Category: Australian News

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has called news that the former Education Minister, Senator Simon Birmingham, personally intervened to block research grants outrageous. She has also called for a completely independent process, free from Ministerial interference.
Senator Faruqi said: “As a former academic, I am horrified that the Minister intervened to block research grants. This is a massive and outrageous overreach from the Government.
“Research Grants are not there for the Minister to pick and choose based on his own political prejudices. The Australian Research Council should be trusted to guide research funding, free from political interference.
“Academic research is too valuable to be hijacked by a narrow ideological agenda.
“No Minister can be trusted with the power to block research grants. There should be a completely independent process, separate from Ministerial interference,” she concluded.

Residents in outer suburbs have been appalling neglected by successive governments failing to properly invest in public transport, say the Greens, following the publication of Infrastructure Australia’s Outer Urban Public Transport report.

‘This report shows just how successive Liberal and Labor governments around the country have failed to properly plan transport solutions for people in outer suburban areas, who are stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic jams for several hours a day,’ said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens transport spokesperson.

‘People are crying out for accessible, reliable and affordable public transport. Instead we have governments throwing money into expensive, polluting toll roads that do nothing to solve congestion and mean that people living in the outer suburbs have no other option but to drive.’

‘As our cities grow, we have to give people the choice of high quality, fully integrated public transport – trains, trams and buses. That’s the only way we will solve our transport problems.’

‘We have to make sure public transport is planned properly. It’s not just a matter of announcing big flashy projects. We need comprehensive integrated transport plans across the country that prioritise public transport, and walking and cycling.’

Greens environment and water spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young will today write to the Auditor-General to investigate reports of more scandal in the National Party.
“Reports that the National Party executive was paid $850,000 for drought-proofing that never eventuated are serious allegations. Today I will be referring this to the Auditor-General for investigation,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“Another day, another scandal involving the Nationals. Scott Morrison’s Special Drought Envoy  Barnaby Joyce’s ‘nothing to see here’ attitude in response to these reports of rorting is typical of the former Deputy Prime Minister.
“The drought is crippling our farmers and to add insult to injury, the Nationals are brushing off these reports like they do with every scandal they find themselves in.
“The Nationals cannot be trusted with spending billions of dollars on drought relief and water management properly.
“Rorting and misusing taxpayers’ money are serious allegations and another reason why we need a federal anti-corruption body.
“The fact that Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack believes we don’t need a federal anti-corruption body says it all. The Nationals will always protect their own – no matter what their indiscretions – above the interest of our nation, our river, and the Australian taxpayers.”

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has called the Government’s so called ‘Choice and Affordability” package a private school slush fund. The fund is part of extra money announced for private schools by the Prime Minister in September, which Senator Faruqi has previously described as “hush money”.
In Budget Estimates today, the Department confirmed that it was a “decision of Government” and couldn’t answer how the figure was $1.2 billion figure was arrived at. The Greens have also confirmed that they will move to disallow the fund and call on the Government to reallocate it to the public system.
Senator Faruqi said:
“What has become pretty clear is the Government plucked the $1.2 billion figure out of thin air as a way to pay off the private school sector.
“This whole program is a farce. There are no rules, no criteria and the Department seems to have no idea how the amount of the enormous $1.2 billion private school slush fund was arrived at.
“The Greens unashamedly believe that with public money, public schools have to come first. It is beyond reprehensible that while one in ten public school classrooms in New South Wales are demountable, the private schools will be getting billions in special funds.
“There is absolutely nothing stopping the schools spending this money to subsidise school fees for wealthy parents. What a slap in the face for public schools.
“The Greens will be moving to disallow this fund as soon as it comes to Parliament,” she concluded.

Greens climate change and energy spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today slammed revelations from Labor that they would allow the construction or refurbishment of coal-fired power stations if the contracts were signed under the Liberals before the election. Mr Bandt also attacked Labor’s apparent confirmation that they would revive the zombie NEG to be their climate and energy policy for the electricity sector.

“Labor will have blood on their hands if they honour a contract to build a new coal-fired power station,” said Mr Bandt.

