Category: Australian News

All the news from around Australia

SCOTT MORRISON: DON’T CUT PRESCHOOL

Around 350,000 four years olds across Australia have begun their first steps of early learning in the past week, as they begin kindergarten or preschool.
This is an exciting time for families and their children in 2019.
However, under the Liberals this may be the very last year that 4 year old kids will get the opportunity to access preschool or kindy because Scott Morrison is refusing to fund the program beyond this year.
Scott Morrison has failed to extend preschool funding for four year olds beyond this school year – after his child care changes cut early education from some of Australia’s most vulnerable children.
Our children, parents and providers all rely on this critical funding, and if this cut goes ahead they will be unable to plan for the future, sign long term leases, lock in employment contracts or make budgets for 2020.
For those families with three years olds who are planning to send their children to kindy or preschool next year, under the Liberals they will lose more than $1,200 in funding per child.
Under the Liberals this could mean higher fees for families or lower quality pre-school for our children.
Not only is this funding uncertainty terrible for families, it is also terrible for providers and their staff, who have no guarantee that they will be able to survive after the end of the year.
NUMBER OF KIDS WHO MISS OUT UNDER THE LIBERALS’ CUTS:

  • More than 102,000 in New South Wales
  • More than 98,000 in Victoria
  • Nearly 70,000 in Queensland
  • More than 22,500 in South Australia
  • Nearly 37,300 in Western Australia
  • Nearly 7,300 in Tasmania
  • More than 3,850 in the Northern Territory
  • More than 7,000 in the ACT

Scott Morrison is leaving nearly 350,000 children without access to early education which shows just how out of touch the Liberals are.
In contrast, Labor’s National Preschool and Kindy Program will see the biggest ever in investment for children across Australia and deliver ongoing funding for four year olds and, for the first time, extend this to three year olds.
Labor will work in partnership with the states and territories to deliver this important reform, including in setting enrolment and attendance targets, particularly for Indigenous and vulnerable children.
The Liberals see education as a cost – that’s why they’ve cut $14 billion from public schools and left preschool funding in limbo. Labor sees it as an investment in our economic future.
Only Labor will give every child the early education opportunities they need for the best start in life.

LABOR SUPPORTING COMMUNITY RENEWABLES IN THE SOUTH COAST

People living on the Far South Coast of New South Wales will benefit from cleaner and cheaper renewable energy that will help cut the cost of power bills, with Labor’s plan to establish a Community Power Hub in the region.
This is the first location for a Community Power Hub as part of Labor’s $100 million Neighbourhood Renewables Program announced in November last year.
The program is aimed at helping renters and social housing residents benefit from cheaper and cleaner renewable energy, by supporting local community renewables projects such as solar gardens on rooftops, community wind farms, energy efficiency upgrades for social housing, and grants for community groups to pilot new projects.
Labor will work with local communities, local councils and renewable energy groups to determine the best location for the Hub, but the benefits of the Hub will be felt across the Far South Coast.
Australia is in an energy crisis under the Liberals. Electricity prices have increased by nearly 19 per cent over the past three years – three times faster than wages growth.
The Liberals haven’t been able to agree on a policy amongst themselves, and aren’t up to leading the country in the right direction.
Australians love renewable energy because they know it saves them money and it’s good for the environment. Household solar installation has sky-rocketed from 7,000 homes in 2007 to around 2 million homes today.
Labor wants to make sure that Australia embraces this future, and maximise the jobs, industry and environmental benefits of renewable energy – and most importantly Labor wants to make sure all Australians can share in these benefits, regardless of where you live.
That’s why the Far South Coast Community Power Hub is so important. It will support the development, coordination and financing of local projects to increase the uptake of renewables, including through solar pv and batteries.
The Tathra community is already ahead of the game when it comes to renewable energy. It was the birthplace of the Clean Energy for Eternity group which has focussed on encouraging individuals to invest in renewable energy sources and engaged in fundraising activities to put solar panels on community infrastructure.
Along with other community groups like Repower Shoalhaven, Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance, they just need a government in Canberra willing to back them in and support these impressive projects. The Hub will bring legal and technical expertise to the passion of community ideas.
The local renewables hub will be good for local households, good for the local economy and good for the environment.
Only Labor will deliver cheaper power bills, more renewables and more jobs for Australians.
The communities of the Far South Coast region can rest assured Labor will support their desire for community based clean energy with the Far South Coast Community Power Hub.

