Month: September 2023

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, commenting on the release of nuclear costings by the government, said today Peter Dutton’s exorbitant nuclear pipedream was a distraction from the urgent need to stop more coal and gas.

Mr Bandt said Peter Dutton’s advocacy of nuclear power was a dumb fantasy, but Labor pushing more coal and gas projects in the middle of a climate crisis is dangerous.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:

“The Liberals are for nuclear, Labor is for more coal and gas and the Greens are for clean renewables.”

“Across the country, Labor wants to prop up dirty coal fired power stations, open new coal mines and frack for more gas in the middle of a climate crisis. 

“Peter Dutton is living in nuclear fantasy land, but Labor’s reality of more coal and gas is dangerous.”

Greens Forest spokesperson Senator Janet Rice has announced today the Greens’ fully-costed ‘Protecting Native Forests, Protecting the Climate’ policy.

The Greens’ plan is an integrated approach of immediate action on the climate crisis by protecting Australia’s forests and banking the carbon benefits from ending logging; funding ecological restoration and supporting regional workers and communities through a just transition.

The Greens plan would commit ten billion dollars over 20 years, to be provided to state governments that end native forest logging, including states that have already committed to doing so.

The funding would be allocated between state governments, with $800 million allocated on the basis of the most recent log harvesting volumes. The remaining $200 million will be allocated between jurisdictions (including the Northern Territory) as negotiated by the Commonwealth.

As part of taking real action on the climate crisis and reaping the benefits of the carbon value, state governments that end native forest logging must commit to not using forests to create offsets for fossil fuel expansion.

The Commonwealth and state governments would be required to allocate a major proportion of the $10 billion to ecological restoration and ensuring a just transition for workers and communities. These projects would provide significant employment in areas such as restoring previously logged forests where post-logging regeneration has failed; pest and weed control; effective, ecologically appropriate and culturally-informed fire management, and other projects that help restore and protect the incredible beauty of Australia’s native forests.

https://greens.org.au/sites/default/files/2023-09/Greens%202023%20Policy%20Initiative%20-%20Protecting%20Native%20Forests%2C%20Protecting%20the%20Climate.pdf

Senator Jordon Steele-John will chair a hearing of the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into the Provision of and Access to Dental Services in Australia in Brisbane on Wednesday 20th September 2023. 

The committee will discuss urgent reforms to increase access to dental care and explore ways to reduce the Queensland public dental waiting list, which has 135,000 people on the list. 

The hearing will bring together oral healthcare organisations representing large cohorts of the community including a panel representing older Australians who will call for the need to urgently implement a Seniors Dental Benefits Schedule. 

The committee will also hear from Deakin Health Economics whose submission calls for oral health to be integrated within primary healthcare, funded under Medicare’s Health Insurance Act 1973, getting closer to the goal of universal access to affordable oral healthcare. 

Senator Jordon Steele-John, Chair of the Committee and Australian Greens Spokesperson for Health said:

“We are hearing from the community that they simply can not afford to go to the dentist. There is a deep urgency for the government to transform access to oral health care in this country. 

“The lack of access to free dental care is having far-reaching consequences across our public health system.

“No one should choose between paying their rent, paying for food, and accessing oral health care. 

“When people can’t afford to go to the dentist their only option is to be admitted to hospital. We saw in 2020-21, that 19,272 people were admitted to hospitals across Queensland because of preventable dental conditions. These hospitalisations could have been avoided with timely and free oral healthcare. 

“Too many older Australians can’t afford to go to the dentist, this is leading to 69% of people aged over 75 experiencing the pain of gum disease. 69% of people experience something that is totally preventable. Instead of taking the decisive action to establish a Seniors Dental Beenfit Schedule, a recommendation of the Aged Care Royal Commission, the government is dragging its feet and leaving older Australians to live with tooth pain and ongoing, preventable disease.” 

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will lead Australia’s delegation to the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly from 18 to 23 September.

Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Jenny McAllister will join the Foreign Minister in New York to continue the Australian Government’s global engagement on climate change, including at the United Nations’ Climate Ambition Summit.

The UN is where countries agree the rules we operate by. Australia benefits from these rules that protect our sovereignty and prevent our fate from being decided by bigger countries.

Australia has a big stake in the effort to make the United Nations fit for purpose – working with other countries to make sure it evolves for the challenges of our time.

Minister Wong will deliver Australia’s national statement, emphasising our contribution on climate and development, our commitment to UN reform and our priority of preventing conflict in our region.

The ministers will engage with a broad range of partners on our shared priorities and those of our region, including our commitment to addressing climate change and helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in full.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong said:

“Australia’s commitment to multilateralism is enduring. So many of the challenges we face demand truly global solutions, and the United Nations is the only body where the whole world comes together.

“We need to ensure our institutions like the UN evolve to meet global needs. Australia is committed to reforms that benefit people everywhere and ensure no one is left behind.”

Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator the Hon Jenny McAllister said:

“Australia is back at the table when it comes to the international fight against climate change. Global collaboration is key to realising the economic opportunities for Australia in a net zero future.

“I look forward to promoting Australia’s constructive role on climate change at home, in the Pacific and beyond as we build momentum towards this year’s Conference of the Parties in Dubai.”

The Albanese Government is set to deliver the single biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade, with welcome new support today for the Housing Australia Future Fund meaning the legislation is set to pass the Senate later this week.

The passage of this legislation, along with the commitments made at last month’s National Cabinet, represents the most significant reforms to housing in a generation.

Delivering the Housing Australia Future Fund will ensure more Australians have a safe and affordable place to call home.

The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund will create a secure, ongoing pipeline of funding for social and affordable rental housing, fulfilling the commitment the Government made to the Australian people.

In addition, today the Government confirms an additional $1 billion will be invested in the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to support new homes.

The Government thanks the Crossbench in the House of Representatives and the Senate, including the Greens, for the constructive engagement over a number of months on this critical legislation. 

Returns from the Housing Australia Future Fund will help deliver the Government’s commitment of 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in the fund’s first five years.

This includes 4,000 homes for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence or older women at risk of homelessness.

Fund returns will also deliver the Government’s commitments to help address acute housing needs, including:

• $200 million for the repair, maintenance and improvement of housing in remote Indigenous communities
• $100 million for crisis and transitional housing options for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness; and
• $30 million to build housing for veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness.

This will mean more homes for key workers, more affordable homes for Australian renters, and more homes for those most in need.

The Housing Australia Future Fund is backed by numerous stakeholders, including housing experts, community housing providers, and every state and territory Housing Minister.

The package of housing legislation also includes the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council Bill 2023, which will establish the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council as an independent statutory advisory body.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Measures No. 1) Bill 2023 changes the name of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to Housing Australia and streamlines its functions.

The Housing Australia Future Fund is one part of the Albanese Government’s ambitious housing reform agenda, which also includes:

• A $3 billion New Homes Bonus, and $500 million Housing Support Program
• A new $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator to deliver thousands of new social homes across Australia.
• A National Housing Accord which includes federal funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes over five years from 2024 (to be matched by up to another 10,000 by the states and territories)
• Increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 15 per cent, the largest increase in more than 30 years
• Additional $2 billion in financing for more social and affordable rental housing through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation
• New incentives to boost the supply of rental housing by changing arrangements for investments in built-to-rent accommodation
• $1.7 billion one-year extension of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement with States and Territories, including a $67.5 million boost to homelessness funding over the next year
• State and territories committing to A Better Deal for Renters
• States and territories supporting the national roll out of the Help to Buy program, which will reduce the cost of buying a home.

Reports of nearly 200 GP clinics around Australia closing in the past year is deeply concerning, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health Anne Webster says.

NewsGP has been supplied data from 17 of Australia’s 31 Primary Health Networks (PHNs) showing at least 184 general practices have closed nationwide, significantly more than the 60 closures in four years identified by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners earlier this year.