“If a contract to build or extend a coal-fired power station is signed before the next election, Labor has just confirmed they’d wave it through if they proceeded to form government.

“While Labor would ‘honour’ any contracts, the Greens would rip them up.

“Labor will pay dearly at the ballot box if they continue with this policy announced by Chris Bowen today. Bill Shorten needs to overrule his Shadow Treasurer.

“Signing a contract for a new coal-fired power station is like signing a death warrant for the Australian people.

“This despicable admission from the Labor party shows that they’re as bad as the Liberals on coal.

“If that wasn’t enough, it appears that Labor confirmed it would take the zombie NEG as their policy to the next election.

“The NEG is an unproven, opaque mechanism that was cooked up to get through a climate-denying backbench. Instead of reviving a discredited policy, Labor should be revisiting policies that actually work.

“Labor have only committed to a pro-rata 45% reduction in the electricity sector and do not appear to have any plan to reduce emissions in other parts of the economy.

“What we’ve learnt today is that Labor is a pro-coal party with no credible climate plan.”

Contact: Gideon Reisner, 0429 109 054
TW: @AdamBandt FB: facebook.com/Adam.Bandt.MP
The relevant excerpts from Labor’s press conference are below:
Phillip Coorey: On energy, one of the things Angus Taylor said yesterday is that using this recommendation to under-write the investment in new plants, either through a loan or a purchase guarantee, that they’ll have a shortlist of projects ready to go early in the new year, which we understand could be as early as January. If any of these projects are contracted before the election, would Labor reserve the right to reverse any contract? I know it’s a bit hypothetical, but you can see where the government is going here. Would you be locked into any coal-fired power station for example that the government contracts?
Chris Bowen: As Mark said, this is policy on the run and if the Liberal/National government wants to engage in such poor policy that they are prepared to risk the national interest in doing this quickly, in a haphazard way, that is on them. Labor honours contracts, we don’t create sovereign risk. That’s been our consistent position across the board when it comes to any matter in the economy. We honour contracts, we don’t create sovereign risk…To answer your question, our position has always been consistent on a range of matters. An incoming Labor government honours contracts, even ones that we thoroughly and completely disagree with.
Joe Kelly: Mr. Butler, could I just clarify something? If Labor wins office at the next election, to meet the 45% emissions reduction target you’ve set, your preferred mechanism to do that would be the National Energy Guarantee that Mr. Turnbull and Mr. Frydenberg were working on, to meet that target?
Mark Butler: Well certainly in the energy sector. The Paris targets apply across the economy but the debate has been about the energy sector. The very clear view is that bringing the different stands of energy policy, reliability and emissions reduction together in the NEG, is the best way to do that.

‘The Government’s failure to introduce a Bill today proves that Prime Minister Morrison is more interested in avoiding a divisive party room so soon after the Wentworth disaster than protecting LGBTIQ+ students and staff from discrimination,’ said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens LGBTIQ+ spokesperson.

‘Once again LGBTIQ+ people are being held to ransom by the hard right of the Liberal party.’
‘Scott Morrison himself said last week that removing discrimination in schools is “such a simple amendment” that “we should use the next fortnight to ensure this matter is addressed.”’
‘The only complexity now is because of the internal politics of the Liberal party and the hard right that control the Liberal party room.’
‘The Greens have a bill before the Senate that is already being debated and would remove all discrimination in schools against both LGBTIQ+ staff and students.’