Speirs aimed at wrong target

The South Australian Liberal Government needs to stop fighting the SA Royal Commissioner and start fighting for our water if they are serious about saving the Murray, the Greens say.
“South Australian Environment and Water Minister David Speirs is in denial about the delivery of the 450GL of water promised to South Australia. The Royal Commissioner has confirmed we won’t see a drop of that water,” Greens environment and water spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“Arguing with the findings of the South Australian Royal Commission is not a good look for this rookie Minister who was sold a pup by the upstream states last year. He should be fighting for the water to be delivered, not lashing out at the Royal Commissioner.
“It’s clear the SA Liberal Government have no plan to secure the water South Australia is owed and the Murray needs. The Minister should get on the phone and demand that his Canberra Liberal National colleagues lift the ban on water buybacks and secure that water this year.
“Getting New South Wales and Victoria to the negotiating table was not a win when South Australia’s Minister was squibbed out of precisely what he was supposed to be fighting for. The delivery of the 450GL of water is contingent on conditions designed to be impossible to meet.
“If Minister Speirs wants to do the right thing by South Australia and the Murray, it’s time to take the blinders off and start standing up to the upstream states that are against any water coming over the border.”

22 million reasons for ALP to back militant unions

Figures released today have revealed 22 million reasons why Bill Shorten continues to bend over backwards for his militant union masters.
The Australian Electoral Commission today revealed that unions donated more than $7.9 million to the Labor Party in 2017-18. In addition, they spent more than $14 million on their own campaigns in support of the Labor Party.
These figures include almost $1 million in donations to Labor from the militant CFMMEU, which currently has 78 representatives before the courts and has been fined over $16.5 million in recent years for law breaking.
“We now know why Bill Shorten continues to stand by the militant CFMMEU despite their appalling and ever-growing rap sheet of lawlessness,” Minister O’Dwyer said.
“But it’s not just the militant CFMMEU Bill Shorten and Labor continue to back. While the CFMMEU will get to axe the construction cop, the MUA will get to design their own shipping laws, and the TWU will get the return of the independent trucker destroying RSRT.”
“If you’re a militant union with cash to burn, Bill’s policy shop is open for business.”
“Bill Shorten should take a leaf out of Bob Hawke’s book, grow a backbone and stand up to militant unionists instead of making the law breakers the law makers.”
The figures released today come just a month after Bill Shorten and the Labor Party doubled-down on their support for their militant union bosses at the Labor Party National Conference, whe re they committed to:

  • Keep under wraps their secret deal with the unions to allow economy-hammering, job-risking
    industry-wide strike action, leaving workers and businesses in the dark.
  • Black ban certain lawyers and law firms that the lawbreaking CFMMEU don’t like.
  • Resurrect their disastrous, family business destroying trucker remuneration rules – only this time also extending the pain to gig economy workers.
  • Accelerate cuts to workers’ take-home pay and syphon off more of their hard-earned wages into superannuation funds, where retirement savings are drained by the rorts and rip-offs that Labor refuses to help address.
  • Examine proposals to artificially boost union membership and clout through preferential tax concessions and incentives.
  • Continue with their crazy policy to scrap the building and construction regulator, the ABCC.
  • Cost the economy $1.3 billion by giving their union mates paid holiday l eave entitlements that no other worker will get.

“Instead of helping hard-working Australians, it is clear Bill Shorten is focused on one thing and one thing only – helping his militant union bosses,” Minister O’Dwyer concluded.

