Month: December 2019

The Morrison Government is making things up as they go along, while the Murray-Darling is in deeper and deeper crisis and communities and the environment are suffering, the Greens say.
Greens Senator for South Australia and Spokesperson for the Environment and Water Sarah Hanson-Young said the Murray-Darling Basin Plan debate is not about farmers versus the environment, it’s big corporates versus everyone else.
“The water sharing arrangements are supposed to stop communities being pitted against each other and to avoid water wars in times of crisis,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“Corporate greed is the real enemy, not the environment. It is deceitful of the Liberal Nationals to blame environmental flows that are crucial for the River’s survival, for the lack of water available to river communities and farmers.
“This Government has turned a blind eye to six years of mismanagement, water theft and corruption while big corporate irrigators drain the River. It is the over-allocations and floodwater-harvesting of big corporate irrigators and water barons that must be reined in.
“Greed and corruption are killing the River and leaving River communities to suffer.
“It’s unacceptable that the Government’s own Inspector General will have no powers to act until mid-next year.  We should’ve been dealing with the legislation this week before the summer break.”
Senator Hanson-Young said NSW was again calling for the 450GL SA was promised to be written out of the plan, and called on the SA Water Minister David Speirs to stand up for his state.
“Failing to deliver the remaining 450GL will condemn the Lower Murray to death. The SA Liberal Government must stand up for our state and protect the water the River needs to survive,”  she said.
“There’s no jobs on a dead river.”

Barnaby Joyce and the National Party have unleashed an assault on the Murray River, the environment and South Australia, the Greens say.
Senator for SA and Greens Spokesperson for Water Sarah Hanson-Young said it would be a terrible step to tear up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and cut water to the environment throughout the Basin.
“The National Party has stuffed the River, and now they want to blame SA and cut water to the environment. This is an assault on the River, an assault on SA and lets the greedy corporate irrigators off the hook,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“Barnaby Joyce and the National Party want to cut water to the environment, cut off South Australia and let the upstream states and their corporate irrigator mates continue on business as usual.
“South Australians will be furious and the SA Liberal Government needs to stand up to their Coalition mates upstream and say this is not on.
“This summer is going to be really tough. There is going to be less water in the system and it should be the big corporate irrigators, the political donors to the National Party, who feel the heat.
“If you want to put water back in the system then you stop those big corporate irrigators irrigating cotton and irrigating almonds, and you stop letting foreign companies come in and buy up our water rights.
“More than 1.2million people in SA rely on the Murray. This is our drinking water and this is our environment and I am not going to sit by and let Barnaby Joyce and the National Party sacrifice us for their big corporate mates upstream.”

Australian Greens Senator and Education Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi has responded to reports that Australian students are slipping in international testing standards by calling for more and better targeted education funding in Australia, especially for the most disadvantaged schools. She has also called on the Government to invest more in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
Senator Faruqi said:
“I think we should take global standardised testing results with a grain of salt. However,  this is clearly a wake up call for State and Federal Governments to invest properly in education and public schools, especially targeting investment towards our most disadvantaged schools.
“By 2023, 99% of public schools will be stuck below the national resource standard, while 99% of private schools will be at or above it. Public schools are massively underfunded but are in many cases outperforming private schools. Imagine what they could do if we funded them properly.
“Governments across Australia need to step up for the most disadvantaged students who are struggling with a lack of funding and educational facilities. They must stop showering already overfunded private schools with cash and redirect that money to public schools who serve the vast majority of disadvantaged students.
“It is clear that we need much more support for students to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. It’s time for State and Federal Governments to take this issue much more seriously.

The Australian Greens have called on Scott Morrison to lift his climate ambition to save Australian lives, as the NSW climate bushfires leave Sydney air quality as unhealthy as smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day.
Quotes attributable to New South Wales Senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi:
“Sydney has been choking under heavy smoke for days now.  We know particle pollution kills and people are suffering. We are in a health and climate emergency.
“What we are experiencing is completely unprecedented and this is only going to get worse if we don’t take climate action now.
Quotes attributable to Greens spokesperson for the climate crisis, Adam Bandt MP:
“Scott Morrison must lift his climate ambition now to save people’s lives.
“As COP25 launched in Madrid overnight, Australia was once again awarded ‘Fossil of the Day’ for our climate denialism and pollution failures. Australia should be global leaders on climate, but instead we’re climate laggards.
“Decisions made over the next few weeks as part of global climate negotiations could determine whether we’ll be sweltering through 50 degree days in Sydney and Melbourne. Decisions now will determine whether the record breaking drought Australians are living through becomes the new normal.

The epidemic of scandals involving Liberal parliamentarians continues with Liberal MP Gladys Liu linked to a donor at the centre of a money laundering probe by Australian authorities.
Greens co-deputy leader Larissa Waters said, “It’s time to end cash-for-access and get the influence of big money and dodgy donors out of politics.
“Prime Minister Morrison should stop the protection racket for Ms Liu and his embattled Ministers and stop the rot by capping political donations and election spending.
“Both the Coalition and the Labor Party say they want to tackle undue foreign influence on politics but they won’t clean up political donations, because they are addicted to the money.
“If Australia capped political donations and election spending, we could address all those seeking to interfere in our democracy, whether they are foreign powers, corporate interests or donors with an agenda.
“The Greens want to cap all political donations at $1,000 per year and ban outright political donations from the mining, property development and gambling industries.
“Every member of parliament should act in the best interests of the community, not for their own self-interest and profit.
“It’s time Australia removed the corrupting influence of money in politics and give democracy back to the people,” she said.