Category: Australian News

The Albanese Labor Government will introduce legislation this year to enforce a minimum age for access to social media and other relevant digital platforms.

A Commonwealth-led approach to this important social issue will ensure Australian children are better protected from online harms and parents and carers are supported.

Federal legislation will be informed by engagement with States and Territories through National Cabinet and draw upon recent work by former Chief Justice, Robert French.

It also builds upon the Albanese Government’s work to address online harms for young people. In particular, the $6.5 million age assurance trial which is testing different implementation approaches to help inform policy design.

the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese

“We know social media is causing social harm, and it is taking kids away from real friends and real experiences.

“Australian young people deserve better and I stand with them and with all Australian parents in protecting our kids.

“The safety and mental and physical health of our young people is paramount.

“We’re supporting parents and keeping kids safe by taking this action, because enough is enough.”

the Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland

“As a mother of young daughters, and Minister for Communications, I fully understand concerns around harmful online environments and addictive social media behaviour of children.

“Parents want real solutions and we are taking decisive action to identify and implement these very solutions to help ensure young people can use the internet in a safe and positive way that supports their learning and their lives.

“We are also holding big tech to account because platforms and online services have a key responsibility for the safety of their users.

“We will continue to engage experts, young people, advocates and parents through the age assurance trial which is an important aspect of this journey.”

Today the ACT Government has released a report showing that changes to energy efficiency standards made in April last year have improved living conditions for many renters in Canberra. 

Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction Shane Rattenbury said the report is an endorsement of the work being undertaken to make Canberra a fairer place to live for renters. 

“Everyone should have access to a safe and affordable home. In a wealthy place like Canberra, nobody should have to live in a home that boils in summer and freezes in winter,” Minister Rattenbury said. 

“Last year, we introduced new standards for ceiling insulation so that people who rent their homes are protected from the hot summers and cold winters we can often experience here in Canberra.  

“In a cost of living crisis, better insulation standards do more than just keep our homes comfortable, they actually reduce energy bills and help Canberrans use less energy when powering their home. 

“Since the new standard was introduced, our monitoring of the program has shown that there has been no impact from the improved standards on rental prices or the number of homes in the market.  

“Contrary to the rhetoric of many conservative commentators, our evidence shows that improving rental insulation standards does not lead to landlords taking homes off the market and prices rising. These reforms are making life better for renters.  

“In fact, over the past year and a half we have seen landlords getting behind the new standards. There has been strong compliance with disclosure obligations and an increase in ceiling insulation upgrades across the ACT more broadly. 

“As a result of this increased demand for ceiling insulation, we are also seeing more certified ceiling insulation installers across Canberra, which is improving competition in the market and reducing overall cost for insulation upgrades. 

“I’m thrilled to see the results of this fantastic progressive reform to support young people and renters in Canberra, and I look forward to doing even more work into the future to make Canberra a better and fairer place to live in as a renter.“ 

The ACT Government offers support to rental property owners through the Sustainable Household Scheme. Eligible property owners can access zero-interest loans of up to $15,000 to upgrade the insulation or install efficient electric appliances in their rental property. 

Renters can also maximise their home’s energy efficiency through the free Renters Home Energy Program. As part of this service an expert assessor can either come to your home or call you, and provide tailored draught-proofing and energy saving solutions that are suitable for renters. 

Read the monitoring and evaluation report on the first year of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard on the Everyday Climate Choices website. 

The Greens have slammed the Victorian Labor government for encouraging more fossil fuels in the middle of a climate crisis as Labor plots more offshore gas projects in Victoria and backflips on their plans to phase out dangerous gas cooktops in homes.

It follows reports today that reveal that the Premier has excluded electrifying existing gas cooktops from Victoria’s net zero road map and has signalled new laws to encourage more offshore gas projects. 

The Victorian Greens have labelled this move as another cowardly political decision that denies basic climate science and exposes kids to more asthma-causing gas fumes in homes.

Gas cooktops are not only terrible for the climate, they’re expensive and they lead to complex health issues including childhood asthma. 

The Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell says that the Premier is denying climate science and blowing up any ambition that this government had of tackling the climate crisis. 

Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell: 

“How disappointing that the Labor Premier is giving in to the fossil fuel gas corporations and their lobby groups yet again. This is a cowardly, political decision that denies basic climate science.

“We’re in the middle of a climate crisis caused by burning fossil fuels, yet Labor wants to pour more fuel on the fire and encourage more offshore gas projects in Victoria. 

