Category: Australian News

Today I will make my first visit to New Zealand as Leader of the Australian Labor Party.
I am determined to strengthen relations with our nearest neighbours across the many interests we share.
These relationships are crucial, not just in the interests of regional cooperation, but also economic development.
New Zealand is more than a close friend of Australia, it is family.
Our trade relationship with New Zealand is a special one, with two way trade in merchandise and services totalling almost $30 billion.
Australia’s relationship with New Zealand is a crucial part of our engagement with the Pacific.
As the Pacific faces the impacts of climate change it is more important than ever that Australia takes a leadership role in supporting our neighbours.
While in New Zealand I will meet with Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party Jacinda Ardern, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters and address the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum.
I will be accompanied by Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong.
Anthony Albanese

The Prime Minister has questions to answer about the language he today denied having used today to describe a former Australian senator.
In a press conference today Mr Morrison was asked:
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister why was it racist to question Gladys Liu’s connections to China but it wasn’t racist to call Sam Dastyari “Shanghai Sam”?
PRIME MINISTER: I didn’t use either of those phrases.
Mr Morrison has used the term “Shanghai Sam’’ at least 17 times on 11 occasions, including on the floor of the House of Representatives and in multiple media interviews.
The only person linking concerns about Ms Liu to the entire Chinese-Australian population is Mr Morrison. He should stop.

As a result of the Morrison Government’s economic plan and responsible budget management the Budget has returned to balance for the first time in 11 years.
The underlying cash balance in the Final Budget Outcome for the 2018-19 financial year is $13.8 billion better than estimated at the time of the 2018-19 Budget.
The deficit of $690 million represents 0.0 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
A growing economy with more jobs and stronger terms of trade than anticipated at the time of the 2018-19 Budget have driven total receipts $11.5 billion higher, with payments $6.6 billion lower than expected at the time of the 2018-19 Budget.
Employment growth far exceeded expectations at the time of delivering the 2018-19 Budget in May 2018.
With about 300,000 additional jobs created in 2018-19, employment grew by 2.6 per cent, well above the 1½ per cent growth forecast in the 2018-19 Budget.
More than eight out of ten jobs created in the last year were in full time employment with the proportion of those of working age in welfare now at its lowest level in 30 years.
More jobs drive increases in revenue as well as lower payments, with individual tax receipts up by $5.7 billion compared to the 2018-19 Budget forecast.
Our strong fiscal management has put the Budget on a sustainable trajectory, ensuring that we can guarantee the essential services that Australian’s rely on.
The 2018-19 Final Budget Outcome shows that we have kept spending as a share of GDP in 2018-19 at 24.6 per cent of GDP, below the long-run average of 24.7 per cent for the second consecutive year, while also providing record levels of investment in essential services like hospitals, schools and aged care.
In 2018-19, our total funding for Health reached a record $80.2 billion, $4.2 billion more than we provided in 2017-18 and around $19.0 billion more than was provided in 2012-13, before we came into Government. There is also record investment of around $20 billion in Australian schools, $1.7 billion more than we provided in 2017-18 and around $7.0 billion more than 2012-13. There is record investment in aged care $19.8 billion, $2.0 billion more than we provided in 2017-18 and increasing from $12.8 billion that was provided in 2012-13. Spending on the NDIS more than doubled in 2018-19 compared to the previous year, going from $4 billion in 2017-18 to $8.5 billion in 2018-19.
These outcomes demonstrate that the Government’s economic plan is working and confirm that the Budget will be back in the black and back on track for the 2019-20 year.
Importantly Australia has completed its 28th consecutive year of economic growth and maintained its AAA credit rating. With more than 1.4 million jobs having been created since the Coalition Government was first elected in 2013, today’s outcome reflects the record number of people in jobs and an economy which is benefiting from the free trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated by the Coalition over the last six years. Our FTAs combined with strong prices for our key commodities exports has seen the current account move into surplus for the first time since 1975.
Nominal GDP grew by 5.3 per cent in 2018-19, which was significantly stronger than the 2018-19 Budget forecast of 3 ¾ per cent. This was the result of stronger than-expected employment growth and higher-than-assumed prices for key commodities.
The Final Budget Outcome for 2018-19 further demonstrates that the Government’s economic plan is working to create more jobs, and to ensure Australia can continue to afford the essential services Australians rely on.
In the year ahead the economy will continue to be supported by the Government’s economic plan as outlined in the 2019-20 Budget, including the largest tax cuts in two decades, and our $100 billion pipeline of infrastructure investment.
The Final Budget Outcome 2018-19 can be found at www.budget.gov.au.

