Month: October 2019

The Australian Government has rejected key recommendations of the Senate Inquiry into the governance and operation of the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) aimed at improving transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest.
Greens Co-deputy leader and Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters said the Morrison Government had rejected the evidence in favour of continuing with a politically motived waste of taxpayers’ money designed to funnel community resources into projects like Adani.
“The report out today shows Northern Australians have yet again been sold out by the Australian Government that is more interested in propping up the struggling Nationals than being transparent about investment in the north,” she said.
“The Senate Inquiry report found the NAIF’s assessment criteria are not transparent, assessment processes are inconsistent, and the CEO has too much power. Yet, the Government has rejected key recommendations for improving NAIF’s accountability.
“You can’t hand out billions in taxpayer dollars without the appropriate checks and balances, including reporting on any conflicts of interest for board members and making public suitable detail on successful projects and proponents.
“The Greens recommended acknowledging the climate crisis and Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement by prohibiting NAIF investment in infrastructure supporting the transport or burning of thermal coal or gas.
“The reality of the climate crisis has been rejected by the Government which receives substantial donations from the fossil fuel industry and then expects taxpayers to prop up their climate-wrecking projects, despite global warming and declining global coal outlooks.
“The Government’s support for handing over community funds will continue even when coal companies like Adani are exposed as poor corporate citizens and would fail a “suitable person test” for receiving investment.
“NAIF is operating in a secretive and underhanded way, it should be made more accountable and used to fund community infrastructure that supports regions and improves our environmental health,” Senator Waters said.

The Environment Minister is in denial about the extinction crisis and plans to use the review of Australia’s environment laws to water them down in favour of big miners and developers, the Greens say.
“The current laws are not working to protect our animals or the environment. This Review should be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix them,” Greens Spokesperson for the Environment Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“However the signals from the Minister thus far indicate the government is more interested in making life easier for miners, developers and big business than saving our environment.
“It’s extremely concerning the Environment Minister doesn’t seem to understand the purpose of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity and Conservation (EPBC) Act, or indeed her job.
“Like her predecessors, the Environment Minister has again failed to recognise her role is to protect our environment, not clear the path for coal, oil and gas.
“We’re in the middle of a climate and extinction crisis, the focus of this review should be on fixing the significant failures in our environment laws that are causing and exacerbating these crisis. The Terms of Reference don’t even mention climate despite the urgent need for our environment laws to look at the climate impacts of a project.”
Senator Hanson-Young said the inclusion of Dr Erica Smyth AC on the panel was deeply concerning given her ties to the oil and gas industry and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANTSO).
“We know the Minerals Council wants the ban on nuclear energy removed as a result of this review so it’s hard to be anything but cynical about the government’s appointment of an ANSTO executive,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“Minister Ley has been at pains today to send a signal to the Minerals Council that she has their back. She’s denied there’s even an extinction crisis and talked up making life easier for industry by streamlining approvals. Her denial is going to cost all of us dearly.
“The Greens will keep fighting for stronger environment laws and will keep pushing for a ‘climate trigger’ and for the maintenance of the ban on nuclear energy.
“A review of the EPBC Act won’t come around again for another decade after this; we simply do not have that much time to act to protect species and our special places, it’s now or never.”

