Category: Australian News

Have you looked at your social media feeds lately? It is absolutely wild out there.

We are being completely inundated by an onslaught of foreign-backed AI slop, deepfakes, and automated bots.

It’s a digital tsunami of trash intentionally designed to do two things: (1) artificially boost One Nation, and (2) flood our comment threads with racism, hate and division.

Let’s be clear: this stuff is not from real people with genuine concerns about their future, their children’s future, and the status quo in this country.

It is a highly orchestrated, billionaire-funded campaign designed to crowd out our voices: Green voices. Progressive voices. Your voices.

It is a mass propaganda campaign to stop people from looking at the real crisis: extreme wealth inequality caused by the billionaires and big corporations who make up the 1% – and who continue to get richer and richer from it.

You don’t need me to tell you how dangerous this playbook has been globally.

Pauline Hanson recently jetted off to Europe: seen holidaying in Italy with Gina Rinehart, attending a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show, and travelling on to the UK on a “fact-finding” mission.

The experts she chose to meet with? 

A billionaire ex-pop star, a multi-millionaire MP whose party welcomes fascists and white supremacists as members, and a far-right activist even Nigel Farage won’t speak to. 

This is more of the same for Pauline Hanson. She wants a monoculture, mass deportations, and thinks everything started to go wrong in Australia when the White Australia Policy ended; we know, she’s been telling us for 30 years.

All that’s changed is that she’s found some billionaires to help her spread her hate.  

One Nation is running a coordinated campaign to turn people’s legitimate economic pain into cultural warfare.

But we know the truth: blaming immigration, attacking workers’ rights, and fueling racism and Islamophobia will not make big corporations pay their fair share of tax. It will not lift people out of poverty. And it will not make housing more affordable.

Labor and the Liberals are compromised, doing the bidding of the exact same billionaires and big corporations who fund their political parties. One Nation is the same, completely bought off by the wealthiest donors who profit from keeping us divided.

At best, they tinker around the edges. At worst, they tip the scales even further away from everyday people. They will not change this broken system because they are entirely dependent on it – and yet wonder why voters abandon them or look elsewhere.

This is where we must face the reality of the job ahead.

We are not here to change the minds of failing politicians. As Bob Brown once said: our job is not to keep the bastards honest, it’s to replace them. Only then will we be able to break the corporate grip on Canberra once and for all.

I know that saying this out loud opens us up to ridicule from the media and attacks from fringe groups and trolls. Well, you know what? Bring it on.

If we’re being attacked, it’s for a reason: they know the impact a strong progressive movement can have.

By ourselves, it can feel like there is little we can do, but we are not by ourselves. We have each other.

This grassroots solidarity – our grassroots solidarity – is exactly how we challenge the racist and divisive politics of the far-right and the corporate greed of the 1%.

If you’re not already a member of the Greens, that’s the most powerful step you can take on this journey.

We have the power to replace the establishment, bring essential services back into public hands, and build a movement that welcomes everyone. Better is possible, friends, and it is a future we can absolutely shape together.

Woodside’s attempt to develop the Browse gas field on top of Scott Reef off Western Australia’s Kimberley Coast represents a climate and environmental disaster for our entire country and beyond.

It’s a project that will only exist for one reason: Woodside’s profit.

Woodside is absolutely gunning to get Browse approved, which if successful would be the largest new gas field in the Southern Hemisphere and would result in 1.6 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2070.¹

Worse still, the fossil fuel giant wants to drill directly under the pristine Scott Reef and right in the middle of an important feeding ground for migratory marine life and endangered species, including the pygmy blue whale. Sandy Islet, located within Scott Reef, is also an important breeding ground for a genetically distinct population of green sea turtles.² 

Under Woodside’s proposed plan, they would build a 900km pipeline through the ocean to their gas processing plant in Karratha, WA, risking a devastating oil spill across several marine parks. 

The Karratha gas plant is also literally right next to the at least 40,000-year-old Murujuga First Nations ancient rock art, which includes the oldest known depiction of the human face. Browse will further damage the sacred petroglyphs, which are already being corroded by emissions.³
 
Last year, my state colleague Brad Pettitt and I visited Murujuga with Greens leader Larissa Waters and Victorian Senator Steph Hodgins-May to witness firsthand the proximity of this precious rock art to the constant destructive emissions from the Karratha gas plant.