The Greens call on the Morrison Government to categorically rule out any escalation of Australia’s involvement in US-led military operations in the Persian Gulf, said Leader of the Greens Senator Richard Di Natale.
“Morrison has already embroiled Australia in the increasing tensions between the United States and Iran by joining the US-led military operations in the Persian Gulf.  As the Greens said at the time, it is folly to follow Donald Trump into yet another American misadventure in the Middle East”, said Senator Di Natale.
“It’s time for Australia to reconsider its security relationship with the United States and chart an independent, non-aligned foreign policy based on the best interests of Australia, the region and the world.”
Australian Greens spokesperson for Peace and Disarmament, Senator Jordon Steele-John said the escalating military and diplomatic crisis in the region was a crisis of Trump’s own making.
“Donald Trump now says the US is ‘locked and loaded’ and there are reports that the US is considering a physical strike or cyberattack on Iranian oil facilities or Revolutionary Guard assets.  Australia should immediately withdraw any support for Washington’s dangerous strategy in the Middle East and urge a return to the Iranian nuclear deal”, he said.
“Morrison is not only endangering global peace and stability – he is putting our citizens at direct risk of retaliation. Three Australian citizens travelling in Iran have now been locked up as a direct result of Australia’s slavish devotion to the US,” Senator Steele-John said.

Greens climate change spokesperson, Adam Bandt MP, has this morning introduced a private members bill which will amend the Fair Work Act to protect workers who strike for climate action, declaring that any boss who sacks anyone for striking this Friday 20 September as part of the Global Climate Strike is ‘a bum’.
The Fair Work Amendment (Stop Work to Stop Warming) Bill 2019 will put beyond doubt that employees covered by the Fair Work Act have a right to take industrial action to demand that governments do more to address the climate crisis. The Bill will also allow employees to include matters pertaining to climate change within their enterprise agreements.
“Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up to work on Friday is a bum,” said Mr Bandt.
“Students have been striking to demand governments take action to stop the climate crisis and now they have asked workers and everyone else to join them this Friday September 20.
“Millions of people across the world will walk out of their classrooms, workplaces and homes as part of the Global Climate Strike, because pollution is rising under the Coalition and we’re headed towards climate collapse.
“As this government refuses to act with the urgency required to meet the climate emergency, Australians of all walks of life will take to the streets and demand we do more.
“The climate crisis is the greatest existential threat facing us. The constitution protects workers’ rights to political free speech, including, I’d argue, by attending events like the climate strike, but workers deserve to know that when they strike for urgent climate action they’ll be protected by this Parliament and by the Fair Work Act.”

