Month: April 2021

Thirty years since the final report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Australia has yet to reckon with its history and the reality that Black Lives Matter.
George Floyd couldn’t breathe – and across the world, his death sparked a renewed conversation around racial injustice, justice systems and police reform.
Yet right here in this country, 474+ First Nations families have lost a loved one in custody in the thirty years since the Royal Commission handed down its findings – deaths for which not a single person or institution has been held to account.
As recently as last month, we learned that Townsville police used a similar lethal choking hold method as used on George Floyd, when arresting a First Nations man who died in 2018.
“Today’s verdict is a small step towards accountability for George Floyd’s family and loved ones. But the families who have lost a loved one in custody in this country are still being denied justice. No-one is being held to account,” Australian Greens Senator for First Nations people Lidia Thorpe said today.
“The Black Lives Matter movement in the United States sparked real change. It’s well past time for this country to have that same painful conversation – to face the reality of what these deeply racist systems are doing to Aboriginal people. After all, we are the most incarcerated people on earth.
“Enough is enough. Enough to police violence. Enough to the over-incarceration of our people, and our children. We’ve suffered enough at the hands of these colonial authorities.
“No justice, no peace. We can end Blak deaths in custody – and end the constant grief, the pain, and the trauma. This Government needs to show some leadership and implement the full recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody as a priority,” Senator Thorpe added.

New investments in clean hydrogen and carbon capture technologies are set to create around 2,500 jobs, support Australian industry and manufacturing into the future and further drive down Australia’s emissions.
The Morrison Government’s 2021-22 Budget will invest a further $539.2 million in new clean hydrogen, carbon capture, use and storage (CCS/CCUS) projects that will support Australian industry, create jobs, help cut emissions and drive investment.

• $275.5 million to accelerate the development of four additional clean hydrogen hubs in regional Australia and implement a clean hydrogen certification scheme.
• $263.7 million to support the development of CCS/CCUS projects and hubs.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the world was changing rapidly and Australia will need to be competitive in a new energy economy to support the jobs of Australians, especially in our heavy industries and regional areas that depend on affordable and reliable energy.
“It is essential we position Australia to succeed by investing now in the technologies that will support our industries into the future, with lower emissions energy that can support Australian jobs,” the Prime Minister said.
“There is a strong appetite from business for the new emissions reduction technologies that they know will be needed to run their operations and keep employing Australians and grow jobs for the future.
“World-leading projects like these are about cutting emissions and creating jobs.
“We want to make clean energy more affordable and reliable, while looking for ways our investments can get more people into work.
“We cannot pretend the world is not changing. If we do, we run the risk of stranding jobs in this country, especially in regional areas.
“Australia can and will continue to meet and beat our emissions reduction commitments, while protecting and growing jobs, by commercialising low emissions technologies like hydrogen and CCS/CCUS, that can support our industries and critical economic sectors. And when we commercialise those technologies, they also create new jobs.
“Low emissions industries mean more jobs directly for workers, but also cheaper energy means lower costs to businesses that they can reinvest in hiring more people.
“Our technology-first approach will see Australia achieve its emissions reduction goals while continuing to grow our export industries and also supporting our trading partners’ efforts to decarbonise.”
Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the Government was backing practical, technological solutions to reduce emissions, not big new taxes.
“We are backing technology to meet our 2030 target and get to net zero,” Minister Taylor said.
“The Government’s investment will reduce technical and commercial barriers to deploying these technologies. It will encourage new large-scale investment from the private sector, creating jobs and supporting Australia’s economic recovery, particularly in regional areas.
“It’s a tangible example of our commitment to being a low emissions technology leader and reducing emissions through technology not taxes, or imposing costs on households, businesses or the economy.
“Australia’s potential to supply our trading partners with low cost, clean energy and permanently and safely store emissions underground has our trading partners, including Japan, South Korea and Singapore excited.”
The Government is actively pursuing opportunities to collaborate on low emissions technologies with Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Australia’s Technology Investment Roadmap is a plan to create jobs, cut energy costs and reduce emissions.
The Roadmap will guide $18 billion of Government investment over the next 10 years and drive at least $70 billion of total new investment in low emissions technologies in Australia by 2030. Our plan will support 130,000 jobs by 2030 and avoid in the order of 250 million tonnes of emissions by 2040.
Investing in low emissions technologies will contribute to Australia’s continued success in meeting and beating our emissions reduction targets. Australia beat its 2020 target by 459 million tonnes and we are on track to meet and beat our 26-28 per cent 2030 Paris target.

The Australian Greens have called on the Morrison Government to urgently prioritise disabled people, and disability support workers, in the national vaccine roll out after it was revealed that just 6.5% of this cohort have received their first dose.
Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said:
“This is absolutely shameful. It’s clear that the Morrison government has once again forgotten to include disabled people, and the people who support us, in their pandemic response.
“Last year, the disability Royal Commission heard that the Morrison government hadn’t included disabled people in their emergency response plan for COVID-19.
“Now, we learn that a decision has been made to exclude disabled people, and our support workers, from receiving priority vaccinations despite placing us in phase 1a of the vaccine rollout!
“It is abundantly clear that the Morrison government do not care about the safety of disabled people; they treated us like second class citizens throughout their response to the pandemic and they’re doing it again in their bungled vaccine rollout.
Australian Greens Health spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert said:
“This Government has failed disabled people and their families and is once again denying them basic care and consideration.
“Less than 100 of the more than 6,000 disability institutions across Australia, a home and a workplace to more than 25,000 disabled people and their support workers, have obtained shipments of either vaccine amounting to less than 1,500 individuals receiving their first dose.
“Disabled people and carers were denied the COVID supplement back in March 2020 when many people’s costs were significantly increased due to quarantine, lock down and COVID restrictions and now they are being failed in the vaccine rollout.
“The Government needs to make it an urgent priority to vaccinate disabled people and support workers now.”

Australia’s iconic aeromedical organisation, the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) continues to play a vital role in protecting regional communities in the fight against COVID-19.
The RFDS has provided retrievals, evacuations, swab transfers and fly-in GP respiratory clinic testing, protecting the lives of people living and working in the most remote corners of the country from the outset of this pandemic.
Speaking during a visit to the RFDS respiratory clinic at Broken Hill airport where the vaccine rollout is underway, Federal Regional Health Minister and Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton said the involvement of the RFDS had helped to ensure that people in rural areas had the same level of protection as Australians in more populated areas.
“Regional and remote Australia has been one of the safest places to be through the pandemic. This is particularly important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have a higher risk of contracting and developing serious illness from COVID-19,” Minister Coulton said.
“The challenge of an effective COVID-19 response in a country as demographically dispersed and sparsely populated as ours is a formidable one.”
“I am proud to say that we have implemented one of the most successful responses to COVID-19 worldwide.”
Minister Coulton said the RFDS has played a key part in keeping remote communities safe through the pandemic.
“It is an essential component of the Australian Government’s commitment to provide the best possible protection for all Australians, regardless of where they live,” he said.
“The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine into rural and remote communities is a vital part of the Government’s vaccine strategy to ensure everyone is protected. Our engagement with the RFDS and other rural health stakeholders will be critical to achieving this in 2021.”
Federation Executive Director of the RFDS, Frank Quinlan, said the organisation was pleased to work with the Australian Government and national health partners on the national COVID-19 response.
“Rural and remote Australia has been protected to date from COVID-19 outbreaks, and we are determined for this success story to be continued,” Mr Quinlan said.