott Morrison’s Government also has a responsibility to look after Australian citizens who have been left to languish in camps inside Syria, more than 40 of whom are children, mostly under the age of 5. The window to safely move and repatriate them is limited.
“This is yet another erratic and dangerous decision taken by President Trump with no forethought or appreciation of the consequences. Further proof that Australia needs to chart our own indepedent, non-aligned foreign policy instead of following a dangerous U.S. president, consequences be damned.”

The Australian public will never forgive the Labor Party if it abandons any commitment to taking genuine action on the climate crisis as Joel Fitzgibbon is now arguing, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
“Hundreds of thousands of people from all across the community are coming together to demand urgent action on the climate emergency. If the ALP’s response to this growing movement is to abandon its already weak climate policy and instead mimic the Government’s, the community will never forgive them,” said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
”It’s time for the Labor Party to take a stand; no more sitting on the fence or saying one thing in Queensland and another in Victoria. Either Labor stands with the community and the Greens for strong, urgent action and the tens of thousands of jobs that will create, or they are with the climate deniers in the Coalition.”
“Labor needs to decide if it’s still committed to stopping dangerous runaway global warming. If Labor walks away from its already weak 2030 targets, it walks away from the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below two degrees. As the Greens fight the Tories, Labor looks set to join them,” said Greens Climate Change Spokesperson Adam Bandt MP.
“As the record drought shows, Australia and the world is in the middle of a climate crisis. It’s an emergency, but Labor wants to send the fire truck back to station.”

The Federal Environment Minister has again delayed the assessment of flora and fauna species’ threat status in a move that could determine the survival of these species, including the Australian Sea Lion, the Greens say.
The Environment Department’s website was quietly updated this week to show Minister Sussan Ley has granted extensions to 36 species currently being assessed for listing under the EPBC Act.
“This is an extremely critical time for the Sea Lion which is facing the enormous threat posed by Equinor which plans to drill for oil in its habitat, the Great Australian Bight,” Greens Spokesperson for the Environment and Senator for South Australia, Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“Equinor’s Environmental Plan is currently before NOPSEMA for assessment and the regulator is required to consider the presence of listed species in the proposed drilling site.
“A listing change for the Sea Lion from ‘Vulnerable’ to ‘Endangered’ could significantly affect the assessment so the fact the Minister has deferred it again is very concerning.
“I think a lot of people will be asking whether this is a move designed to limit the emphasis placed on the Sea Lion while this proposal from Big Oil is being considered.”
Senator Hanson-Young said when a species is listed under the EPBC Act a ‘Recovery Plan’, or at the very least ‘Conservation Advice’, will be provided which could make all the difference to that species’ survival.
“We are in the middle of an extinction crisis and yet once again we have an Environment Minister failing to ensure the protection of threatened species,” she said.
“If a species isn’t listed at all under the EPBC Act then it won’t even be referred to in an environmental assessment for a project like a new coal mine or oil and gas exploration – how convenient for the Liberal Party’s political donors in the fossil fuel industry.
“Minister Ley has some explaining to do because the future of our threatened flora and fauna is in her hands.”

Australian Greens Senator and Education Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has responded to the Government’s announcement today that it will weight ‘graduate employment outcomes’ at double the weighting of other measures in newly announced performance-based funding measures for universities. Senator Faruqi is a former academic with the University of New South Wales.
Senator Faruqi said:
“This whole ‘performance funding’ measures push has been misguided and poorly thought out from the start. Now, what they have come up with completely misses the mark and serves only to further undermine universities independence and financial security.
“By tying funding to arbitrary performance measures they are trying to reshape what a university is. Universities should be places of learning, research and innovation where students learn to think critically, but the Liberals want them to operate as businesses and students are consumers, focused narrowly on just ‘employment outcomes’.
“The Government has completely ignored the university sector, unions and experts’ advice that their plan won’t deliver the amount of funding needed. Universities are desperate for a real funding increase.
“The Greens have a plan to fund free undergraduate university and TAFE, and boost university funding by 10 per cent to improve learning and teaching conditions, reduce class sizes and enable researchers to pursue solutions to the big problems of our time,” she concluded.

The NSW Government is continuing to deliver on its commitment to reforming the building and construction industry, with the release of the draft Building and Development Certifiers Regulation 2019.
Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson said the regulation is aimed at simplifying and strengthening the certification system in New South Wales and will allow the Government to more effectively register and regulate the conduct of certifiers.
“This is a vital piece of law that will be play a significant role in restoring quality, transparency and quality of work in the building and construction industry,” Mr Anderson said.
The key reforms in the proposed Regulation include:

• qualifications, skills and experience will be prescribed to grant and maintain registration;
• the independence of certifiers will be improved to provide certainty around when a conflict of interest arises;
• roles and responsibilities of certifiers to be clarified with a Code of Conduct setting out professional standards;
• greater consumer protections provided by strengthening contract requirements for certification work.