New analysis has confirmed that Labor’s property tax will damage Australia’s property market and broader economy.
Independent economic modelling commissioned by the Master Builders Association (MBA) has confirmed that new builds will slow, jobs will be lost and billions drained from the economy under Labor’s property tax.
The MBA found that by raising taxes on housing over five years, Labor’s policies could result in up to 42,000 fewer new dwellings being built, 32,000 less full time jobs and an $11.8 billion drop in building activity.
The MBA report joins a growing list of experts saying that Labor’s policies would have a significant impact on Australia’s economy and property market, particularly at a time when the housing marking is softening.
RiskWise warned that median house prices in New South Wales and Victoria could fall about 9 per cent, Citi’s research found Labor’s policy could “accelerate the cyclical weaknesses in housing prices” and Standard and Poor’s warned of the consequences of falling house prices on the broader economy.
Labor’s property tax will punish not only the 1.3 million Australians who negative gear, but every Australian with equity in their home.
Bill Shorten must admit he got this one wrong and ditch his ill-conceived property tax plan.
With Australia’s housing market cooling over 12 consecutive months in our capital cities, this is the worst possible time for Labor to push its property tax.
Under Labor you will always pay more with its $200 billion in extra taxes whether it be on your earnings, savings, housing or retirement.

The Australian Greens are calling on Prime Minister Morrison to deliver on his promise during the Wentworth by-election to remove the ability of religious schools to discriminate against LGBTIQ+ students.
“When the heat was on during Wentworth, the Prime Minister promised a bill would be passed by the end of this week removing discrimination in religious schools,” said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens LGBTIQ+ spokesperson.
“Where is the bill? Or did the Prime Minister lie to the people of Wentworth?”
“There is one day of parliament left, so he better hurry. Time is ticking, Prime Minister.”
“The Greens have a bill that is already being debated in the Senate. If the Prime Minister doesn’t deliver on his promise to pass a government bill this week, the Greens will do the job for him when the Senate next sits.”

Greens climate change and energy spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today slammed the government’s latest attempt at an energy plan, saying the price ‘safety net’ was a con and the coal slush-fund an irresponsible use of public money that will make global warming worse.
“This price ‘safety net’ move is an absolute con,” said Mr Bandt.
“When you read the fine print, the so-called ‘cap’ won’t apply to 80-90% of customers.
“And the CEO of Energy Australia has even threatened to put up the prices of the 80-90% of customers to make up for their lost profits if the government forces the power bills of 10-20% of customers down.
“The government’s so-called safety net has holes so big that most people will fall through them.
“The government’s energy plan is also to pay polluters to keep on polluting through a coal-slush fund.
“While the Greens want to make the polluters pay, the Liberals want to pay the polluters to keep on polluting.
“The government’s latest appalling move is to strip money from schools and hospitals and give it to coal-fired power stations.
“It’s like taking money from the health budget and giving it to an asbestos business.
“Scientists are telling us to shut down one coal-fired power station per year between now and 2030 but instead the Liberals want to build more.
“If the government takes public money and gives it to coal, they’re toast. They won’t survive the next election and I’ll be glad to see the back of them.”

Australian Greens Spokesperson for Gun Control, Senator Mehreen Faruqi and Greens spokesperson for Democracy, Senator Larissa Waters, have reacted to today’s reports that the gun lobby is trying to weaken Australia’s gun laws and that pro-gun groups have used Ministerial Advisory Panels to lobby against greater gun controls.
Australian Greens Spokesperson for Gun Control, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said:
“Federal and State Governments have dropped the ball on gun control. No Australian State or Territory has fully complied with the National Firearms Agreement which is absolutely appalling. We need to rekindle the kind of political courage we saw after the Port Arthur Massacre and push back against any move to weaken our gun laws.
“We should be tightening restrictions on guns, not entertaining militaristic fantasies or the weapons industry which simply want to sell more guns.
“The scourge of gun violence in the United States is directly related to the power and money the gun lobby has there. We don’t need a corporate lobby pushing to roll back our gun laws,” she concluded.
Greens spokesperson for Democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“A major overhaul of political donation laws in this country is long overdue, but any watering down of gun laws puts public safety at immediate risk making it even more important for the corrupting influence of the gun lobby to be eliminated from our democracy urgently.
“Firearm interest groups have donated at least $500,000 to political parties including the LNP, Labor and The Katter Party. How can Australians have any faith that these political parties are acting in their best interests on gun laws rather than the interests of their donors and their corporate profits?
“If we have any hope of restoring trust in our democracy we need to ban donations from vested interests and end the revolving door between lobbyists and politicians and we cannot allow the power wielded by weapons manufacturers over political parties to go unchecked.”