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When First Nations people fight for Country, against dirty mining companies or corporate landowners with deep pockets, they’re often locked in a long, expensive and ultimately unfair legal battle.
The Greens have a plan to balance the scales, by making billionaires and big polluters pay their fair share of tax. Through a ‘billionaires tax’ and a ‘corporate super-profits tax,’ we can put resources towards an environmental and cultural heritage legal defence fund.
“We need better resources so Traditional Owners can fight back and assert their rights to Country.” Said the Greens spokesperson for Justice and First Nations: Gunnai, Gunditjmara and DjabWurrung Senator Lidia Thorpe.
“Right now, there’s no money and no support when we take big corporations to court. In balance of power, The Greens will contribute $51m to establish a First Nations Legal Defence Fund so Traditional Owners can access independent legal advice.”
“We saw at Beetaloo how the Labor and Liberal parties decided to destroy Country, in favour of a company that makes big donations to both of their parties. Too many sacred sites have already been destroyed.”
“We heard evidence in the Senate Inquiry into the Juukan Gorge crisis that mining companies manufacture consent. They talk to corporations who say they represent the Traditional Owners, when they don’t. We need to make sure the right people are making decisions about what happens on their Country.“ Said Thorpe.
Yamatji-Noongar Senator for Western Australia Dorinda Cox: the Greens spokesperson for Mining and Resources said:
“In some state-based legislation, there is no right to appeal. There is no right to veto. First Nations people do not have bags of cash lying around to take mining companies and corporate landowners to the Supreme Court to protect their cultural heritage.”
“The Australian Cultural Heritage Bill and the Senate Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge show that legislation protecting Country is weak. It was written in the interests of mining and development.”
“We need designated resources for First Nations people to assert their rights and fight for Country.”

Labor has signed on to the government’s anti-democracy agenda by voting for new legislation designed to silence critical voices from the nonprofit sector.
The Electoral Legislation Amendment (Political Campaigner) Bill was rammed through the Senate tonight without debate and without going to inquiry, passing after a dirty deal between Labor and the Liberals.
The new laws will mean that more nonprofits will now be classified as “large third parties”, increasing their disclosure requirements and administrative burdens.  More charities will spend more time on paperwork and less time advocating for public interest policy reforms. Many will be discouraged from advocacy work altogether.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“This bill is not about transparency and accountability. It’s not about the integrity of elections. This bill will undermine charities and the right to advocate for change.
“It’s always been about shutting critical voices out of the election debate by tying them up in bureaucracy. Whatever happened to the Liberals hating red tape?
“That’s why over 80 charities joined together to call on the government to scrap this bill. And it’s why the government has ignored them.
“Charities are already subject to strict reporting and transparency obligations under the ACNC. There is no justification for the additional reporting that a lower threshold would impose on the many organisations already struggling to make ends meet.
“This is a cynical stitch-up between the government and Labor. We’re glad to see the back of the voter ID laws but secretly trading one legislative outcome for another is not how democracy is supposed to work.
“Labor is of course patting itself on the back for getting some amendments through, but the changes do little more than make terrible legislation marginally less terrible. They don’t deserve a cookie for that.
“If this government was serious about transparency during elections, they would ban dirty donations, immediately lower the donation disclosure thresholds and require real-time reporting.
“And if they were serious about accountability and inappropriate influence, we would not have been waiting more than 1080 days for a national integrity commission.
“This is a kick in the teeth to a sector that needs more support, not more roadblocks. The Greens will continue to stand up for charities who advocate for policy reforms.”

The Greens say today’s move by the Coalition and Labor to reaffirm their dodgy deal to permanently axe Senate motions represents one more nail in the coffin for democracy and transparency.
The decision makes permanent the temporary arrangement between the Liberals and Labor in June which eliminated motions that ask the Senate to form an opinion, replacing them with two-minute statements.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“Last night we saw Labor join forces with the government to ram through laws designed to silence critical voices from the nonprofit sector.
“And today the big parties have renewed their anti-democracy pact by making permanent their decision in June to prevent Senators from moving and requiring a vote on motions.
“The elimination of motions removes a critical accountability mechanism from the Senate. It allows the big parties to weasel out of telling the public what their position is on issues that might be politically inconvenient.
“Axing motions means shutting down Senators’ rights to represent constituents and to put issues on the agenda that big parties want to stay silent on. It means that the Coalition and Labor will continue to be able to dictate which issues the Senate can vote on.
“Senate motions have been vital in building political pressure to achieve important outcomes, like the banking, disability and veterans Royal Commissions, and the passing of my National Integrity Bill by the Senate in 2019.
“The Liberals and Labor are clearly worried about the influence of smaller parties and independents and are trying to entrench their cosy duopoly.”

Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck, has welcomed the release of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (FWWC) 2023 match schedule saying it puts our two sport-loving nations in the spotlight.
“With the opening match of the tournament in New Zealand, and the final in Sydney, the schedule demonstrates the strength in our trans-Tasman partnership,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Australia and New Zealand boast a passionate fan base, excellent hospitality, robust security arrangements and exciting tourism opportunities.
“The FWWC will showcase the best of both nations, while bringing considerable economic benefits to help as we recover from the pandemic.”
The Matildas will kick-off the first match on Australian soil with a showdown at Sydney Football Stadium on 20 July.
Australia will host six group-stage fixtures at the Sydney Football Stadium, with Perth and Brisbane both hosting five and a further four each taking place in Melbourne and Adelaide.
Sydney will also be the venue for the final, on 20 August 2023 at Stadium Australia.
The matches being played in Australia are:

• Brisbane – Brisbane Stadium, 8 games
• Sydney – Stadium Australia and Sydney Football Stadium, 11 games
• Melbourne – Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, 6 games
• Adelaide – Hindmarsh Stadium, 5 games
• Perth – Perth Rectangular Stadium, 5 games

The FWWC 2023 will be the largest yet, with 32 teams playing. It is also the first to be hosted across two nations.
“The Australian Government is proud to support this landmark tournament, which will be one of the largest sporting events held here since the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Minister Colbeck said.
“It will shine the spotlight on Australia and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars through international visitors and viewers.”
“It will also continue the positive increase in interest in women’s sport and inspire many young females to pull on the boots.”
The Australian Government provided $5 million to Football Australia for the successful joint bid “As One” with New Zealand Football and committed significant support towards delivery of the event.
The Australian Government has also committed $15 million to build the home of the Matildas in Victoria and $12 million to support both a high-performance program for the Matildas and participation by women and girls in community football.
“Football is the game that connects Australia to the world,” Minister Colbeck said.
“It’s accessible and inclusive, played by two million participants in Australia, from 200 different cultures and spread out over 2400 community clubs.”

The Australian Government has invested a further $540 million in response to the COVID 19 pandemic including significant funding to keep Australians safe, and for COVID-19 testing.
COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on Australians’ way of life and the emergence of the Omicron variant of concern highlights that while we have come a long way, we require robust health measures to continue to underpin our COVID-19 Health Response.
The Australian Government has committed more than $33 billion in additional health spending since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, to protect the health of all Australians.
Of this funding, $492 million will be invested into measures to continue support for all Australians, including:

• The Aged Care Preparedness Support Measures Extension
• The Victorian Aged Care Response Centre (VACRC)
• Support for Aged Care Workers in COVID-19 Program (SACWIC)
• COVID-19 Indigenous and Remote Response Measures
• The National Incident Centre
• MBS fee for COVID-19 pathology items
• COVID-19 pathology testing in aged care
• Aged Care: RAD Loan Scheme

In addition, $48 million will be invested into COVID-19 medical research to explore multiple aspects of COVID-19, including vaccination, treatment and modelling.
Since March 2020, the Government has delivered funding to secure life-saving vaccines, support for our hospitals, aged care, and to provide access to primary health care, including telehealth.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said the significant investment in health has saved the lives of thousands of Australians who would have died of COVID-19.
“Over the past two years, health has been a focus of the entire Australian population, and the measures we have put in place have helped ensure Australia has one of the lowest mortality rates and highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world,” Minister Hunt said.
“Compared to the average of the OECD, our actions have helped save approximately 30,000 lives, compared to the United States and the United Kingdom, we have saved approximately 45,000 lives.”
“The availability of highly accurate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing has been critical in identifying COVID-19 cases and genomic sequencing to understand variants of concern in Australia since the pandemic began, allowing health authorities to respond quickly to manage and curb the disease’s spread.
“COVID-19 testing remains an important part of the Australian Government’s strategy to contain the spread of COVID-19, particularly as Australia continues to open up in accordance with the National Plan to Transition Australia’s National COVID-19 Response.
The new investment will extend Australian patient access to bulk-billed COVID-19 tests under the Medicare Benefits Scheme.”
Funding is also being extended for the National Incident Centre (NIC) within the Department of Health, which has been stood-up, without a break, since the Samoan measles outbreak in September 2019.
“The NIC is the epicentre of Australia’s COVID-19 public health response, and is central to advising Government and National Cabinet on COVID-19 in Australia and around the world,” Minister Hunt said.
“It also contributed to the Australian Government’s evidence-based public health response and underpinning the goals of the National Plan and the COVID-19 vaccination program.”
Five research projects around the nation will also share in $15 million in funding and $33 million in competitive grant opportunities will be provided to further support researchers as part of the Morrison Government’s ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response.
The $15 million will be provided for projects led by the University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Western Australia, Murdoch University, and Monash University.
These projects will support early research into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19, clinical trials to improve COVID-19 vaccination planning for Australians who are immunocompromised, and clinical trials focussing on the effectiveness of combining different COVID-19 vaccines.
In addition, $33 million in further funding support will be made available through five streams of research to investigate different aspects of COVID-19.

