The Greens have today raised concerns about NOPSEMA’s regulation of the offshore fossil fuel industry following a pipeline rupture at an ageing gas rig off the Victorian coast, causing pollution visible on the ocean’s surface.

The pipeline linking two Esso/ExxonMobil platforms is being investigated by NOPSEMA as the source of a suspected hydrocarbon spill.

Esso is currently applying to use the Gippsland Basin for sea dumping carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Peter Whish-Wilson: 

“Australia desperately needs stronger laws and regulations to govern the offshore fossil fuel industry. The current regulatory framework doesn’t provide sufficient environmental or economic protection from impacts of the offshore oil and gas sector – including impacts relating to the decommissioning of ageing and toxic offshore oil and gas rigs.

“NOPSEMA is supposed to have oversight and regulate the environmental management of the offshore fossil fuel industry, but coastal communities are fast losing confidence in the ‘independent’ regulator, which has become more of an enabler than an investigator of offshore oil and gas projects. 

“Big fossil fuel corporations make millions from Australia’s offshore oil and gas fields and repeatedly get away with failing to clean up after themselves. 

“If Esso cannot manage to decommission rig infrastructure safely I highly doubt it’s capable of carrying out risky carbon capture and storage it has planned for the region.

“These corporations simply cannot be trusted and are only concerned with their bottom line – they will always try to cut costs at the expense of the environment and the taxpayer who is left to clean up their mess, so it’s critical that NOPSEMA’s investigation into the Esso/ExxonMobil pipeline rupture is carried out with the utmost transparency.”

Australia welcomes the United Nations Secretary-General’s appointment of former foreign minister the Hon Julie Bishop as the United Nations Special Envoy on Myanmar.

Ms Bishop brings a wealth of experience to the role, and her appointment comes at a critical time as the political, humanitarian and security situation in Myanmar continues to worsen.

The people of Myanmar continue to demonstrate great resolve in the face of unspeakable violence and human rights abuses, and Australia remains resolute in our support for them.

The Special Envoy plays a vital role in sustaining international attention and supporting coordinated efforts towards a peaceful resolution in the interests of the people of Myanmar.

Australia will work closely with Ms Bishop as United Nations Special Envoy, ASEAN and the international community to deploy our collective efforts to build conditions for sustainable peace in the country.

We reiterate our call on the Myanmar regime to cease violence against civilians, release those unjustly detained, allow safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance, and return Myanmar to the path of inclusive democracy.

The Greens call for full transparency from Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef Senator Nita Green and GBRMPA CEO Josh Thomas on their recent covert visit to UNESCO in Paris. 

It comes as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority quietly released data late yesterday showing a shocking 75% of the Great Barrier Reef has again bleached – the fifth mass coral bleaching now recorded in the past eight years. 

Transparency from the government about its mission to Paris is particularly important given the World Heritage Committee will meet in India from 21-31 July 2024 and decide whether the Great Barrier Reef meets the criteria for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger. 

Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:

“New data revealing three-quarters of the Great Barrier Reef has been bleached is shocking, and I have no doubt many Australians will feel a deep sense of despair hearing this news. 

“It’s beyond any doubt the ‘outstanding universal values’ that saw the Great Barrier Reef inscribed as one of the greatest UNESCO World Heritage treasurers are in danger from warming oceans and consistent marine heatwaves, primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

“Successive governments have gone to extraordinary lengths to stop an ‘in danger’ listing of the Great Barrier Reef by deliberately deceiving the world of the severity of climate change impacts on the reef, while at the same time approving massive new fossil fuel projects. 

“It’s time for no more spin, deceit and distractions. The Greens are calling for full transparency of any recent lobbying of UNESCO by the Albanese government in relation to the Great Barrier Reef. We need trust in the Albanese government’s motivations and actions to save this greatest of natural icons.

“If the Great Barrier Reef’s key management body, GBRMPA, and its parliamentary envoy can’t truly advocate for securing the reef’s future, then who can?

“In 2023 the World Heritage Centre and IUCN declared the Great Barrier Reef ‘remains under serious threat’ and identified priority recommendations — many of which including mitigating the impacts of climate change — to avoid the natural icon being inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. 

“Mitigating the impacts of climate change is one thing, but the Great Barrier Reef can’t be protected from the political stupidity of prioritising new coal and gas over coral.