It’s a stunning, sacred place and we simply cannot let this rock art be exposed to further emissions from Woodside’s Browse project.

Fortunately, thanks to the work of our friends at the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), we have just had the first opportunity in eight years to submit a public comment to the Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt. This was triggered by ACF providing new evidence that showed that the climate pollution from this project would have unacceptable impacts on places of national significance like the Great Barrier Reef. 

Research from IPCC lead author, Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, found that emissions from Browse would result in the death of an additional 29.35 million individual coral colonies in every future mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef.⁴

Huge thanks to the thousands of you who either wrote your own submission, or added your name to the Greens’ submission. This was a really important opportunity for us to collectively influence the government’s imminent decision on this project.

There is a growing movement of people across the country who care about preserving our precious places and understand the absolute rort that the gas industry is pulling on the Australian public.

After decades of governments that have refused to act in our interests and the interest of the environment, people are increasingly fed up.

It couldn’t be more obvious that we are being taken for a ride by the fossil fuel industry. Daily life gets harder, but the profits that these companies rake in from climate-destroying projects skyrocket.

With both WA state and federal government approvals on the horizon, this is an incredibly important time to get active and support the campaign against this horrific gas project. This is a project that will have irreversible impacts across the entire country for many decades.

Our only opportunity to stop it is right now.

We need a huge, vocal movement of people across the country calling on the federal and WA governments to reject this project. We know that one of the only things that impact political decisions is the risk that these decisions pose to political careers. 

The gas lobby is already embedded in the halls of parliament and the only reason this project will go ahead is because of the profits that Woodside can wring out of it by getting the gas for free.⁵ These are the same companies that lobbied against the national gas tax.

They only care about lining their own pockets – not providing a benefit to the community, and definitely not protecting our precious environment.

There is so much at stake – please, tell your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to join us in this important battle.

The Coalition supports a workplace relations system that is simple, fair and is easy to comply with. It should deliver timely justice for workers and employers.

Workers deserve to be paid every dollar they are owed, and employers have a responsibility to provide fair wages and conditions. Everyone must comply with the law.

But Labor’s answer to a complex industrial relations system appears to be creating another layer of legal process. Labor’s announcement of a proposed ‘Fair Work Court’ raises more questions than it answers. 

If even the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations can’t comply with Australia’s workplace laws, how will adding more lawyers, more litigation and another court fix the system?

Will the court be able to overturn decisions of the Fair Work Commission, or be subject to it? When should workers or employees seek resolution in this court or with the Commission? Can a business be taken to the Commission and the court for breaches of employment law? Or only one? Will the court prioritise claims made by certain groups over others?

Labor has announced more complexity, not how another judicial body will reduce complexity or make it easier for employers to comply with workplace laws.

Rather than creating another institution, the Government should be focused on making workplace laws simpler, clearer and easier to comply with.

It is up to the Albanese Government to explain why they have designed an adversarial workplace relations system which creates conflict between employers and employers, and to empower their union donors. 

This announcement further emphasises the Albanese Government’s desire to increase disputes in the workplace. 

We share the concerns of workers and employers about lengthy delays in resolving workplace disputes. But simply creating another court does not guarantee faster outcomes or a fair system.

The Coalition will carefully scrutinise any details once they are released. But Labor must explain why creating another legal process for employers and workers will reduce delays, improve compliance and deliver better outcomes than reforming the workplace relations system itself.

Justice delayed is justice denied, but it just got more complex for both workers and employers under Labor.

The Minns Labor Government is helping fight urban heat and boost tree canopy in more of NSW with the Greener Neighbourhoods Grant Program being expanded to 10 councils in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Hunter-Central Coast.

This means 43 councils from Sydney to Wollongong, Newcastle and everywhere in between can now apply for more than $2.5 million worth of grants to better plan for greening in their communities.

The Greener Neighbourhoods grants can provide up to $60,000 to eligible councils to support strategic planning for urban canopy, heat mitigation, and maintaining green cover.

It is about making sure greenery is not only maintained but expanded as these regions continue to grow and will make sure future investment in urban greening are directed to areas that need it most.

Research shows trees can reduce ground-level temperatures by up to six degrees, while communities with more than 30 per cent canopy cover experience improved mental and physical health outcomes.