• $4 million to evaluate safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of new treatments for COVID-19 in Australian clinical settings
• $16 million to accelerate the development of antiviral candidates to prevent or treat SARS-CoV-2
• $7 million to study COVID-19 immune response in children, adolescents, adults and vulnerable populations
• $3 million to study SARS-CoV-2 airborne transmission to inform new and/or improved modelling, and
• $3 million to create a national linked data platform bringing together health data sets to strengthen evidence-based public health and health system planning and management.

“Funding research projects through this grant opportunity will help protect Australians from COVID-19 by increasing the options available to clinicians to treat people who are infected and improve our ability to predict the spread of the virus and better target our response,” Minister Hunt said.
Minister for Regional Health, Dr David Gillespie, said support will be extended for the Remote Community Preparedness and Retrieval measure, which is keeping regional Australians safe and helping address COVID-19 outbreaks,
“Our Government will extend the Remote Community Preparedness and Retrieval measure has been in place since March 2020,” Minister Gillespie said.
“This will continue to assist in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine to rural and remote areas, utilising the resources and expertise of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
“The Government also recognises that COVID-19, including potential new variants present a risk to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, who experience a burden of disease more than double that of non-Indigenous Australians.
“To ensure potential outbreaks are caught early, the Remote Point of Care Testing (POCT) Program, which is operated through the Kirby Institute, will be extended as well.”
The POCT Program will help to detect and manage outbreaks of COVID-19 in rural or remote communities. Outbreaks in these communities have the potential to be very serious due to the risk of rapid spread, the burden of disease, and barriers to access to some health services.
These measures will continue to support the joint outbreak preparedness and response work the Australian Government undertakes with the Indigenous health sector and state and territory governments through the expert leadership of the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group on COVID-19.
The Australian Government is committed to ensuring our senior Australians are protected against COVID-19 which has had a disproportionately significant impact across the aged care sector, particularly in 2020.
Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, said the Government is continuing to assist aged care service providers to manage the direct impacts of the pandemic.
“Our investment will continue funding the Aged Care Support Program Extension grant opportunity, which reimburses providers for eligible costs incurred as a direct result of managing COVID-19,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Ready to deploy surge workforce arrangements also remain in place to ensure the continuity of care for aged care residents even in the event of an outbreak within their residential facility.
“The spending on aged care preparedness will also continue intensive case management support available to aged care services experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak amongst residents and/or staff. This will ensure we remain ready to assist providers experiencing outbreaks.”
The Australian Government recognises the outstanding efforts of our aged care workforce in protecting the health and wellbeing senior Australians throughout the pandemic, and will provide additional funding to continue the Support for Aged Care Workers in COVID-19 (SACWIC) grant opportunity. This grant opportunity is being extended to 30 June 2022 to ensure support remains available as required.
At times where there is significant community transmission of COVID-19, the SACWIC grant enables aged care workers to adhere to single site restrictions without being financially disadvantaged. Single site restrictions are voluntarily enacted to mitigate the risk of workers unintentionally spreading COVID-19 between facilities.
As Australia transitions to living with COVID-19 the need for rapid response in our aged care sector, including access to diagnostic testing, will continue.
Minister Colbeck said the residents of Australia’s aged care facilities are a very highly vaccinated population and the same is true of the aged care workforce, but testing remains a critical tool to manage potential outbreaks.
“The Government will provide funding to extend the ‘in-reach’ COVID-19 pathology services for residential aged care facilities, as we work towards a future approach were rapid antigen testing becomes the standard for COVID-19 surveillance in aged care,” he said.
“We are also making funding available to continue the work of the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre (VACRC) to support preparedness activities and rapidly respond to COVID-19 outbreaks in that state.
“The VACRC has been critical in prioritising the quality of care and protection of residents, and ensuring a rapid and effective response for providers, and communicating with families.”
The existing Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) Support Loan Program will be extended to continue to support the residential aged care sector, preventing the unnecessary insolvency of providers as a result of the pandemic.
Some residential aged care facilities have experienced declining occupancy rates during the pandemic, as senior Australians look to remain in their own homes or with family.
The RAD Support Loan Program has helped facilities manage the financial impact of declining resident numbers, which has minimised the flow-on cost to taxpayers.