Month: November 2023

Australian school students walking out of the classroom tomorrow and Friday to call for peace in Gaza should be encouraged to exercise their democratic right to protest, the Greens say.

With the number of people killed in Gaza now over 13,000, including 5,500 children, thousands of students will strike tomorrow in Melbourne, and in Sydney and Wollongong on Friday, to demand Labor join growing international calls for an end to the violence.

Australian Greens spokesperson on Education (Primary & Secondary), Senator Penny Allman-Payne said:

“Australian school students are seeing kids their own age pulled from the rubble of Gaza. Is it any wonder that they want the government to do something about this horror?

“Telling kids to stay in the classroom while their political leaders endorse Israel’s massacre of Palestinians is completely out-of-touch with the public mood and ignorant of how informed students are.

“If the government really wants kids to stay in the classroom, they should simply demand a permanent ceasefire, like the majority of Australians are calling for.

“I urge students to ignore condescending calls from Labor and the Liberals to turn a blind eye to the brutality in Gaza and exercise their right to engage in peaceful protest.

“Solidarity with striking students tomorrow and Friday, and with everyone engaged in resistance to Israel’s war on the people of Gaza.”

Victorian Greens education spokesperson, Aiv Puglielli MLC said:

“Every day young people are watching this humanitarian catastrophe unfold on their phones.

“They are seeing horrific violence committed against Palestinians by the state of Israel as the death toll in Gaza rises above 13,000.

“They are also seeing their governments refuse to act, and ignore the millions of people around the world calling for peace.

“I’ve spent recent Sundays marching alongside tens of thousands of people in Melbourne, in what have become the largest peace demonstrations in Australia since the Iraq war.

“The Greens back every student planning to strike tomorrow and use their voices to call for an immediate ceasefire.”

The Albanese Government is supporting the Pacific to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, with a $37 million investment in the second phase of a program being implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The Transformative Agenda for Women, Youth and Adolescents program will work with nine Pacific governments over the next five years to strengthen quality sexual and reproductive health services.

Australia supports the universal realisation of sexual and reproductive health and rights. This enables everyone, especially women and girls, to make informed decisions about their health and to participate and benefit from social and economic development.

This funding complements other Australian Government investments in sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Pacific, including $5.7 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation and $15.3 million to UNFPA Supplies. Australia is also providing $38 million in core funding for UNFPA globally.

Our support is delivering results, including improved midwifery through training for Pacific midwives, providing young people with the information they need to stay safe and enabling more people with disabilities to access services.

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

“Australia is committed to empowering all people, particularly women and girls, to realise and understand what their rights are when it comes to sexual and reproductive health.

“Investments in sexual and reproductive health and rights are key to improving health, strengthening gender equality and accelerating inclusive development.”

QMinister for International Development and the Pacific, the Hon Pat Conroy MP said:

“Access to sexual and reproductive health services, information and education means people can make informed decisions about their lives, protect their health and reach their full potential.

“These investments are part of our five-year $620 million Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative, which is supporting partner countries to build resilient and equitable health systems.”

In New Delhi, I announced the inaugural Maitri Fellowships program to support the two-way exchange of Australian and Indian researchers.

These foreign and trade policy placements in Australia and India will build academic capacity and deepen understanding of contemporary perspectives in each country.

Research will focus on economic trends and issues of geostrategic interest to Australia and India.

Eligible Australian institutions are invited to nominate experts for placement. The program has three streams:

• long-term fellowships (1-2 years) for Indian senior researchers to come to Australia
• short-term fellowships (up to 6 months) for Indian early to mid-career researchers to come to Australia
• short-term fellowships (up to 6 months) for Australian early to mid-career researchers to go to India.

The Maitri Fellowships program is administered by the Centre for Australia-India Relations. Further details can be found at australiaindiacentre.org.au.

Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Senator Penny Wong said:

“The Maitri Fellowships program is an investment by the Australian Government in a broader and deeper understanding of the Australia-India relationship, our shared interests and shared challenges.

“As the partnership between our two countries grows, the importance of this understanding is ever more important”

Centre for Australia-India Relations CEO Tim Thomas said:

“The Centre for Australia-India Relations is committed to fostering mutual understanding of Australia and India through informed public commentary and debate.”

A slice of Bollywood in Brisbane or a splash of Melbourne in Mumbai is now on the cards for filmmakers thanks to a new agreement between Australia and India.

Australia’s film industry will benefit from an exciting new partnership with India – following the ratification of the Australia-India Audio-visual Co-production Agreement.

The treaty-level agreement will strengthen collaboration and creative exchange between Australia and India, allowing more films and television series to showcase the best of both cultures, landscapes and people.