Banking Royal Commission report a small step towards the reform we deserve

Today’s disappointing final report into the banking and financial services industry will slow, but not end decades of money grabbing and unethical conduct, the Australian Greens have said today.
“The enthusiasm from the Liberal and Labor parties to accept these recommendations tells you all you need to know. The financial services industry is one of the biggest donors to both old parties, and they will all be laughing all the way to the bank tonight,” Leader of the Australian Greens Senator Richard Di Natale said.
“Accepting all of these recommendations will go some way towards improving the system, but the system needs more than a tweak, it needs a complete shakeup.
“People have not only suffered from unethical conduct, they have been hurt as a result of limited competition and protected by a toothless watchdog. Under these recommendations people will continue to be locked into that rotten structure, and bankers will only be forced to rein in their profit forecasts.”
“This Royal Commission has shone a welcome ray of light on the practices of the banks, and there is undoubted political momentum for reform – but we cannot consider the job to be done,” Greens Banking spokesperson Peter Whish-Wilson said.
“The Greens would like to have seen more focus on structural reform, rather than just conduct reform. The Commission’s failure to resolve the issue of vertical and horizontal integration is a notable example of an inquiry that has been constrained.
“Sadly the Commissioner’s brief was limited from the outset, as was his time to consider detailed policy issues.
“The historical significance of today’s report depends on what unfolds from here. Will long suffering victims of financial misconduct now be appropriately compensated? Will the regulators take up Justice Haynes challenge and pursue criminal charges against the banks?
“The Greens will be watching closely and won’t be taking a backward step in holding the next government to account, and leading on the push for reform and policies that transform our economy”.
The Greens welcome the thrust of the recommendations, and are particularly pleased to see some of the Greens’ recommendations adopted, including:

  • Ending bank commissions for mortgage brokers
  • Ending grandfathered commissions that involve conflicted remuneration
  • Expanding the scope of the executive accountability regime to all APRA regulated institutions
  • Establishing a ‘regulator’s regulator’ to ensure they are doing their job properly
  • Establishing a last resort compensation scheme

However, the Greens proposal to fix Australia’s banking sector would:

  • Establish a people’s bank that offers basic products at a competitive rate, putting people before profit
  • Break up the banks, by separating retail banking, investment banking and wealth management arms
  • Cap the obscene pay packages that banking executives receive
  • Replace a weak and compromised ASIC with the ACCC to fight for the rights of banking customers

Asylum seeker children off Nauru

Every asylum seeker child has now been removed from Nauru or has had their claim processed and has a clear path off the island.
Our strong border protection policies mean we’ve been able to stop the boats and work through the backlog of cases Labor created when 50,000 people arrived on 800 boats on their watch.
There were 109 asylum seeker children on Nauru at the end of August 2018 at the time we took on our respective roles as Prime Minister and Minister for Immigration.
Since then, and as was made clear at the time, we have been working quietly and methodically through this process without compromising the integrity of Operation Sovereign Borders. There are now only four asylum seeker children on Nauru and they have all been approved for departure to the United States of America with their families.
We have got all the children Labor put in detention centres out, and we have shut down all the detention centres Labor opened, including on Christmas Island.
Australia has one of the most generous humanitarian immigration programs in the world, but we can only do it by maintaining strong borders and insisting people come the right way.
We have secured our borders, we stopped the boats and the tragic drownings at sea. And we have been supporting children compassionately without putting our strong border security at risk.
We have got the balance right.
You don’t get all children off Nauru by putting more on. That is why we must maintain the integrity of Operation Sovereign Borders. Labor’s policies will unravel the strong border protection framework we have put in place.
Labor’s laws currently before the Parliament would end offshore processing as we know it, tearing apart our strong border policies. This would only see the horror start all over again.
On our watch we will never let Australia get back into the mess Labor left us when they locked up nearly 8,000 children in detention.