The funding is part of the NSW Government’s $60 million Greening our City program which is helping increase tree canopy and biodiversity to reduce the impacts of urban heat and climate change on communities.  

Greener Neighbourhoods is funded from the NSW Climate Change Fund. Applications for the Greener Neighbourhoods grants are now open.  

Councils have until 5pm, Friday 21 August 2026 to apply.  

More information, including application guidelines, is available on the NSW Planning website.

This is another example of the Minns Labor Government building better communities investing in quality green space to support growing neighbourhoods.  

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully said:

“Urban greening delivers real, everyday benefits for communities, from cooler streets to more shade, and better public spaces where people can connect and spend time outdoors.

“The Minns Labor Government has expanded the Greener Neighbourhoods Grant Program to the Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Hunter-Central Coast for the first time to make sure these key growth areas have the tools they need to fight urban heat and boost tree canopy and green cover.  

“These grants will help councils plan for more climate resilient neighbourhoods, complementing the Minns Labor Government’s housing reforms, and helping growing communities stay greener, cooler and more vibrant.” 

The Albanese Labor Government is expanding the Commonwealth Prac Payment to people training in an additional ten key front line health professions. This will provide cost of living relief for students and support our future healthcare workforce.

Unpaid practical placements are a big part of healthcare degrees. For some courses such as radiography, it is more than a year of the degree. For that commitment, many students have to give up paid work and many have to move away from home.

Paid prac provides financial support to help students while they undertake practical training. Paid prac already covers eligible teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students.

The Albanese Labor Government is now expanding it to eligible students studying these ten courses: 

• clinical psychology
• physiotherapy
• occupational therapy
• speech pathology
• paramedicine
• radiography
• pharmacy
• rehabilitation therapies
• audiology
• podiatry

This is another way the Albanese Government is helping with the cost of living in addition to policies such as our 20 per cent cut to student debt, tax cuts for every taxpayer, cheaper childcare and backing wage rises.

Eligible students currently receive $338.60 per week during their clinical and professional placement periods. It is a means tested payment benchmarked to the single Austudy rate and indexed annually.

Paid prac is reducing financial pressure on students and allowing them to spend less time worrying about paying the bills and more time focused on their training.

It helps students doing placements when they have to relocate, including in the bush. Travel, accommodation and relocation costs can discourage students from undertaking placements in regional and remote Australia, where health workforce shortages are often most acute.

The expansion of the Commonwealth Prac Payment will help more students manage these costs, complete their qualifications and move into critical health and care jobs.

Expanding paid prac to more healthcare professions will help to continue building the health workforce Australia needs and strengthen Medicare.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

“Paid prac is already making a real difference – it’s helping students with cost of living while they train and that’s why we’re expanding it.

“This is an investment in our future healthcare workforce. We need more of them and this will help more Australians get the qualifications our nation needs.

“We’re backing Australians to get the education they need and this announcement builds on our reduction to student debt, free TAFE and tax cuts that put money back in people’s pockets.”

Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler:

“The Albanese Labor Government is strengthening Medicare by growing the health workforce Australians need.

“Training a domestic health workforce is crucial to ensuring every Australian can access quality health care where and when they need it.

“These are people who are going to look after us when we’re sick or old, helping women during childbirth, helping Australians living with disability.

“This expansion means that if you’re training to be a pharmacist, physio or psychologist, you’ll also now have a bit of extra help to get through.

“This will make a big difference for students doing placements in the bush who face extra costs when they’re training away from home.”

Minister for Education Jason Clare:

“Paid prac is working, that’s why we’re expanding it.

“Paid prac helps to pay the bills, pay the rent and pay for things like petrol and parking.

“Paid prac is making a difference now for students training for some of the most important jobs in our country.

“We’re expanding paid prac so more front line health workers will get that cost-of-living help while they train.

“This will help more students finish their qualifications and move into the jobs the country needs.”

The Australian Greens say the Northern Territory Government pushed through child protection reforms that will do nothing to keep children safer.

The changes were passed to weaken the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle despite expert opposition and a joint statement from Australia’s Child Safety Ministers and the National Commissioner for First Nations Children and Young People.

They clearly state that the principle does not override safety concerns; it recognises that connection to family, community and Country can be critical to keeping Aboriginal children safe.