Greens MP Michael Berkman and Greens Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters have welcomed Queensland Labor’s announcement today that they will cap political donations and expenditure and increase public funding, but called on them to ban all corporate donations and cash-for-access meetings.
Greens MP Michael Berkman said:
“It’s great to see Labor adopting part of the Greens’ plan to get big money out of politics in Queensland, but I’m also calling on them to support my Bill to ban all corporate donations.
“Corporate donations make life harder for everyday Queenslanders because it lets banks, lobbyists and mining companies set the agenda.
“There are still big questions for Labor to answer, including whether they are leaving union affiliation fees unrestricted as in Victoria, and whether they are cracking down on ‘dark money’ donations from associated entities like Labor Holdings and LNP Nominees.
“Big money in politics was the first issue I raised in Parliament, starting with banning corporate donations. Just a month ago, I wrote to the Premier about my plan to introduce a Bill to cap donations and expenditure.
“Last week in Question Time I asked the Premier to scrap cash-for-access meetings, so I call on Labor to urgently confirm that they will be banned.”
Greens Co-deputy leader and Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters said:
“Political donation data has consistently shown the major parties are owned by the mining, gambling, alcohol, property and banking industries. The caps brought in today will help reign in corporate interest and is a step towards restoring community confidence in democracy.
“However, Queensland must go further in removing the influence of big money and start restoring integrity into our parliament.
“The Greens call on premier Palaszczuk to go further and adopt Greens policy to stop all MPs from accepting lobbying jobs for five years after they retire and a ban on all corporate political donations including from mining, property development and gambling industries,” she said.

Australians suffering from melanoma and multiple sclerosis will soon have new treatment options, with new and amended PBS listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) coming into effect on 1 November.
The Morrison Government will expand the current PBS listings of Tafinlar® (dabrafenib) and Mekinist® (trametinib) to include subsidy for post-surgery treatment for patients who have Stages IIIB, IIIC and IIID melanoma.
Over 260 patients per year are expected to benefit from this listing each year. Without the PBS subsidy, patients might otherwise pay more than $128,900 for each course of treatment for these medicines.
Stage III melanoma means that cancer cells have spread into skin, lymph vessels or lymph glands close to the melanoma but they haven’t spread to other parts of the body.
Australia has one of the highest rates of melanoma in the world – 11 times higher than the worldwide average; more than twice the rate than the UK or USA.
It is estimated 15,229 Australians will be diagnosed with melanoma in 2019, and approximately 400 will have Stage III resected BRAF mutation positive melanoma.
Additionally, paediatric patients being treated for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis will benefit from the extension of two medicines listings.
The current PBS listing of Gilenya® (fingolimod) will be amended to include a new strength of this medicine for treatment of patients weighing 40kg or less, including paediatric patients.
Up to 17 patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis are expected to benefit from this listing each year. Without the PBS subsidy, patients might otherwise pay more than $28,800 for a course of treatment.
The PBS listing of Tysabri® (natalizumab) will be extended to remove the age restrictions for this medicine, to subsidise use in paediatric patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.
Without the PBS subsidy, patients might otherwise pay more than $17,500 each year and it is expected that an additional 10 patients per year will have access to this medicine.
These PBS listings were recommended by the independent expert Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).
Through the PBS patients will pay a maximum of $40.30 per script, with concessional people paying just $6.50 per script for these medicines.
Since 2013, the Morrison Government has made more than 2,200 new or amended medicines listings on the PBS. This represents an average of around 30 listings per month – or one each day – at an overall cost of around $10.6 billion.
Unlike Labor, we are listing all medicines recommended by the medical experts on the PBAC. In 2011, Labor stopped listing medicines on the PBS because they could not manage the economy.
Our commitment to ensuring that Australians can access affordable medicines, when they need them, remains rock solid.
We are able to provide unprecedented levels of support to health and medical research because of our strong economic management.
About Tafinlar® and Mekinist®

• Tafinlar® and Mekinist® is the first treatment targeting the BRAF gene mutation to be reimbursed for patients with Stage IIIB-D melanoma following surgery.
• Whilst survival rates for those with early stage disease are very high, without treatment nearly one in two people with Stage IIIB-D melanoma at diagnosis will experience a recurrence within one year of surgery.
• Tafinlar® and Mekinist®, known as targeted therapies, work on different proteins involved in tumour cell growth that are active in patients with a melanoma carrying the BRAF gene mutation.
• By targeting and blocking growth signals from these proteins, Tafinlar® and Mekinist® can slow down or stop cancer growth.