The Australian Government will deliver new income assistance to people affected by the bushfires in Queensland and New South Wales.
We have activated the Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA) to ensure assistance is directed to those who need it most.
The devastation we have seen on the ground in South East Queensland today was heartbreaking and we want to be there to help the communities rebuild. There are hundreds of these stories of survival across NSW and Queensland in the face of tough odds, and hope for the future.
Multiple bushfires continue to burn across large parts of southern Queensland and northern NSW.
These fires have had significant impacts on many communities and businesses, both direct and indirect, and are impacting people’s livelihoods and incomes.
Our assistance is designed to help those who have lost their income and need additional support to get back on their feet.
The DRA provides a short-term support payment to assist those whose income has been affected as a direct result of the bushfires.
People eligible for DRA can access income assistance for up to 13 weeks, equivalent to the maximum rate of Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance.
In Queensland, the DRA has been activated in the local government areas of Noosa, Scenic Rim, Southern Downs and Sunshine Coast.
In New South Wales, the DRA has been activated in the local government areas of Armidale, Bellingen, Clarence Valley, Glen Innes, Inverell, Tenterfield, Uralla and Walcha.
Claims for DRA can be made through the Australian Government Department of Human Services (DHS) from Monday 16 September 2019.
Customers can call DHS on 180 22 66, visit www.humanservices.gov.au or visit a DHS Service Centre.
Equivalent financial assistance will also be available to eligible New Zealand citizens (‘non-protected’ Special Category Visa, subclass 444 holders) affected by the bushfires.
The Australian Government assistance being announced today is over and above the support already being provided for under the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
We stand ready to provide further support if it is requested.
We are monitoring the impacts of the bushfires closely and will ensure bushfire affected communities receive the support they need, including:

• personal hardship and distress assistance for individuals and families;
  • Includes immediate emergency assistance, grants for essential household contents and grants for essential structural repairs to homes.
  • The amounts granted depend on the assessed needs of the affected individuals/households.
• support for affected local councils and state agencies to help with operational response costs and restoring damaged essential public assets;
  • Includes funding for counter disaster operations (e.g. firefighting operations) and to repair damaged assets.
  • The amount available is uncapped.
• concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations;
  • Includes loans of up to $130,000 at a fixed concessional interest rate for small businesses and primary producers and up to $25,000 for non-profit organisations.
• freight subsidies for primary producers, and
  • Includes subsidies up to $15,000 per annum.
• grants to eligible non-profit organisations.
  • Includes grants of up to $2,000.

This assistance is administered by the NSW Government.
Anyone in need of assistance should contact the NSW Government Disaster Welfare Assistance Line on 1800 018 444.
Southern Queensland Bushfires
Disaster recovery assistance is being provided under the jointly funded Commonwealth-state DRFA.
DRFA assistance is available in the local government areas of Noosa, Scenic Rim, Southern Downs and Sunshine Coast.
A range of assistance is available, including:

• Personal hardship and distress assistance for individuals and families; and
• Emergency Hardship Assistance Grant – provides assistance as a contribution to support people directly impacted by an eligible disaster to meet their immediate essential needs for food, clothing, medical supplies or temporary accommodation. $180 per individual and up to $900 for families of five or more.
• Essential Services Hardship Assistance – provides assistance for people directly impacted by an eligible disaster to meet their immediate needs where they have experienced the loss of one or more essential services for more than five days. $150 for individuals and up to $750 for families of five or more.
• Essential Household Contents Grant – provides a contribution towards replacing or repairing essential household contents, such as beds, linen and whitegoods that have been lost or damaged by an eligible disaster. $1,765 per individual or $5,300 for couples or families. Assistance is subject to means testing.
• Structural Assistance Grant – provides a contribution towards repairs or replacement of a dwelling damaged by an eligible disaster, to return it to a safe, habitable and secure condition. $10,995 for single adults or $14,685 for couples or families. Assistance is subject to means testing.
• Essential Services Safety and Reconnection Scheme – To assist residents with the inspection and reconnection of essential services that have been damaged by an eligible disaster. The scheme provides financial assistance to individuals and families as a contribution towards safety inspections of and repairs to residential essential services (i.e. electricity, gas, water and sewerage) damaged by an eligible disaster. Up to $5,000 per household. Assistance is subject to means testing.
• Support for affected local councils and state agencies to help with operational response costs (CATEGORY B).
• Counter Disaster Operations – To assist local governments and state agencies to undertake activities that alleviate personal hardship and distress, address the immediate needs of individuals and protect the general public, immediately prior to, during or immediately after an eligible disaster. The amount available is not capped.