The laws also ignore priority recommendations of the Webb-Shanahan interim review of the NT child protection system, released yesterday. The review identified systemic failures including inadequate risk assessments, incomplete investigations, workforce shortages and poor responses to family and domestic violence.

Senator Larissa Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens and spokesperson for First Nations Justice:

“This Act is another example of the NT Government choosing racist dogwhistling over evidence-based policy. They’ve ignored the experts on youth incarceration, housing, the environment and now child safety. 

“The evidence is clear. Weakening the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle won’t keep children safe. Fixing chronic failures in the child protection system will.

“The Webb-Shanahan review points to real problems: under-resourcing, workforce shortages, failures to investigate risks and inadequate responses to family and domestic violence. That’s what the NT Government should be focused on.

“Aboriginal women, families and communities have been clear about what works. Keeping children safe requires Aboriginal leadership and self-determination, not political scapegoating.

“Australia is going backwards on Closing the Gap and these changes will make that worse. In the Northern Territory, First Nations children are more than 13 times more likely to be in out-of-home care, and the Territory has the lowest rate of kinship care in the country.

“The Federal Government should consider withholding Closing the Gap funding while the NT Government continues to undermine national commitments and ignore the evidence on keeping Aboriginal children safe.

“These laws were developed in response to the tragic death of Kumanjayi Little Baby. We owe it to her, her family and her community to follow the evidence about how to prevent violence against Aboriginal women and children, not exploit that tragedy to justify laws that experts say will cause more harm.

The ACT Greens are calling for the resignation of Minister for Education Yvette Berry following findings by the ACT Integrity Commission of serious corrupt conduct by her then Chief of Staff and her then Director General of Education. 

“The Integrity Commission’s findings are clear,” ACT Greens Leader Jo Clay says.

“The Commission has found that the conduct of Ms Katy Haire and Mr Josh Ceramidas was ‘of a character that would be likely to threaten public confidence in the integrity of Government or public administration’ – and that both individuals undertook ‘a calculated attempt to cover up the truth.’ The Commission found this amounted to ‘serious corrupt conduct’. 

“At the time of the conduct, Mr Ceramidas was Minister Berry’s Chief of Staff and Ms Haire was the Director General for Education. This represents a serious failure of ministerial accountability and leadership and a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct. Minister Berry cannot continue in her role. 

“Under the ACT Ministerial Code of Conduct, ministers are accountable for their own behaviour and the decisions and actions of their staff. Minister Berry failed in her duty to ensure her Chief of Staff complied with the Code. The Minister is also accountable for her then Director General of Education.

“Canberrans expect and deserve ministers who are accountable for their actions and the actions of those who serve directly under them. These findings expose a serious breach of the standards of accountability and integrity, and a clear betrayal of the community’s trust. We are calling on Minister Berry to do the right thing and resign now. We will call for further accountability measures as we consider this report.”

BACKGROUND

•    The ACT Ministerial Code of Conduct. We draw your attention to paragraphs 3(e) and 5(g).
•    The ACT Greens-Labor Supply and Confidence Agreement for the 11th Assembly. We draw your attention to page 2, which identifies the Greens’ criteria for opposing a Minister’s continued appointment.

The independent Net Zero Commission’s Annual Report released today warns NSW is further away from meeting its legislated emissions reductions targets than it was last year as new coal extensions and data centres put net zero further out of reach.

The Net Zero Commission is calling for stronger planning controls to account for emissions reductions targets in assessment of developments, and has warned that any new coal expansions are incompatible with the state’s binding emissions reductions targets.

Greens MP and Environment Spokesperson Sue Higginson said,“The Net Zero Commission’s striking report reveals that New South Wales is not on track to meet our legislated emissions reductions targets, and that dangerously we are actually getting further away year-on-year,

“Labor Premier Chris Minns went to the last election promising strong action on climate, but instead his Government has approved 11 new coal projects, in contradiction of the climate science and of his own climate legal framework,

“The Net Zero Commission has been unequivocal in its denunciation of the Minns Labor Government’s reckless NSW Coal Industry Strategy, the idea we can approve new coal extensions and expansions whilst reducing coal emissions is a dangerous fiction,