“Just last month we recorded the world’s hottest day. In a time when countries across the world are trying to speed up their pathway to net zero, the Labor Premier is winding Victoria’s back. 

“We’ve seen backflip after backflip from this Labor government. Instead of listening to climate science and the experts, Labor is pandering to the ring-wing conservatives and fossil fuel lobby groups.

“We don’t need any new gas, Australia already exports far more than we’d ever need. It’s expensive and destroys the climate. We should be focussing on supporting people to move to electric cooking and heating, which works just as well and is a lot cheaper and cleaner.”

Today is World EV Day, and you will see more ACT Government electric vehicles out and about.

Five new electric vehicles including a ute, two tipper trucks, one litter picking truck and a delivery van have recently joined the commercial fleet for trial within City Services to continue to provide essential services while cutting emissions. An additional four electric passenger vehicles have also joined the fleet.

These electric vehicles are assisting in everyday city maintenance activities. They may be spotted around the city assisting teams in getting mowing fleet and operators to site, cleaning shops and roadsides of litter and assisting the crews undertaking horticultural maintenance including pruning, mulching, collecting fallen branches and physical weed removal in urban open space.

Our maintenance crews are also using electric vehicles to support our street sweeping efforts and to scrub grime from footpaths. This helps reduce the need for pressure washing surfaces outside of the autumn leaf season.

One of the benefits of using electric vehicles to maintain our public spaces is that they produce less noise so they can be used in more locations early in the morning without disturbing nearby residents, improving overall efficiency.

There are 27 electric vehicle charging units across various ACT Government depots and sites to keep the fleet of electric vehicles active and ready for service.

The vehicle trials have been funded through the ACT Government’s Social Cost of Carbon Fund and Zero Emission Government Fund.

Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction Shane Rattenbury:

“The ACT is a national leader in climate change and energy initiatives. To continue our leadership, we’re working towards a target of net zero emissions from ACT Government operations by 2040.

“We are making good progress towards our target of a zero-emissions vehicle fleet, with over 220 electric vehicles in the ACT Government fleet. Making this transition will help reduce transport emissions, which is by far the largest source in the Territory accounting for more than 60 percent of the ACT’s emissions.

“As the ACT continues on our pathway to electrification and net zero emissions in the Territory by 2045, it’s exciting to roll out a variety of electric vehicles and show that increasingly there are electric alternatives for any job. 

“Electric vehicles are growing in popularity and availability throughout the Territory, offering more opportunities for industry and community. I look forward to seeing more vehicles in a range of categories rolled out across our fleet in the future.”

For more information about World EV Day visit www.worldevday.org/.

*Quotes from Labor Ministers have been removed from the original ACT Government media release at their request

The cost of failing to effectively manage invasive species in NSW could be blown out by 15 times in the next 6 years unless major reforms are made. This would increase the annual economic impacts from invasive species in NSW from $1.9 billion up to $29.7 billion in a worse case scenario by the year 2030.

A preliminary report into the NSW Invasive Species Plan, by the Natural Resources Commission has found widespread dysfunction with how the State is handling the threats of invasive species. The report included 33 key findings and 71 recommendations that the Government must act on to prevent an explosion in impacts from invasive species.

Preliminary Report and Government media release

Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “The urgency of this situation couldn’t be any clearer, the Government must take immediate steps without waiting longer for a whole of Government response,”

“Just as we have seen with other urgent issues, I’m genuinely concerned that the Government wants to process this report in their own time. The reality is that the environment cannot be expected to wait while the Minns Labor Government figures out what parts of this report are politically convenient for them.”

“The NSW Invasive Species Plan is not the problem, rather it is unsupported through the system with a lack of strategic, risk based prioritisation, and inconsistent leadership and coordination of cross-tenure programs,”

“The Minns Government has repeatedly compromised the environment for the sake of industry and politics, but this report lays bare just how dysfunctional it has been allowed to become. The fact that invasive species management is only seen through a lens of primary production drastically underestimates the real value of healthy environments, and will cause both industry and the environment to suffer in the near term,”

“The high profile reintroduction of aerial shooting of horses in the Kosciuszko National Park is a necessary and important program, and we can only hope it’s come soon enough to prevent the extinction of those threatened species at direct risk of extinction from feral horses. However, programs can not operate in isolation from other critical actions that must be taken to prevent native species extinctions at the hands of introduced feral species,”

“We are seeing right now, in Northern NSW with the Red Fire Ant incursion, just how much of a risk invasive species pose. Once these species become established, and without proper care for the whole of system needs, NSW is already on a trajectory of seeing our environment and primary production decimated. This is a wake-up call, and Premier Minns needs to hear it from his comfortable urban electorate,” Ms Higginson said.