The agreement will strengthen the existing ties between the Australian and Indian film industries, assist Australian producers reach new audiences, and Australian audiences to connect with new stories.

The agreement – announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March – will also open up new avenues for industry investment and help distribution for Australian producers in one of the world’s largest and growing markets.

Projects in both countries will be able to access government funding including grants, loans and tax offsets under the agreement.

Since the inception of the co-production program in Australia almost 40 years ago, formal arrangements have been signed with 14 countries, leading to the creation of 214 official co-production titles with total budgets of more than $2 billion.

For more information about the International Co-production Program visit Screen Australia.

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

“I’m very excited to see yet another great outcome for the Australian film industry, and the Australia-India relationship.”

“Our two countries enjoy deep and enduring cultural ties. We’re proud to have a large and growing Indian community here in Australia and this agreement will only see our links strengthen further and bringing our people even closer together.”

Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke MP said:

“India is a global film powerhouse and this agreement is great news for the Australian screen industry.”

“As a long-time Bollywood fan, I can’t wait to see how this plays out and know this will be a gamechanger for both Australian and Indian filmmakers.”

Australians are only going backwards under this Albanese Government, and Victorians are being hit the hardest of all.

Despite the Prime Minister’s promise that Australians would be better off under Labor, new analysis has shown that Victorians are $1,100 worse off compared to their counterparts in New South Wales.

This comes at the same time as new analysis of ABS State Accounts data which revealed that in the year to June 2023, Victorians faced the fastest decline in real household disposable income per person, at a rate of 6.5 per cent.

Chair of the Cost of Living Committee and Liberal Senator for Victoria Jane Hume said that it is going to be a really tough Christmas period for many Victorian families because of Labor’s cost of living crisis.

“We know that mortgage stress is increasing, real wages are going backwards, and the price of everything is going up. Now we have analysis to show just how much the average Victorian is worse off under Labor.

“The Cost of Living Committee has repeatedly heard from charities that they are seeing record demands on their services, now from families with two incomes, and some even with mortgages. At Christmas, those services will be busier than ever and from these numbers we can expect Victorians will see the worst of it.

“We have consistently heard that the best thing the Government can do to help take the burden off these charities and help families is to get inflation down. That is the only way we take pressure off the RBA so they don’t have to keep raising interest rates.

“Both the state and federal Labor Governments need to own up to the damage they have done to our state. Victorians are clearly worse off under Labor.”

The Albanese Labor Government continues to politicise the health of regional Australians rather than take real action, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health Anne Webster says.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Mark Butler will announce a review into the Monash Modified Model, the District of Workforce Shortage and Distribution Priority Areas (DPAs), which effect the distribution of doctors throughout Australia.

“I have been calling for a review of all of these challenges for months but Minister Butler fails to acknowledge his Government bled the regions of doctors by expanding the DPAs,” Dr Webster said.

“He opened the door for International Medical Graduate Doctors to leave the regions for peri-urban settings, with exits from regions increasing by 57 per cent in the first 6 months after his policy change. This has been a major factor in GP clinics closing in Mallee and around Australia.

“Regional health is in crisis, as I have been saying since my appointment as Shadow Assistant Minister in December. Action and funding is needed to address regional health issues now, not after another review that will only confirm what regional Australians and our health workforce already know. In fact, the Coalition set a number of these reviews in motion 20 months ago.

The Minister’s announcement comes after the Coalition-instigated Strengthening Medicare Taskforce which recommended the creation of an independent workforce planning agency, expanded training pathways for doctors in regional and remote areas and greater incentives for practitioners to work in regional Australia. These were already key initiatives of the Coalition Stronger Rural Health Strategy.

“Minister Butler’s proposed Distribution and Thin Markets Review shows how thin the Albanese Labor government has been on action, thin on funding and thin on caring about the plight of regional Australians,” Dr Webster said.

“The Coalition’s strategy included a range of incentives, targeted funding and bonding arrangements that give doctors more opportunities to train and practice in rural Australia. It also strengthened the role of nurses and allied health professionals to deliver more multidisciplinary, team-based models of primary health care. Initiatives such as the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network, Junior Doctor Training Program and More Doctors for Rural Australia program were all targeted to improve access to doctors for people in regional Australia.

“Regional Australians collectively are missing over $6.55 billion annually in spending on healthcare access compared to those in the city, according to the Nous Report commissioned by the National Rural Health Alliance.

“Without doctors providing primary care in regional Australia, the health costs are falling on stretched regional emergency departments. Only 6.5 per cent of total Government health funding goes to General Practice. Government spending on an equivalent visit to the GP is $80 compared to an Emergency Department visit for the same illness at over $600. Primary Care needs more funding as it keeps people out of hospital. Funding for Regional Primary Care is essential for efficient and effective regional health care delivery.”