Senate inquiry into the APVMA marred by donations from vested interests to Labor and Liberal parties, say Greens

The report of the Senate inquiry into the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has been marred by the revelations that vested interests including RoundUp patent holder Bayer and industry body CropLife have collectively donated $139,000 to the Labor, Liberal and National parties in the 2017-18 financial year, say the Australian Greens.
“Exactly a year ago Bayer made a $22,000 donation to the Labor party and today, the Labor-controlled committee for the APVMA inquiry report states they have confidence in the APVMA’s review of glyphosate,” said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens agriculture spokesperson.
“The report calls the APVMA’s review of glyphosate ‘robust’, even though the agency decided not to conduct a formal reconsideration of the chemical despite the APVMA’s CEO agreeing that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen.”
“The ad-hoc nature of our current regime for chemical review, as demonstrated by the approach of the APVMA to community concerns about glyphosate, is clearly not up to the task of keeping our community and environment safe.”
“It’s also clear from the donations data released today that the independence of this Senate inquiry and indeed the APVMA is under a cloud.”
“We need donations reform right now, to ensure that big business can’t continue to shape outcomes at the expense of the best interests of the Australian people.”
“The Greens are calling on the Coalition government to immediately order an independent, transparent and science-based inquiry into glyphosate to give Australians certainty about its safety, and call on Bayer to release all internal science. We are also calling on the government to immediately introduce legislation to reinstate the APVMA re-approvaland re-registration scheme that was repealed in 2014.”
In the 2017-18 financial year, Bayer donated $40,600 to Labor and $42,540 to the Coalition, with CropLife donating $34,271 to Labor and $22,300 to the Coalition. Information can be found here.
The committee’s final report, including the Greens dissenting report, can be found here.

Senate inquiry into the APVMA marred by donations from vested interests to Labor and Liberal parties, say Greens

The report of the Senate inquiry into the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has been marred by the revelations that vested interests including RoundUp patent holder Bayer and industry body CropLife have collectively donated $139,000 to the Labor, Liberal and National parties in the 2017-18 financial year, say the Australian Greens.
“Exactly a year ago Bayer made a $22,000 donation to the Labor party and today, the Labor-controlled committee for the APVMA inquiry report states they have confidence in the APVMA’s review of glyphosate,” said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens agriculture spokesperson.
“The report calls the APVMA’s review of glyphosate ‘robust’, even though the agency decided not to conduct a formal reconsideration of the chemical despite the APVMA’s CEO agreeing that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen.”
“The ad-hoc nature of our current regime for chemical review, as demonstrated by the approach of the APVMA to community concerns about glyphosate, is clearly not up to the task of keeping our community and environment safe.”
“It’s also clear from the donations data released today that the independence of this Senate inquiry and indeed the APVMA is under a cloud.”
“We need donations reform right now, to ensure that big business can’t continue to shape outcomes at the expense of the best interests of the Australian people.”
“The Greens are calling on the Coalition government to immediately order an independent, transparent and science-based inquiry into glyphosate to give Australians certainty about its safety, and call on Bayer to release all internal science. We are also calling on the government to immediately introduce legislation to reinstate the APVMA re-approvaland re-registration scheme that was repealed in 2014.”
In the 2017-18 financial year, Bayer donated $40,600 to Labor and $42,540 to the Coalition, with CropLife donating $34,271 to Labor and $22,300 to the Coalition. Information can be found here.
The committee’s final report, including the Greens dissenting report, can be found here.

Donations data shows our democracy is for sale

The political donations data released today revealing massive corporate donations to the major parties shows our democracy is for sale and donations reform is desperately needed, Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters said.
“Today’s data again shows the major parties are owned by the mining, gambling, alcohol, property and banking industries,” Senator Waters said.
“Just in the last financial year the major political parties have taken more than  a million dollars from the fossil fuel industry, almost two million from the gambling and alcohol industry, and tens of millions from the big banks.
“Millions of dollars of corporate donations have flowed from infamous companies like Adani ($50k), Santos ($182k), Woodside ($237k), and Tabcorp ($218k), and industry associations like the AHA ($1.09m).
“It’s no wonder we still have lax corporate taxation laws, tax subsidies for fossil fuel companies and no plan to transition to clean energy, no limits on predatory gambling, and alcohol advertising dominating our sports events.
“Millions from the big mining and gas companies is why we don’t have action on climate change despite having have just had the hottest month on record in Australia, flooding in Far North Queensland right now, and catastrophic bushfires in Tasmania.
“In the last six years there’s been more than $100 million in corporate donations to the big parties, and today’s data further increases that.
“Today’s data is just the tip of the iceberg with the millions of dollars donated since July 2018 remaining secret for 12 more months – well after the next federal election.
“The lack of transparency perpetuates a system where politicians represent their corporate donors, instead of representing the community and improving people’s lives.
“To add insult to injury, a third of all corporations didn’t pay tax last year – yet many could afford to donate generously to political parties.
“Our democracy is broken. We need to get the influence of big money out and start restoring integrity into our parliament.”
The Greens today announced their plan to clean up politics which includes:

