Month: January 2023

This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese toured the flood ravaged Kimberley region with the Minister for Emergency Management, Senator Murray Watt, and Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan announcing funding for impacted families and individuals.

Upon seeing the extent of the damage and destruction, Prime Minister Albanese committed the Commonwealth Government to providing whatever support the Western Australian Government requires to rebuild and recover as quickly as possible from the unprecedented flooding event.

WA Greens Senator and Yamatji-Noongar woman, Dorinda Cox said:

“There’s a huge amount of work ahead to rebuild the lives and livelihoods of the communities in the Kimberley. We must guarantee that those families who lost everything do not suffer extended periods of displacement and are able to return home and be on Country as soon as it’s safe to do so.

“The individuals, families, organisations and businesses of Broome, Derby, Fitzroy Crossing and the smaller communities along the Martuwarra, must be provided all the same support and funding opportunities that other flood affected Australian communities have received.

“The Disaster Recovery Allowance of up to 13 weeks of income support is currently available to those who are eligible, but the one-off, means-tested, Disaster Recovery Payment of $1000 per adult and $400 per child remains outstanding as the Commonwealth waits for data to be released by the WA Department Fire and Emergency Services before these much needed payments can be activated. Why are these families who have lost everything and are in crisis still waiting?

“Past recovery efforts in our cyclone-prone regional areas have been slow and have unduly impacted struggling communities. With the support of the Commonwealth, the McGowan Government can capitalise on the joint Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, to ensure an effective, long-term recovery in the Kimberley.

“Immediate support for families and small businesses is important, but the region relies heavily on the $2 billion dollar tourism industry, and we need to start planning for its recovery now as well.

“Following two tourist seasons of border closures, Broome and the Kimberley are going to need significant sector-specific stimulus funding to ensure international and domestic tourists return to the region as soon as possible.

“This flood is unprecedented in scale, but it won’t be the region’s last natural disaster. We need a policy framework that addresses climate change adaptation and mitigates loss and damage for regional and remote communities.

“The Albanese Government is committed to supporting our Pacific neighbours on the existential issue of loss and damage associated with the catastrophic effects of climate change. Now it must demonstrate that commitment to the First Peoples of the Kimberley who are impacted by a worsening climate.

“The Australian Government took a leadership role in the final days of negotiation at the COP27 in Egypt, when delegates were struggling to agree on how to fund and support poor and vulnerable nations to adapt to climate change. Now, they need to come good and start funding impacted communities in their own backyard to do the same.”

The rental system is totally broken. 
 

Already exorbitant Sydney rents have risen yet again to record highs, according to new rental data released today.
 

NSW renters desperately need an immediate rent freeze – until longer-term rental reform can be implemented, including cutting rents and ending unfair, no-grounds evictions.
 

So far all we’ve heard from Labor and Liberal are hollow words that tinker around the edges of the housing affordability crisis and refuse to face this rental crisis head-on.
 

Greens are committed to putting renters first and pushing the major parties to freeze and cut rents.

Years of special treatment for greedy developers and big investors have created this crisis.
 

Renters are being forced out of their homes and neighbourhoods, queuing up with hundreds of people just for an inspection, giving up precious family pets and avoiding basic maintenance requests because of fear of retribution.
 

This crisis isn’t going anywhere until we cut rents, end unfair, no-grounds evictions, and stop the special treatment of landlords and big investors profiting from what should be a basic human right.
 

The Greens will push the next government to freeze and cut rents, stop unfair, no-grounds evictions, properly tax mega-mansions and trophy homes, and build a system of housing that works for everyone, not corporate profiteers.

Australian Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John has today written to the Iranian Ambassador stating his political sponsorship of Majid Kazemi following the Iranian authorities sentencing him to death on 9th January 2023. 

The Iranian diaspora in Australia is greatly concerned for Majid Kazemi, as the Iranian authorities have continued to carry out executions of people who joined protests following Jina Amini’s death. The United Nations Human Rights office has said that the recent executions of Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini followed “unfair trials based on forced confessions”.

The Australian Greens are calling on the Australian Government to do more than the current sanctions that are in place on some Iranian officials. The current sanctions do not go far enough and are not as strong as those imposed by other countries, including Canada. 

The community is desperately calling for more to be done to show Iranian authorities that these abhorrent acts will not be tolerated. 

Senator Steele-John, spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Peace and Nuclear Disarmament said:

“Every day we wake up to the news that more Iranian freedom protestors have been sentenced to death. This must end. The international community must keep putting pressure on Iranian authorities to free those innocent civilians who are subject to fatal penalties because they were crying out for freedom in their country.”

“Today I have written to the Iranian Ambassador, stating my political sponsorship of Majid Kazemi. Majid Kazemi has family in Australia and he was sentenced to death on 9th January 2023. 

“The Australian Government’s response to Iran since Jina Ahmini’s death in September 2022 has been too slow and has fallen short of what the community is asking for. 

“The Australian Greens are calling on the Australian government to expand the Magnitsky sanctions, including financial asset freezing and further visa bans on people linked to the Iranian regime including key security officials, Basiji Militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp and the morality police.

“The Iranian diaspora community has been calling for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be listed as a terrorist organisation, and the Australian Government must start listening. This would send a strong signal that Australia will not stay silent in the face of human rights abuses and will act to punish perpetrators who are accountable for these heinous crimes.

“The Australian Greens will continue to call on the Iranian government to end its violent crackdown on protesters and request the release of all arrested protestors. We will continue to pressure the Australian Government to do more.”

The draft Safeguard Mechanism rules released by the Federal Labor government today don’t go far enough and risk continuing to be captured by coal and gas interests.

The safeguard mechanism is primarily about regulating coal, oil and gas, with 57% of emissions covered by the scheme coming from those sectors. 

The Chubb Review into carbon credits also released yesterday reinforces the Greens’ concerns about allowing unlimited offsetting as part of the Safeguard Mechanism reform. The use of Australian Carbon Credit Units instead of actual emission cuts, including those represented by Safeguard Mechanism Credits, risks filling the scheme with hot air.

The government is likely to need the Greens’ backing in the Senate for the rules, which are a disallowable instrument, and to pass the enabling legislation currently before the Parliament.

The Greens want to work with the government to ensure the Safeguard Mechanism delivers real and deep cuts to pollution, not just dodgy offsetting and an excuse for coal and gas to expand and keep polluting.

More than half of the facilities currently covered by the Safeguard Mechanism are coal or gas projects and the 118 coal, oil and gas projects in the investment pipeline will sabotage the Safeguard Mechanism unless they are dealt with by the government.

Acting Greens Leader Mehreen Faruqi said:

“Labor’s Safeguard Mechanism is giving coal and gas a green light to keep expanding as long as they buy enough offsets.

“Coal and gas are making record profits. Buying offsets is just coins down the back of the couch for them. Coal and gas can’t be allowed to just buy their way out of real pollution cuts with dodgy offsetting.

“Coal and gas are causing the climate crisis, but Labor wants more.

“Labor says this law is about Australian industry, but really it’s directly about coal, oil and gas, with 57% of the pollution covered by the law coming from those three climate-destroying industries.

“The Greens want to work with the government to ensure the Safeguard Mechanism delivers real and deep pollution cuts, not just dodgy offsetting and an excuse for coal and gas to expand and keep polluting.

“The Greens will use our balance of power position to push Labor to stop opening up new coal and gas projects and ensure real cuts to pollution, not just hot air.

“The more we let coal and gas off the hook, the more everyone else will have to do. Australian households and manufacturing shouldn’t be asked to do more just so coal and gas can keep on expanding.”