Category: Australian News

Labor’s commitment to the cruelty of offshore detention and boat turnbacks is disappointing, but not surprising, Greens immigration spokesperson Nick McKim says.
“Labor cannot call themselves progressive while they continue to support these inhumane measures” Senator McKim said.
“Indefinite detention on Manus Island and Nauru, which began under Labor, has destroyed so many lives.”
“The tide has turned on offshore detention – the Australian people want it to end.”
“Additional support for the UNHCR is welcome, as is an increase in Australia’s humanitarian intake.”
“But it is long past time for Labor to commit to ending the cruelty of offshore detention.”

On behalf of the Federal Opposition, I congratulate General (retd) David Hurley on his appointment as Australia’s next Governor-General.
General Hurley has dedicated his life to serving Australia, including decades in the Defence Force and then as Governor of New South Wales.
The Opposition was informed of the announcement this morning.
While I am pleased the Prime Minister received approval from the United Kingdom for this merited appointment, I hope this is the last time an Australian Prime Minister has to call Buckingham Palace for permission.
We are a country that can stand on its own two feet: an Australian Republic with an Australian head of state.
That’s what the next Labor Government is determined to deliver.

“Today’s Mid-year Economic Financial Outlook shows that the Coalition is totally out of touch with everyone in our community who is feeling under pressure. The Prime Minister hopes to buy the next election with a surplus built upon cuts to essential services and heroic assumptions about wages growth,” Greens Co-Deputy Leader Senator Larissa Waters said.
“The Treasurer may have claimed that the country is doing better than ever, but people aren’t feeling it. Wages have flatlined, household debt is sky-high, homelessness is on the rise and essential services funding has been eroded – it’s only the Coalition’s mates in big business that are feeling better off.
“Crowing about the lowest government spending in 50 years is just bragging about its vicious cuts to essential services. Morrison’s surplus is your children’s overcrowded schoolroom, your delays in getting a hip replacement at a public hospital, your year stuck in poverty without a raise to Newstart.
“Only a Government in bed with the mining industry would slash climate funding after the extreme weather events we’ve seen batter our nation. Cutting a third of climate funds by 2020, while pouring money into drought funding, adds insult to injury for farmers who want a national climate policy to address what’s driving the drought.
“Today’s outlook confirms we still won’t see a cent from our domestic gas industry over the forwards, yet we’ll spend another $83 million on fossil fuel tax credits, creating record high subsidies of more than $7 billion. The handouts to big business keep coming – perhaps a thank you for the big donations to political parties from the fossil fuel industry.
“The lack of any funding for the Government’s weak Commonwealth Integrity Commission proves the announcement was always just smoke and mirrors – they were never committed to delivering anti-corruption measures, and want the rigged system to continue as usual.
“The lack of any long-term strategic planning shows the Liberal and Nationals have no intent, capacity, or right to be leading Australia into the future and addressing our nation’s challenges.
“If this is the best the Coalition can offer, the election can’t come soon enough.”

Australian Greens Housing Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has described Labor’s housing announcement as tinkering around the edges.
Senator Faruqi is calling on the Labor Opposition to commit to building more public housing stock which will be affordable in the long-term.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Housing in Australia is monumentally messed up. With so many people in need of affordable housing we need radical solutions.
“Labor’s announcement will incentivise private investors for 10 years, but what happens when the subsidy runs out? What we need is massive investment in public and community housing to build homes where people can afford to live in for the long-term.
“We need rent-controlled social housing where people won’t suddenly face homelessness because a subsidy has run out. The Greens have a plan to build 500,000 new rent-controlled public and community homes.
“With Labor’s plan, we will find ourselves with the same problem we have with National Rental Affordability Scheme where people are left facing homelessness when the scheme ends.
“Guaranteeing a home and a roof over people’s head should not rely on ongoing subsidies to private investors.
“Nobody should be without a home. It doesn’t matter whether you’re renting or buying, the Greens plan will make sure there are enough affordable homes for everyone to have a decent and safe place to live,” she concluded.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, the Australian Greens spokesperson for Education and a former academic, reacted to this morning’s news that the University of Wollongong has accepted the John Howard-led Ramsay Centre’s funding for a degree in ‘Western Civilisation’.
She said:
“Today’s news is a blow to academic freedom in Australia.
“As a former academic, I can unequivocally say that allowing any organisation to influence curriculum, let alone one as shady as this centre, is a huge mistake.
“The Ramsay Centre wants nothing more than to churn out students with an uncritical view of Western Civilisation, and they’re willing to shower our public universities with money to make that happen.
“We must push back hard against this idea of cultural supremacy and stand strongly for academic freedom and critical thinking.
“The University of Wollongong can still do the right thing and reject the Ramsay Centre’s money and the ideology that comes with it,” she concluded.