In addition, assistance for the restoration of damaged essential public assets has been made available in Scenic Rim (CATEGORY B).
This assistance is administered by the Queensland Government.
Anyone in need of assistance should contact the Queensland Government Community Recovery Hotline on 1800 173 349.
Other Australian Government assistance:

• Firebombing aircraft have been in action against these fires. We are proud that our national aerial firefighting arrangements are ensuring the best possible aerial firefighting equipment is available to protect Australians.
• The Australian Government annually invests around $14.8 million in aerial firefighting.

With the early start to this bushfire season, it is important that all members of the community are well prepared and have a plan.
More information on Australian Government disaster assistance is available at www.disasterassist.gov.au

Australian Greens Peace and Disarmament spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John has reiterated calls for Australia’s defence force to urgently develop and implement a climate change strategy, after revelations today that senior bureaucrats have been wargaming climate change scenarios.
Senator Steele-John also called on the government to immediately release the details of the climate change scenarios, which they have so far refused to release through Freedom Of Information.
“It’s abundantly clear that the Morrison is out of step not only with the Australian public on the impacts of climate change, but also their own advisers,” he said.
“As droughts, floods, wildfires and extreme weather events become increasingly common in Australia and our region, it’s clear that climate change is causing more harm than ever before. These disasters will be a significant challenge in our region and we should be prepared to lend a helping hand to our friends and neighbours.
“Internal Australian Defence Force documents have identified food and water shortages and mass displacement of people as significant challenges into the future, yet we continue to follow along behind the Unites States rather than developing our own independent foreign policy.
“We need a new approach. It’s time to refocus our defence forces on preparing for the impacts of climate change and build cooperative relationships with our friends and neighbours so that we can work together to create a peaceful future for all of us and give everyone what they need to live a good life.”

If the Labor Party dumps its current target of 45 percent emissions reduction by 2030, they will lose whatever credibility they have left on the climate crisis and prove that they’ve learnt all the wrong lessons from the election, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
“Queensland and New South Wales are burning, our firefighters and emergency responders on the ground are screaming out for support and Labor’s response is to join the climate deniers in the Liberals,” Di Natale said.
“Without a proper 2030 emissions reduction target and a plan to phase out coal, Labor will have lost whatever remaining credibility it has on the climate crisis.
“We’re in a climate emergency and Labor is caving in to the coal, oil and gas lobby. And if they think voters are going to reward them for that, they’ve taken all the wrong lessons from the election.”
“There are two kinds of climate denial. There’s refusing to accept the science is real and there’s refusing to do what the science requires. Delay is just another form of denial and I hope Labor doesn’t join the Liberals by denying the need for urgent action by 2030,” said Greens Climate Change Spokesperson Adam Bandt MP.
“The Greens are holding the Coalition climate criminals to account and we’d like Labor’s help.”
“Short-term targets matter. The world’s scientists have told us that unless we drastically cut pollution, we could hit the dangerous 1.5 degree tipping point by as early as 2030.”
“When you’re heading towards a cliff, deciding to go over the edge and hoping you‘ll stop before you hit the bottom isn’t a climate policy, it’s a death sentence,” Bandt said.

David Littleproud is a climate change denier and is not fit to serve as minister for water resources, drought, natural disaster and emergency management. He must resign as minister and, if he will not, then the Prime Minister must intervene and remove him, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
”David Littleproud has admitted that he does not believe the accepted science that human action is driving climate change, so how can he possibly be responsible for oversight of the water resources, drought, natural disaster and emergency management portfolios,” Di Natale said.
“That’s why the Greens are calling on Minister Littleproud to do the right thing and immediately resign from the front bench so that he can be replaced with someone who understands the science of climate change. If he refuses to do so, then Scott Morrison must stand him down.”
”If Scott Morrison won’t remove Minister Littleproud from the front bench now that it’s clear he doesn’t believe the overwhelming scientific evidence that man made climate change is real, then the public would have no choice but to assume that the Prime Minister agrees with his position.”
“The Minister responsible for managing the Nation’s water doesn’t even accept the most basic climate science – he’s not up to the job,” said Greens Water Spokesperson Sen Sarah Hanson-Young.
“Keeping David Littleproud as Water Minister puts the Murray-Darling and our Nation’s foodbowl in danger.”
“The Prime Minister needs to call time on the Nats reign over the country’s biggest river system, end over extraction by big corporate irrigators, and establish a Royal Commission to start cleaning this mess up,” Hanson-Young said.