“People are losing trust in our planning system which is allowing so much harm and driving climate pollution emissions up rather than down. It’s clear that the system is structured to deliver for corporate lobbyists, whether it’s the Premier’s mentor Morris Iemma, his Minerals Council friend Stephen Galilee, and the proponents of data centres,

“The Net Zero Commission has been clear that climate impacts must be accounted for as the paramount concern in planning decisions, whether it is coal, gas, data centres or any other kind of development,

“Former Supreme Court Justice Basten has warned that our planning system’s approach to new coal is legally erroneous and contrary to our international obligations, it is time for the Premier to see the writing on the wall and announce an end to new coal and a moratorium on data centres and change the settings,” Ms Higginson said.

The Prime Minister has been quick to reassure his gas industry mates that Labor’s draft platform commitment to a “fair return on natural resources” won’t actually mean multinational gas corporations paying their fair share via an export tax, said Greens resources spokesperson Senator Steph Hodgins-May: 

“Albanese has wasted no time rushing to appease his gas industry mates and calm them down over even the most watered-down commitment to a fair return on our resources in his party’s platform.

“The fact he has to run cover ahead of time for such a piss-weak commitment shows just how anxious the gas industry is, and just how in bed with them Labor is.

“Albanese has once again decided that the voices of a majority of Australians and even their own members matter less to them than the gas lobby.

“The Prime Minister has claimed that ‘a fair return on our resources’ doesn’t have anything to do with a tax on gas exports, which raises the question of what exactly he thinks it does mean – because what we’re seeing now under Labor is far from fair.

“‘Now isn’t the right time,’ is straight from the gas lobby’s playbook. It’s funny how it’s never the right time for multinational gas corporations to pay their fair share. 

“Labor is all talk and no action. Words by themselves do not lower power bills or provide cost-of-living relief to families doing it tough.

“Until a gas export tax is legislated and multinational gas corporations are actually paying their fair share, this groundswell will only grow larger and stronger. 

“The Greens will keep fighting alongside the majority of Australians until we see a minimum 25 per cent tax on gas exports all the way to the next election”

A proposal to rezone the Werrington Precinct has been placed on public exhibition, with plans for up to 1,500 new homes, open space, community facilities and a new town centre in Western Sydney.

The Minns Labor Government is set to unlock up to 1,500 homes and more than 1,000 jobs in Western Sydney by transforming under-utilised Western Sydney University land.  

The plan for 99 hectares of the Werrington site includes open space and a new town centre aiming to create a mixed‑use, walkable neighbourhood close to transport, jobs and services.

This proposal submitted by Western Sydney University (WSU) and Stockland would make better use of land no longer required for university operations, while creating a connected, walkable community.

Key features of the proposal include:

• 1,500 homes, including around 500 apartments, 900 residential lots and 45 affordable homes
• a local centre supporting more than 1,000 ongoing jobs, in addition to around 1,000 construction jobs
• approximately 12,000 square metres of retail, commercial and community floor space
• a mix of low to mid-rise housing, with building heights ranging from two to seven storeys
• 18.4 hectares of public open space, including parks, recreation areas and green links
• 12.5 hectares of conservation land to protect environmentally significant areas
• community facilities, including the heritage listed Frogmore House, and an investigation area for a potential future school.

The redevelopment reflects the University’s strategic plan and reinforces its commitment to the region, while contributing to the supply of well-located housing.  

The proposal is on public exhibition until 20 August date. The community is encouraged to review the plans and provide feedback via NSW Planning.

This is just one of nearly 70 State-led Rezonings across NSW by the Minns Labor Government, which will unlock a pipeline of more than 230,000 homes and 160,000 jobs.

Deputy Premier and Member for Londonderry Prue Car said:

“As our area continues to grow, it’s essential that much-needed housing is planned to meet the needs of Western Sydney families – that means housing which is delivered alongside local infrastructure.

“We are committed to ensuring infrastructure and services match growth across Western Sydney, ensuring it is an even better place to live, work and raise a family.”

Minister for Planning Paul Scully said:

“This plan makes better use of well-located land to deliver more homes, jobs and open space in a growing part of Western Sydney, close to transport and essential services.

“By creating a new mixed-use neighbourhood with housing, open space, shops and community facilities, this plan has the potential to deliver the homes people need, in the communities they choose.”