The strong environmental protections announced by Labor today will fail without proper investment, and a commitment to no new coal, oil and gas.
“We welcome Labor adopting Greens’ policy on stronger protections for the environment, but without proper investment and committing to no new coal, oil and gas they will fail,” Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“We need a Government committed to stopping Adani and protecting the Great Australian Bight. We need a Government that will invest in environmental protections and save our threatened species.
“The Greens in the Senate will ensure Labor is held to their promises on protecting the environment. We will always stand up to the fossil fuels lobby and fight for no new coal, oil and gas.
“Labor continues to ignore the calls to phase out coal and stop the Adani mine. They are still split on drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight, which not only comes at great risk to the marine environment and local fishing and tourism industries, but locks us to burning fossil fuels into the future.
“Unless we transition out of burning fossil fuels, we will continue to contribute to a warming planet at a time when action to arrest climate change is more urgent than ever.”

Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale has slammed the Prime Minister’s decision to formally recognise West Jerusalem as the Israeli capital as a foolish move that undermines genuine efforts at peace.
“The Prime Minister was roundly condemned when he first flagged this irresponsible thought bubble during the Wentworth by-election.  The fact that he has refused to back down in the face of overwhelming criticism, including from his own hand-picked advisory panel, is Trumpesque in its stupidity,” Di Natale said.
“The Greens have said time and time again that recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is another body blow for the peace process and for the Palestinian people. This decision rewards Israel’s Netanyahu Government for policies like rampant settlement building that not only break international law but also severely diminish the prospects of peace.
“Once again we are blindly following Donald Trump’s dangerous foreign policy agenda, with a decision that has already been near-universally rejected – by the United Nations, European and Middle Eastern leaders and religious leaders.
“Like the rest of the sensible international community, the Greens unequivocally condemn today’s decision. We urge the Australian Labor Party to confirm that they will overturn it as soon as it forms Government next year.  The best way to advance the prospect of peace in Israel and Palestine is to recognise a Palestinian state, and I sincerely hope that the ALP chooses to follow the advice of their foreign policy elders and commit to this policy at their national conference in the coming days.”

The federal and state governments must take action to save Tasmania’s East Coast reefs.
“Our reefs are far too important to lose, but right now they are being devastated by urchin barrens and the rapidly warming waters of Tasmania’s East Coast,” Greens Senator for Tasmania Nick McKim said.
“Tasmania’s East Coast is one of the world’s ocean warming hotspots, and the destruction of our reefs will have widespread impacts on species that rely on them and the wider marine environment.”
‘A new report last week from IMAS stated that we have already lost 15% of our reefs. This is set to double in the next three years with an explosion of sea urchin numbers. Meanwhile, rock lobsters are down to 13% of original biomass.”
“For too long governments have put profits ahead of the environment and the public good.”
Tasmanian Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said:
“This report shows the urgent crisis that is the state of the East Coast reefs. All Tasmanians need all levels of government to act urgently.”
“It’s past time for the government to take serious action to prevent climate change and any further loss of our reefs.”
“It’s great to see so many environmental groups standing together today to defend our reefs.”

The Australian Greens are calling on the South Australian Water Minister to come home from Friday’s Ministerial Council meeting with a commitment of the delivery of the 450GL promised to South Australia.
“South Australia mustn’t give in to the bullying from Victoria and New South Wales. Minister Speirs must fight for the delivery of the 450GL of water that South Australia’s was promised,” Greens water spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“We heard at the last hearing of the South Australian Royal Commission that state governments and the MDBA had all but admitted that SA would never get a  drop of the 450GL.
“The Victorian and New South Wales Governments have cooked up terms for the delivery of the 450GL that are virtually impossible to achieve. South Australia needs a fierce defender at today’s ministerial council meeting in Melbourne.
“The Murray Darling Basin Authority has today highlighted the risk that recovery measures will not be met by the June 2019 target. With a bleak history of mismanagement at the MDBA, non-compliance, rorting, water theft, and upstream states writing their own rules, it is little wonder this milestone will be missed.
“Water Minister David Speirs raised the white flag and came home empty-handed after the last meeting of Water Ministers. This is a chance at redemption.”

Greens spokesperson for democracy Senator Larissa Waters said 10 years after the Greens first called for a federal anti-corruption body to oversee parliamentarians and the public service, the Morrison Government has finally got on board – but there’s so many catches.
“The Morrison Government’s proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission is the ICAC you have when you’re not really having an ICAC. It’s the poor cousin of the state ICACs and basically a Clayton’s ICAC,” Senator Waters said.
“The powers this new body would have are so weak it won’t change a thing, which is no doubt deliberate.
“It will be limited in what and who it can investigate, only looking into ‘criminal’ corruption and not regular, confidence-eroding, damaging corruption.
“And in a move that will only serve to increase distrust in federal politicians, all investigations and hearings will be in secret and there will be no retrospectivity or complaints taken from outside of government departments and agencies.
“The Eddie Obeid investigation started with an anonymous tip off – this would not be allowed under the Government’s model.
“It won’t be allowed to make any findings of corruption, and can only gather evidence and refer it on to other agencies – it’s like a glorified research assistant to the Department of Public Prosecutions.
“If the Government was serious about getting this done, it would have presented draft legislation. Instead it’s just a discussion paper designed to appear like the government is doing something, when clearly they have no intention of acting before the election to set up this body.
“Australians won’t be fooled – they will see straight through this sham body like they see through this sham government.
“Our Greens bill for a national anti-corruption commission with teeth, and our plan to end the influence of big money over politics, it’s what’s needed to actually help clean up politics and end the cronyism and corruption that typifies politics these days.”