“Until the Albanese government stops opening new coal and gas, any claims we are on track to protect the Great Barrier Reef from an ‘in danger’ listing are duplicitous and need to be called out. 

“If the Albanese government is serious about protecting the Great Barrier Reef it must treat the root cause of the reef’s decline, which is rising emissions from burning fossil fuels.”

Today’s monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) data is a reminder of the extraordinary financial pain that hardworking Australian families are experiencing because of the Albanese Labor Government’s bad policies.

Core inflation – the RBA’s preferred measure, the trimmed mean – rose to 3.9%, which is still well above the RBA’s target band.

Since Labor came to power the price of everyday essentials for Australian families have all gone up:

• Bread by 16.4%
• Dairy (milk) by 17.6%
• Rent by 12.1%
• Electricity by 16.5%
• Gas by 26.4%
• Education by 10.9%
• Insurance and financial services by 14.1%

These numbers are stark but they won’t come as a surprise for hardworking Australians who are at the coal face of Labor’s cost of living crisis.

Over the last two years of the Albanese Labor Government, Australians’ living standards have collapsed, and this government has no plan to restore it.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said Australians face highly uncertain economic times and the future looks grim under Labor.

“The Albanese Labor Government is patting themselves on the back, pointing to the headline figure of 3.4%. But core inflation has risen to 3.9%.

“This government keeps telling Australians they’ve never had it better. Well that just shows how out of touch Labor is.

“Speak to any ordinary Australian on the street and they will tell you that cost of living pressures have gotten worse since the 2022 election.

“The damage has been done to household budgets. Under this government, we’ve seen prices for the basic necessities like food, insurance and power, soar.

“The economy has shuddered to a halt. And instead of the government getting its priorities right, hardworking Australians have been left to do the heavy lifting.

“People are being stretched to the absolute limit because Labor keeps taking from family budgets to bolster its own.”

The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing in Rockingham to discuss the Government’s proposed legislation for the Australian Nuclear Power Safety Bill on Thursday 4th of April 2024. 

Senator Jordon Steele-John, the Australian Greens portfolio holder for Nuclear Disarmament, Peace and Foreign Affairs will be in attendance at the hearing alongside his colleagues Senator David Shoebridge and Senator Dorinda Cox. The hearing will receive evidence from WA local anti-AUKUS groups, the WA Government and those seeking to benefit from the AUKUS deal. 

Steele-John and his Greens colleagues have long criticised AUKUS, calling for the Government to rethink the deal, which sees a rotational force of nuclear-powered submarines entering Australian waters as soon as 2027. 

In 2022, Senator Steele-John tabled a petition in the Senate from the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network on behalf of 26,000 people who support Australia’s withdrawal from the AUKUS agreement and to scale back the United States’ involvement in Australian defence. 

“I hope that this hearing will show that the AUKUS deal does not exist to benefit our WA community, instead, it benefits large weapons manufacturers and consultants at a time when profits are at an all-time high. As a Rockingham local, I’m concerned about how AUKUS will affect our biodiversity hotspots like Cockburn Sound, especially in the event of a nuclear accident” said Jordon Steele-John. 

David Shoebridge, Greens Spokesperson for Defence said: “This Bill creates a regulator with an inherent conflict of interest, overrides First Nations and community rights, all to allow the dumping of US and UK nuclear submarine waste in Australia.

“It is a desperately undemocratic, cynical and dangerous bit of legislation.”

“The Albanese Government is flailing around on this issue, contradicting their own Department, stumbling through negotiations, not explaining their legislation and hiding from the public.

“You cannot get more high stakes than nuclear power and high level nuclear waste, one wrong move can have devastating consequences and so far it has all been wrong moves.

“The Government has designed this law to ride roughshod over First Nations people who have successfully defended their land from previous attempts to dump nuclear waste.” Senator Shoebridge said.

“Nuclear waste disposal on First Nations land without consent continues to threaten our sovereignty and ability to self-determine. We have been the land, air and water custodians for more than 65000 years. We understand and care for communities, people and the environment. AUKUS is the byproduct of continued oppression and erosion of the human rights of First Nations people” said Senator Cox. 

In addition to the public hearing, Senator Jordon Steele-John is hosting a panel discussion including Senator David Shoebridge, Senator Dorinda Cox,  and Greens Candidate for the Legislative Council Sophie McNeill, at the Coogee Community Centre on the 4th of April at 6:30 pm to talk about how the community can get organised to stop the AUKUS deal and keep WA nuclear free. 