“These closures, and there could be more that aren’t captured by the data, are not being offset by new clinics,” Dr Webster said.

“This highlights the crisis our health sector is facing, and this is only exacerbated in regional Australia under the watch of the Albanese Labor Government.”

Dr Webster said Labor’s expansion of Distribution Priority Areas as one of Health Minister Mark Butler’s first decisions since taking office saw 57% of International Medical Graduate doctors move to urban settings away from regional areas.

“The expansion of the DPA was a major factor in GP clinics closing in Mallee and around Australia, there are not enough doctors and Labor’s policy simply funnelled the workforce to outer suburbs of major cities,” Dr Webster said.

“They have done nothing to alleviate GP shortages in the regions and these nationwide closures are simply disastrous for those living in the country.”

Earlier this month the Nationals Federal Conference backed Dr Webster’s motion to increase the number of general practitioners in regional Australia by capping Medicare Provider Numbers in oversupplied metropolitan areas and encouraging doctors to take up provider numbers in rural, regional and remote Australia.

“One of the key outcomes of the Mildura Regional Health Workforce Summit I convened in March was identifying the need for policy that makes moving to the regions viable for doctors and all health professionals,” Dr Webster said.

“This policy of capping provider numbers, with an activity test to ensure enough provider numbers are issued in regional Australia to guarantee adequate full-time equivalent GPs, will help turn the harmful tide Minister Butler and the Albanese Labor Government are presiding over.”

Labor’s housing and rental crisis is set to worsen in WA, with the latest ABS population data revealing net migration to the state increased at the highest rate in Australia for a second consecutive quarter.

The ABS population figures for the March 2023 quarter confirm WA recorded the largest population growth of any state or territory at 2.8%.

In the three months to the end of March, 26,005 people migrated to the West – 18,096 of them from overseas.

This was up from the previous quarter, when the state’s population jumped by 19,198.

The annual increase in WA’s population from March 2022 to March 2023 was 78,342.

52,664, or 67%, of those new arrivals came from overseas.

The national increase over this period was 454,400, with WA receiving 17% of international arrivals.

This figure is an increase from the 10% of international arrivals WA absorbed in the time frame covered by the previous ABS data release.

Senator Dean Smith said the new ABS data was concerning, as the significant spike in new international arrivals would put more pressure on a housing and rental market already stretched to its limit.

“What would normally be cause for celebration, given the important contribution immigration makes to our economy and society, will remain a major concern until Labor delivers a plan to properly support both those arriving and those already here in WA,” Senator Smith said.

“In its last Budget, Labor committed to 1.5 million people coming to Australia over five years.”

“The Albanese Government has totally inadequate plans to provide these new Australians the support they deserve on arrival, including housing.”

“Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund is only expected to deliver 30,000 homes in that same five-year period.”

“WA households are doing it tough in Labor’s cost of living crisis – with high rents, a housing shortage and interest rates punishing both renters and homeowners.”

“And the foremost issue is where they will live.”

As is the case across much of Australia, the WA population boom comes at a time of significant housing, rental and cost of living stress.

Data recently published in The Australian revealed that national rental vacancy rates fell to their lowest level on record in August this year, compounded by fewer homes being built and investors leaving the property market.

At below 1%, WA had the tightest rental market of any state along with South Australia.

According to the same article, national rental affordability was the lowest in three decades, with a median-income household, earning $105,000, only able to afford 13% of properties.

Nor are leading housing industry figures optimistic about the future – including Labor’s HAFF initiative.

Last week, they flagged concerns including zoning and developmental delays, skilled trade shortages and record high interest rates.

“This population data reflects what we’ve always known – that WA is the best place to live and work in Australia,” Senator Smith said.

“However, the unplanned and un-modelled immigration we are now seeing poses a threat to the living standards that make WA what it is, including overcrowding of schools, hospitals, and public infrastructure.”