Federal Members of the crossbench in the House of Representatives will join with John Hewson AM, former Liberal leader, to call on the Parliament to declare a climate emergency, with MPs and Senators exercising a free vote so that the motion can pass.
The declaration motion to be released today calls on the House to declare an environment and climate emergency and to take urgent action consistent with internationally accepted science. The motion will be moved by Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt, seconded by the independent member for Warringah Zali Steggall OAM, and supported by the independent member for Indi, Helen Haines, Centre Alliance member for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie and the independent member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie.
The move follows a wave of similar declarations around the world in covering 990 national, state and local jurisdictions including the UK, France, and Canada and the city of New York.
“Climate was an emergency some thirty years ago. If this had been recognised at the time, we would already be well past the Paris targets and enjoying many thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars of investment, with much lower electricity and gas prices. Moreover, we would be a world leader in the inevitable transition to a low carbon society, rather than an embarrassing laggard. MPs and Senators should have a conscience vote on the emergency declaration so that individual members of Parliament can be held personally accountable by their constituents, their children and their grandchildren, indeed by all future generations, for the stance they took on the greatest economic, social, political and moral challenge of this century,” said Dr Hewson.
“We are facing an existential climate crisis that threatens life as we know it. With record drought and Australia ablaze barely a week out of winter, it is time to tell the truth about how severe the climate emergency is. If the government can declare a Budget emergency, it can declare a climate emergency. Once we are honest about the climate emergency, we can develop the plans to tackle it,” said Mr Bandt.
“We need to urgently address the climate change emergency that is upon us. We are seeing unprecedented extreme weather events  that are causing terrible health impacts, particularly the effects of asthma from poor air quality. The time is now to call on the Federal government to act quickly and decisively,” said Zali Steggall, independent member for Warringah.
Dr Haines said farmers know better than anyone what it means to live with a changing climate.
“They are working hard right now to adapt their farming practices,” she said. “They know that last year was the second warmest and fifth driest year in Australian history. They also know that climate change is an enormous opportunity. In my electorate of Indi, dozens of farming communities are developing solar power plants on their land, harvesting the sunshine while their sheep graze underneath. Capturing carbon on the land – in our soils and trees –could provide an additional income of $40 billion in the agricultural sector. Declaring a climate emergency means we put a stake in the ground to say we will tackle this and we will seize this opportunity. Australian rural communities deserve no less.”
“The science is in, climate change is real and we need urgent sustained and consistent action to address emissions. The last decade of policy uncertainty has been an exercise in absolute frustration. We are reaping what we have sown with our community – especially our young people – fed up with our inability to get on with the job,” said Rebekha Sharkie, Centre Alliance member for Mayo.
“Climate change is the most shocking example of intergenerational social injustice one could imagine. The consequences of inaction are so severe that dealing with the climate-change emergency should be Federal Government’s first priority,” said Andrew Wilkie, independent member for Clark.
Motion Text: 
MEMBER FOR MELBOURNE: I give notice that on the next day of sitting I shall move that this House:
(1)     declares an environment and climate emergency;
(2)     recognises that:
(a)     the recent report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5 °C, indicates that we are facing a climate emergency, and as a result, meaningful action on climate change is urgent, at home and internationally;
(b)     this IPCC report has found that the world is not on track to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius;
(c)     at a national level, England, France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Canada have all declared a climate emergency; and
(d)     extreme weather events will devastate large parts of Australia and radically impact food production, water availability, public health, infrastructure, the community and the financial system; and
(3)     notes that the Government has acknowledged urgent action is required to address climate change and calls on the Government to take urgent action consistent with the internationally accepted science.