His Majesty King Charles III, on my recommendation, has approved the appointment of Ms Samantha Mostyn AO as Australia’s next Governor-General.

Ms Mostyn will succeed His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d) and will be Australia’s 28th Governor-General when she is sworn in on 1 July 2024.

Ms Mostyn is known for her exceptional service to the Australian community. She is a businesswoman and community leader with a long history in executive and governance roles across diverse sectors.

In 2021, Ms Mostyn was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to business, the community and women. She has been a member of the Australian Faculty of The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme for 12 years, and a senior associate in the International Programme.

Ms Mostyn, a daughter of an army officer, is a lawyer by training, who started her career as an associate in the Court of Appeal of the NSW Supreme Court, and has worked at law firms Freehills and Gilbert and Tobin. She has more recently been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Australian National University.

Ms Mostyn has had an extensive career in the Australian business community, including working at senior levels in telecommunications and insurance companies in Australia and globally. She has also held senior non-executive roles on boards including Transurban, Virgin Australia, and has been chair of Citibank Australia. She currently chairs AWARE Super and Alberts Music Group and is on the board of Mirvac.

Ms Mostyn has been a Commissioner with the Australian Football League (AFL) and a driving force behind the AFL Women’s (AFLW).

Ms Mostyn has chaired multiple not-for-profit boards, including Beyond Blue, the Foundation of Young Australians, Australians Investing in Women, Ausfilm and the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety and Australian Volunteers International. She has been President of the Australian Council for International Development and President of Chief Executive Women as well as a National Mental Health Commissioner.

The Governor-General holds office at the pleasure of The King, however the term is usually understood to be five years.

His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley will conclude his appointment on 1 July 2024.

On behalf of the Government and the people of Australia I thank General Hurley for his service to our country and convey our deep respect for the outstanding way he discharged his duties as Governor-General.

I extend sincere congratulations and best wishes to Ms Mostyn on her appointment.

The Interstate Terminal at the Moorebank Intermodal Precinct officially opens this morning, marking an important milestone in the Albanese Government’s commitment to build a resilient, efficient and sustainable national supply chain and support a future made in Australia.

It will be Australia’s first major metropolitan ‘independent’ interstate terminal, operating under an open access arrangement and not controlled by a single existing above rail operator.

The site will be able to manage 500,000 twenty-foot containers annually, with each train that comes through the terminal able to move 1,500 tonnes of freight.

Each of the 1,800 metre trains the Interstate Terminal can accommodate has the potential to remove 100 ‘B Double’ trucks from Australia’s roads, easing congestion.

This will help the movement of rail freight between cities and regions, and help drive efficiency and competition across the national freight network which will ultimately flow onto savings for businesses and consumers.

When complete, the fully integrated industrial precinct at Moorebank will house over 850,000 square meters of modern industrial warehouses and will support more than 6,800 jobs. It is also home to Australia’s largest rooftop solar installation with the capacity to generate over 100 megawatts of renewable energy.

The Moorebank Interstate Terminal is being developed as a joint venture between the Australian Government-owned National Intermodal Corporation, with Qube Holdings and LOGOS, with the Australian Government having committed $570 million towards the Intermodal Precinct.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

“The opening of the Moorebank Interstate Terminal is a major milestone in the development of the broader precinct that will create and support Australian jobs, while improving the efficiency of supply chains.

“We want to see a future made in Australia and having the key infrastructure in place will play a huge role in supporting more good, well paying Aussie jobs.

“The new terminal will play an important role in improving travel for Sydneysiders taking more than 3,000 heavy trucks off Sydney roads daily. That means less time spent on the roads and more time with family and friends.

“The Moorebank Intermodal Precinct demonstrates how Government leadership and co-investment with industry can deliver world class infrastructure assets resulting in significant value for future generations.”

the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King

“The new Interstate Terminal connects the Precinct to the interstate rail and road network – including the future Inland Rail project – enabling movement of vital consumer goods between Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

“The Interstate Terminal is the cornerstone of the Moorebank Intermodal Precinct, providing for the servicing of trains up to 1,800-metre-long, directly adjacent to modern warehouse facilities and last mile delivery services.”

the Minister for Finance, Katy Gallagher

“Together with the terminal’s strategic location, with direct connections to Port Botany, the M5 and M7 motorways, it offers unrivalled logistics benefits for both industrial customers and consumers.