“The certification process is integral to the sector and to the people that call these buildings home, which is why until October 28, we are opening up the proposed Regulation for the public to comment to be considered in the final regulation.
“We recently consulted on the Building Stronger Foundations discussion paper which implements key elements of the NSW Government response to the Shergold-Weir report ahead of legislation which will soon be introduced to Parliament, and will continue to deliver tangible changes for the people of NSW,” Mr Anderson said.
To view the draft regulation visit www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au

Cheaper medicine is on the way for more than 500,000 patients from October 1, with price reductions for common scripts and new medicines added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), in some cases saving over $100,000 per patient.
Medicines to treat lung cancer, lymphoblastic and acute leukaemia, and nausea associated with chemotherapy will now be available to patients on the PBS from tomorrow for just $40.30 per script, or $6.50 with a concession card.
A further $390 million in mandated price reductions across 175 medicine brands will also flow through to patients from tomorrow, making medicines more affordable.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Coalition would continue to list medicine on the PBS as quickly as possible.
“Our strong budget management means we can give Australian patients with access to life-saving and life-changing medicines quicker than ever before, without raising taxes,” the Prime Minister said.
“This stands in stark contrast to Labor whose failed budget management drove the budget into deep deficit, forcing them to stop listing lifesaving and life changing medicines.”
“From tomorrow, some of our most unwell Australians, many battling cancer, will receive a significant boost in the fight for their health.”
The new or extending PBS listings from tomorrow include:

• Tecentriq® and Avastin®,will be extended on the PBS to include first line treatment of patients with stage IV metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Without PBS subsidy it would cost patients more than $11,400 per script (around 16 scripts per course of treatment); or more than $189,100 per course of treatment. An average of 755 patients per year (for six years) could benefit from this listing.
• Besponsa®,will be extended on the PBS to include patients with relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome positive (B-CELL precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia). Without PBS subsidy, patients would pay more than $44,500 per script (around 3 scripts per course of treatment); or more than $122,900 per course of treatment without subsidised access through the PBS. An average of 16 patients per year (for six years) could benefit from this listing.
• Blincyto®,will be extended on the PBS to include patients with relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome positive (B-CELL precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia). Without PBS subsidy, patients would pay more than more than $74,900 per script (around 2 scripts per course of treatment); or more than $122,900 per course of treatment. An average of 16 patients per year (for six years) could benefit from this listing.
• Apotex®, will be made available through the PBS for the treatment of patients with Nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. Without PBS subsidy, patients would pay more than $80 per script (around 1 script per course of treatment). In 2018, 7,269 patients accessed a comparable treatment for this condition.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt said every six months, prices on a range of PBS medicines are also reduced as a result of the Government’s Price Disclosure Policy.
“With these price reductions, a trip to the pharmacist will be cheaper for thousands of Australians, and more life-saving drugs can be listed on the PBS,” Minister Hunt said.
Fifteen common medicines – sold as 175 medicine brands will be cheaper for general (non-concessional) patients, and these include:

• Pregabalin: around 208,000 patients per year who have seizures or nerve pain will now pay $28.27 per script for 75 mg capsules, a saving of up to $5.11 per script
• Ezetimibe: around 60,000 patients per year with high cholesterol levels will now pay $33.86 per script for 10 mg tablets, a saving of up to $6.44 per script
• Ezetimibe with Simvastatin: about 245,000 patients with high cholesterol levels will now pay $37.77 per script for 10 mg tablets, a saving of up to $2.53 per script.

Every medicine was recommended to the PBS by the independent expert Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. By law the Federal Government cannot list a new medicine without a positive recommendation from the PBAC.
The Government’s commitment to ensuring that Australians can access affordable medicines, when they need them, is rock solid. This includes continuing to cut the cost of medicines for patients through the PBS safety net.
From 1 January 2020 the threshold to receive free or further discounted medicines through the PBS will be lowered by 12 scripts for pensioners and concession card holders and the equivalent of 2 scripts for non-concession card holders.
Since 2013, the Morrison Government has listed over 2,100 new or amended items on the PBS.
This represents an average of around 31 listings per month – or one each day – at an overall cost of around $10.6 billion.
Our plan for a strong economy continues to deliver record funding for essential health services that saves lives.

