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.

The global shift to net zero emissions is Australia’s opportunity to become a renewable energy superpower.

That is why today the Albanese Government has introduced legislation to establish the Net Zero Economy Authority to ensure Australian workers and regions realise and share the benefits of the net zero economy.

The Government is also announcing $189.3 million over four years from 2023-24 (and $53.3 million per year ongoing) in resourcing for the Authority.

The Authority will support the economy-wide net zero transformation that is underway by acting as a catalyst for private and public investment, major project development, job creation and transition, and skills and community development.

Global efforts to reduce emissions have already started transforming traditional industries, creating new opportunities to broaden Australia’s industrial base and strengthen our sovereign capability.

The Albanese Government is already delivering a strong policy agenda to reduce emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

This Authority will be pivotal to delivering this goal and realising the broader benefits for our nation.

Today’s legislation is another step forward in our plan for a net zero economy.

The Net Zero Economy Authority, an independent statutory body housed in the Prime Minister’s portfolio, will:

• Facilitate public and private sector participation and investment in emissions reduction and net zero transformation projects across Australia, including working with established investment funds.
• Support workers in emissions-intensive industries to access new employment, or acquire skills to improve their employment prospects, including an Energy Industry Jobs Plan to help workers in closing coal-fired power stations transition to new jobs.
• Support communities – including First Nations communities – to participate in, and benefit from, the economic shift to net zero emissions.
• Share information about Australia’s transformation to net zero economy, educating communities and supporting social licence for the transition.
• Promote coordination and consistency across government policies and programs.

It will play a key role in our plan to make Australia a renewable energy superpower, building on more than $40 billion in job-generating investments.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

“There is no nation on earth better placed than Australia to achieve the energy transition here at home and power it in the world.

“We are home to every metal and critical mineral essential to net zero. Our workforce is skilled and valued, our safety standards are the highest in the world and we have a proven track record as a reliable producer and exporter of energy and resources.

“The Net Zero Economy Authority will play an important role in one of the most significant economic events in Australian history and position us as a renewable energy superpower.

“We are committed to working across governments, with regional communities and industries, and our international partners, to secure the opportunities of Australia’s net zero future.”

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen

“Neither government funding nor private capital alone can meet this challenge. It will take both, working together, to secure the opportunities of Australia’s net zero future.

“Our local and regional communities are at the forefront of the economic shift. Through this new body, we can better support them to seize the opportunities of a net-zero economy.

“We will work in genuine partnership with business, unions and communities to help make sure no one is left behind as we seize on this once in a generation opportunity.”

The Australian Government has been notified that, from 29 March 2024, China will remove its duties on Australian bottled wine.

We welcome this outcome, which comes at a critical time for the Australian wine industry.

The re-entry of Australian bottled wine into the Chinese market will benefit both Australian producers and Chinese consumers.

This outcome affirms the calm and consistent approach taken by the Albanese Labor Government and follows the success of the similar approach taken to remove duties on Australian barley.

Since 2020, China’s duties on Australian wine effectively made it unviable for Australian producers to export bottled wine to that market. Australia’s wine exports to China were worth $1.1 billion in 2019.

We acknowledge and thank Australian grape growers and wine producers for their fortitude and support during a challenging period.

The removal of duties means that Australia will discontinue its legal proceedings at the World Trade Organization.

The Australian Government’s approach is to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest – the outcomes on barley and wine reflect that approach.

We will continue to press for all remaining trade impediments affecting Australian exports to be removed, which is in the interests of both Australia and China.

Trade diversification is a key element of the Government’s trade policy strategy. The Government will continue to support Australian businesses to sell their world-class products on the global stage.