“Moorebank Intermodal Precinct is Australia’s largest logistics hub. Located in the heart of Sydney’s west, it offers economically critical direct connections to Port Botany and major road and rail networks.”

National Intermodal CEO James Baulderstone

“The Interstate Terminal together with the entire Moorebank Intermodal Precinct has delivered Australia’s most modern intermodal precinct, setting a benchmark for the future of our supply chain.

“The Interstate Terminal has an open access arrangement that allows multiple rail operators to use the terminal, driving competition and delivering further cost savings to end users.

“The precinct’s scale also provides the platform and location for major renewable energy generation, enabling warehouse owners and last mile delivery transport companies to reach their net zero ambitions.”

Qube Holdings Managing Director Paul Digney

“Qube is proud to deliver the new Interstate Rail Terminal, which complements Qube’s Import and Export (IMEX) Terminal, and which will revolutionise freight efficiencies between interstate capitals and further strengthen supply linkages for customers to warehousing and Port Botany.

“This is an exciting day for Qube and for our project partners LOGOS, John Holland Group, Mainland Civil and Vaughan Civil. The delivery of this critical new asset will play a significant role in boosting rail’s share of freight, which is currently is only 11 per cent across the eastern seaboard.

“Getting more freight off the road and onto rail will be key to achieving Australia’s emissions reduction targets, especially given rail freight generates 16 times less carbon pollution than road, and this new Interstate Rail Terminal at Moorebank will be a key enabler in that transition.”

It is with overwhelming sadness that the Australian Government confirms the death of an Australian aid worker in Gaza.

The tributes flowing for Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom tell the story of a life dedicated to the service of others, including her fellow Australians during natural disasters.

Her tireless work to improve the lives of others should never have cost Ms Frankcom her own.

The Government expresses its deepest sympathies to her family and loved ones, just as we mourn all civilian deaths in this conflict.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to her family in Australia.

The death of any aid worker is outrageous and unacceptable.

Throughout this conflict, Australia has called for restraint, for the protection of civilians and safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance.

The Australian Government condemns this strike. The Government has made representations to the Netanyahu Government and seeks a thorough and expeditious review.

We expect full accountability for these deaths.

We repeat our demands for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire leading to a sustainable ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and that international humanitarian law be upheld.

The Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill 2024 has proceeded to a Senate Inquiry. 

The Australian Greens are strongly supportive of sending this bill to a fulsome Senate inquiry through the Community Affairs References Committee.

Senator Jordon Steele-John, Australian Greens spokesperson for Health: 

“The Australian Greens are deeply concerned about increasing rates of vaping and see increasing nicotine dependence rates as a significant public health problem” 

“The status quo in Australia is far from ideal. It’s unacceptable that children have access to vapes, and vaping products that have been entering Australia are unsafe, falsely labelled and have dangerous unknown ingredients. 

“I’ve heard from parents, teachers, and healthcare professionals about their deep concerns about the impact of vapes. It’s time for change. 

“The Greens will be pushing for this bill to go to a Senate inquiry. What is proposed in this legislation will be world-leading, such a big change must be scrutinised by the parliament and the community. 

“We need a carefully regulated scheme that focuses on public health outcomes, reducing harm and minimising use.

“We’ll be looking at the practicalities of the prescription model. Right now, GP appointments are booked out and are unaffordable to many. We must ensure that no one is incentivised to return to cigarette smoking and that people can get support when they need it. 

“No one should be penalised for personal use of vapes. The prohibition of drugs has failed. The Greens are concerned about the vague provisions around acceptable personal quantities, and how the provisions for prosecution would apply in practice.  

“We’ll also be looking at the public health interventions supported by this legislation. For example, many people under 18 are nicotine dependent. We need to ensure we have the settings right so this group are supported through quitting vaping.

“We’ve got to get this right. We need the government to fund education campaigns and ensure that there are appropriate regulations regarding the production, supply and sale of vapes.”

Easter is a time of hope and renewal.

For Christians here and across the world, it’s a moment to reflect on the resurrection.

Celebrations and services across the country remind us of the importance of forgiveness, grace and kindness to those in need.

Qualities that are so much a part of the compassion and virtue of this, the greatest country on earth.

And as many of us take this chance to catch-up with family and friends, we think of everyone working through the long weekend. Thank you for what you do.

Finally, to everyone on the roads, please drive safely and take care.

You can view and download the Prime Minister’s Easter 2024 message here.