The South Australian Government has ignored the most damning elements of the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission in its response finally released yesterday, the Greens say.
“After nine months, the South Australian Government’s response to the SA Royal Commission is a complete cop-out,” Greens Spokesperson for Water and Senator for SA, Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“This response from the SA Water Minister says very little and shows a complete disregard for the scientific warnings over the health of the River.
“Minister Spiers has ignored the biggest problem facing the management of the Murray-Darling, that being the health of river has been compromised by political and corporate interests.
“Too much water is still being taken out of the river system for irrigation and not enough has been returned as the science requires to keep it alive.
“The Minister’s rejection of water buy backs, in favour of spending public money on bogus ‘efficiency’ and ‘infrastructure’ projects – even for the 450GL promised to SA – shows he has rejected the key recommendations of both the SA Royal Commission and the Productivity Commission.
“The Minister has backed Barnaby Joyce, over SA and the River. Without reinstating the water buy-backs, scrapped by Mr Joyce, SA will never get the water and the River will not survive.
“It seems the SA Government has drunk the Federal Government’s kool-aid when it comes to what actually needs to be done to save the River and the communities that depends on it.
“This dereliction of duty to protect the River and South Australians who rely on it is shameful and only adds weight to the case for a Federal Royal Commission to hold all those responsible for killing the Murray-Darling to account.”

Farmers and their communities will have access to more support with the Coalition Government announcing it will provide more funding, cut red tape and increase services.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a new support package will deliver nearly $100 million to drought-hit communities, which is on top of more than $7 billion in drought support funding already provided by the Government.
“Supporting drought affected communities remains our Government’s most urgent priority,” the Prime Minister said.
“I know that things are only getting harder for many farmers and rural communities, and that’s why we are taking further action and providing even more support.
“We’ve been in constant contact with farmers and businesses, and we’re using their feedback to keep improving our response.
“As I’ve said before, this isn’t set and forget. We need to keep listening and keep taking action.
“We know we can’t make it rain, but we must keep finding ways to do everything we can to make life just a bit easier and remove some of the burden. That’s why our Government is providing more money to help people with bills, more money for counselling and more money to local councils.
“We’ve got to get more cash into these communities and cut more red tape, making it easier to access support.
“I will do everything in my power to ease the burden on farmers and their communities. That’s our Government’s promise.”
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the package of measures would provide an immediate economic stimulus at the local level as well as employment for people whose work has been affected by drought.
“We are delivering $33.42 million to resume the Drought Community Support Initiative, which will deliver up to $3000 to eligible farming households experiencing hardship due to drought,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
“And we are providing a $13 million extension to the Drought Community Programme to deliver support at the local government level where it counts.
“Thirteen Local Government Areas will be provided up to $1 million for local infrastructure and drought relief products.”
Minister for Agriculture, Senator Bridget McKenzie, said targeted relief followed careful assessment of the current challenges farmers were facing.
“We know that FHA is a vital hand-up for farmers in times of need—but the Independent Review of Farm Household Allowance told us it could be improved,” Minister McKenzie said.
“Farming families have told me that the FHA program does not currently treat them as business owners and places a real burden on farmers already doing it tough. This was reflected in the review.
“Today we are announcing a radical simplification of the FHA application process and key settings.
“We will remove the requirement for business income reconciliation, change the time limit on payment from four years in total to four out of every ten years, simplify the assets test, recognise agistment as being part of primary production income, and redesign the application process. For the first time, couples will be able to apply for the payment using just one application.
“These changes will make FHA quicker and easier to access, better reflect the nature of farm businesses, and to acknowledge that farmers may experience more than one period of hardship in their lifetime.
“Some of these changes will require amendments to legislation, but through Centrelink we will implement as many of the changes to the application process immediately.”
Minister McKenzie also announced today an injection of $740,000 of contingency funding to five Rural Financial Counselling Service providers who are experiencing pressure from increased demand for their services.
Minister for Drought David Littleproud said the Coalition Government was delivering a comprehensive suite of support measures to farmers in hardship.
“This shows our commitment to stay flexible and respond as needed,” Minister Littleproud said.
“Today’s announcement further strengthens our drought response which includes concessional loans, farm management deposits, tax breaks, and mental health support.
“The government is already providing more than $7 billion in assistance and concessional loans to support those affected by drought.”
“This shows the Coalition Government’s commitment and belief in hard working farming families.”

Greens Senator for NSW, Dr Mehreen Faruqi and Greens Spokesperson for Women, Senator Larissa Waters, have welcomed the decriminalisation of abortion in New South Wales.
Senator Faruqi said:
“This is an absolutely incredible moment and I am escstatic that, after over a century, abortion is out of the Crimes Act.
This is a victory for women who for too long have been denied their bodily autonomy as the law considered them criminals for exercising their reproductive rights. It is a credit to the community and campaigners for their work in demanding change to end patriarchal laws.
“I am so proud of the role the Greens have played in progressing this reform. Two years ago, my bill to decriminalise abortion was debated and the campaign has continued. Now we must fight for expanded access to abortion for all women across the state”.
Senator Waters said:
“History has been made with abortion finally decriminalised in NSW today.
“Congratulations to all the women, pro-choice advocates, feminist activists, my Greens colleagues and everyone who has fought long and hard for this momentous change helping women make better, safer decisions about their body.
“Decriminalisation of abortion is a significant first step, now need to make abortion affordable and accessible for all women across Australia, especially in regional areas. Access to abortion is part of every woman’s right to make decisions about her own body.”