  • banning political donations from mining, property development, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, banking, defence and pharmaceutical industries;
  • putting a cap on all other donations of $1000 a year;
  • until those bans and caps are in place, making sure every donation over $1000 is listed publicly and disclosed in close to real-time;
  • banning donations splitting and all donations from foreign entities;
  • stopping all MPs from accepting lobbying jobs for five years after they retire, where a conflict of interest may arise;
  • requiring politicians to tell the public when and why they meet with lobbyists;
  • establishing a strong, independent federal anti-corruption commission to investigate politicians and governments; and
  • protecting the rights of citizens and community groups to speak out, ensuring all of us are represented and able to participate in our democracy.

 
Link to full policy: https://greens.org.au/sites/default/files/2018-12/Greens%202019%20Policy%20Platform%20-%20Restoring%20Integrity%20to%20Politics.pdf 
Dirty Donations Campaign: https://greens.org.au/campaigns/dirty-donations 

Greens launch policy to clean up politics

The Greens are today launching their policy to clean up politics and end the corrupting influence of big money on our democracy, so we can create a future for all of us.
Ahead of the Australian Electoral Commission 17/18 donations data release later this morning, Greens spokesperson for democracy Larissa Waters said:
“In the last six years the Liberals and Labor have taken more than $100 million in political donations from big corporations like mining and gambling companies, the big banks and wealthy property developers. We’ll learn today how much that has increased in the last year.
“The return on investment is donors get one-on-one access to government ministers, and decisions that protect their corporate profits. Then some of those pollies get cushy lobbyist jobs when they retire.
“It’s no wonder that 85% of Australians believe most politicians are corrupt.
“The major parties make decisions that prioritise the profits of their big donors. The rest of us are left with cuts to health, education and social services, rising costs of housing and energy bills, and a growing gap between rich and poor.”
 
The Greens’ plan would break the stranglehold corporations have on our democracy and restore integrity to politics, by:

  • banning political donations from mining, property development, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, banking, defence and pharmaceutical industries;
  • putting a cap on all other donations of $1000 a year;
  • until those bans and caps are in place, making sure every donation over $1000 is listed publicly and disclosed in close to real-time;
  • banning donations splitting and all donations from foreign entities;
  • stopping all MPs from accepting lobbying jobs for five years after they retire, where a conflict of interest may arise;
  • requiring politicians to tell the public when and why they meet with lobbyists;
  • establishing a strong, independent federal anti-corruption commission to investigate politicians and governments; and
  • protecting the rights of citizens and community groups to speak out, ensuring all of us are represented and able to participate in our democracy.

“Until we get transparency into the system and big money out of politics, we won’t get the decisions that improve people’s everyday lives,” Senator Waters said.
“Unlike the major parties, the Greens refuse to take donations from big corporations and lobbyists who want to influence our decisions. We can’t be bought and we won’t sell out.
“We’ll be campaigning strongly on this policy as the election approaches, and will keep working in parliament before and after the election to deliver reforms.
“People want their democracy back, and they deserve it. Money shouldn’t buy access or outcomes. Our democracy is not for sale.”
 
Link to full policy: https://greens.org.au/sites/default/files/2018-12/Greens%202019%20Policy%20Platform%20-%20Restoring%20Integrity%20to%20Politics.pdf
Dirty Donations Campaign: https://greens.org.au/campaigns/dirty-donations