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has handed down its Final Report documenting deep cultural issues within Defence and the devastating impact this has on veterans and their families.

The Report uncovered that an average of 78 serving or ex-serving ADF members have died by suicide each year for the past 10 years, around three deaths every fortnight.

The report noted that the ADF’s “code of silence” and “military values” are associated both directly and indirectly with suicide risk in the Australian Defence Force, and that Defence leadership must be held accountable for this broken culture.

The Royal Commission’s findings make a stark case for systemic cultural change within the ADF and the systems set up to deal with the inevitable traumas that arise from serving in the military. Defence leadership must own up to the deep structural problems identified in the Royal Commission.

The one indispensable recommendation that the government must accept today is to have a stand-alone statutory entity that oversees and drives the system-wide reform that this Royal Commission has called for.

Senator David Shoebridge Greens Spokesperson for Defence and Veterans Affairs said: “With nearly 6,000 submissions to the Commission and 900 private sessions, this is a once-in-a-generation report that must not just gather dust.”

“There have been dozens of reports and hundreds of recommendations on Defence culture before now and nothing material has changed. Each time the Defence has struck back to squash reform.

“The one non-negotiable recommendation that must be implemented is for a stand-alone statutory entity that oversees and drives the system-wide reform that this report calls for.

“Veterans give their service to the country which often comes at incredible personal cost through injury and trauma. What this report shows is that service injuries are then aggravated by a veteran’s support scheme that does not treat them fairly.

“The report found that survivors of abuse, especially sexual abuse, face ongoing trauma from a broken military culture that obstructs justice and denies accountability.

“These issues ripple across society, particularly for families of veterans. After losing loved ones, or dealing with the fallout of a cruel system, families have then had to navigate an often cold and careless system.

“It is a testament to veterans and their families that while enduring this system they also secured the Royal Commission. We owe it to them, and the loved ones they have lost, to implement these reforms.”

Today I announce the appointment of Mr Glen Askew as Australia’s next Consul-General in Surabaya.

Indonesia is one of Australia’s closest and most important partners. We are deepening our cooperation under our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to keep our region safe, grow our economies and transition to net zero.

Surabaya is Indonesia’s second largest city, with Central and East Java contributing almost one-third of national GDP and comprising a combined population of over 70 million people.

The Consulate-General in Surabaya is working to strengthen two-way trade and investment by implementing initiatives under Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, as well expanding people-to-people ties in a powerhouse region of Indonesia.

The Consulate-General also provides services to Australians in Surabaya, including consular assistance.

Mr Askew is a career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was most recently Assistant Director, Israel-Gaza Taskforce.

He has previously served overseas in Papua New Guinea, Ghana and Indonesia and was a Peacekeeper with Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti and the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) with the Australian Federal Police/United Nations.

I thank former Consul-General Fiona Hoggart for her contributions to advancing Australia’s interests in Surabaya since 2022.

Today I announce the appointment of Mr Jason Robertson as Australia’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).

The OAS is the pre-eminent regional organisation in the Americas, with 34 Members and 75 Permanent Observers. It has four pillars: democracy promotion; human rights protection; security; and development.

Australia’s Permanent Observer status at the OAS, and the designation of our first Ambassador to the organisation, demonstrates our commitment to stronger engagement with the Americas on shared priorities.

These include support for strong interregional and multilateral rules and norms, promotion of human rights and cooperation on transnational crime.

Mr Robertson is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is currently Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC.

Mr Robertson has previously served as Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Beijing and as Consul-General in Guangzhou. He has had earlier postings to Australian diplomatic missions in Beijing, Islamabad and Belgrade and served in Sarajevo, Pristina and New York with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Today I announce the appointment of highly qualified individuals to lead Australia’s diplomatic post in Surabaya and our representation to the Organization of American States (OAS).

Australia’s diplomats drive our engagement with the world, build influence, create opportunities, support Australians overseas and promote our national interests.

I am pleased to announce the following appointments:

• Mr Jason Robertson as Australia’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).
• Mr Glen Askew as Australia’s Consul-General in Surabaya.

I thank outgoing Consul-General Fiona Hoggart for protecting and promoting Australia’s interests in Surabaya since 2022.