Category: Australian News

Greens respond to Peter Dutton refusing to rule out cuts to the ABC.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for media and communications

“Australians love our ABC and won’t stand for it to be victim to Peter Dutton’s cut, cut, cut mentality.

“We cannot trust Peter Dutton’s Liberal party to control the funding to the ABC. It has long been an ideological crusade of Dutton and the Liberals to attack the ABC’s independence, cut its funding and launch culture war attacks on our national broadcaster.

“Dutton is playing political games and refusing to give the public the real details of his policies because he knows they would be incredibly unpopular. When the Liberals last cut the ABC budget under Abbott, there was a huge outcry from the Australian community.

“In a world where media is becoming increasingly fragmented and misinformation runs rife, it’s more important than ever that we protect our national broadcaster. The Greens have a plan to fully fund our ABC, including returning money that was cut during Abbott and Morrison era. We must legislate ABC funding so it is not subject to the whims of the government of the day.”

The Greens today are launching an election commitment to end the offshore detention of people seeking asylum by sea and establish a Royal Commission into Australia’s immigration detention regime. 

The major parties have made Australia an international outlier, exiling people who come here seeking safety to detention centres in other countries. 

There has been no justice for those abused under this system, and there are still people denied their basic rights, that needs to change. 

More than a decade after the failed Manus Island prison experiment 40 people remain trapped in Papua New Guinea after having sought safety in Australia. They need urgent evacuation and a clear pathway to permanent resettlement. 

Since 2013 both Labor and the Coalition have spent billions of dollars, not on making the immigration system fairer, not on strengthening the community, but on creating offshore hellholes to torture refugees. 

To make Australia’s immigration system faster and fairer, the Greens will also increase our humanitarian intake, provide a pathway for permanency for all refugees on shore, introduce a new emergency humanitarian visa, cap family visa wait times at 12 months, restore legal funding for humanitarian cases and end the Department of Home Affairs and return functions and responsibilities to the departments that previously held them. 

Senator David Shoebridge, Greens Spokesperson on Immigration, said: “The Albanese Government have decided to join with the Coalition and punch down on refugees, we take a different path, of pushing back against deliberate cruelty. 

“Labor started this latest round of offshore detention and deportations and communities around the country are right to be demanding accountability for their actions. 

“When politicians choose to do the wrong thing, harm people for political gain, and compete over who can be meaner, it infects the rest of society. Over the past 10 years, cruelty has become one of Australia’s main exports, courtesy of Labor and the Coalition. 

“The rise of the far right worldwide, with their aggressively anti-migrant policies, has been given fuel by policies delivered by Liberal and Labor Governments here. 

“What the major parties have done to our immigration system is reprehensible. 

“People who have fled the most appalling violence are left waiting in Australia for a decade or more just to get their application processed. 

“Adult children trying to get a visa for their sick mum are being made to pay $40,000 and then wait 30 years on average, with family members literally dying on hold. 

“Australia is a proud multicultural country where people from all around the world come to build a better community and successful lives. We need to be celebrating this, not sabotaging it.

“The major parties have ignored the need for a fairer and faster immigration system, and instead are pulling apart Australia’s multicultural threads by denying people dignity and respect.

“If we want a fairer and more equal world, Australia can do its part by repairing the damage we have done.”

Any moves on price gouging by Labor must include serious penalties and enforcement powers if it’s going to make any difference to people’s grocery bills, the Greens say.

“Our policy would hit Coles and Woolies with $50 million fines if they’re caught price gouging, and Labor should commit to this at the very least,” said Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim.

“And we’d give courts the power to force the big supermarkets to actually lower their prices.”

“Without serious penalties and strong enforcement powers, the supermarket duopoly will continue to act with impunity.”

“If the fines are not large enough the supermarket corporations will simply absorb them into their massive profits and continue to price gouge their shoppers.”

“That’s why the Greens will put steel in Labor’s spine in a minority government.”

Key parts of the Greens’ plan to end supermarket price gouging include:

• Fines of $50 million or more for corporations caught price gouging
• A Prices Commission to monitor price setting across the economy, staffed at Productivity Commission levels
• New price gouging laws and court-enforceable divestiture powers, enforced by the ACCC
• 20 new full-time staff at the ACCC to investigate gouging and act on referrals from the Prices Commission

“Big supermarkets have been price gouging for too long and it needs to end,” McKim said.

“The Greens will use the next Parliament to act faster and with real bite to tackle price gouging.”

Greens Leader Adam Bandt today said renters and people in housing stress are a powerful voting bloc who will determine who wins the competitive seat of Wills. 

The Greens are targeting Wills in Melbourne’s inner north this election and Mr Bandt will be campaigning there today with the party’s star candidate Samantha Ratnam, Victorian Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May and Macnamara candidate Sonya Semmens.

The recent federal AEC redistribution in Victoria approximately halved the margin in Wills, with Poll Bludger estimating the new margin to be 4.2 per cent between the Greens and Labor and ABC’s Antony Green estimating 4.6 per cent. Previous successful Greens campaigns in Melbourne in 2010 and Griffith in 2022 overcame a margin of over 10% to turn the seats Green.

Greens candidate Samantha Ratnam first contested the seat in 2016, securing a 10.32 percent swing to the Greens, before entering the Victorian Parliament and serving as Victorian Greens Leader. Ms Ratnam resigned from that role last year to stand for Wills this election.

Data compiled for ABC’s Four Corners earlier this year showed 78.5 per cent of renters in Wills are experiencing rental stress. 38 per cent of people in Wills are renters and over 9,000 households are experiencing housing stress, according to the 2021 Census. The total number of people currently in housing stress is expected to be higher following years of high rent increases and interest rates. 

The Greens are running one of their biggest Victorian campaigns ever in Wills this election, with volunteers having knocked on over 50,000 doors before the election was even called. 

In addition to Wills, the Greens are targeting Macnamara (VIC), Richmond (NSW), Sturt (SA) and Perth (WA). The party is also seeking to return its four Lower House MPs and all its Senators who are up for re-election. 

“In a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to afford a roof over their head, but in 2025 people are still being smashed by sky high rents and mortgages.

“Nothing changes if nothing changes – we can’t keep voting for the same old two parties and expecting a different result.

“A vote for the Greens is a vote to make big corporations pay to fund the things we all need, like capping rent increases and lower mortgages, putting dental into Medicare and making sure you can see the GP for free. 

“We’ll act on climate by stopping new coal and gas and ramping up renewables and battery storage.

“With a minority Parliament expected, this election the people of Wills can send Samantha Ratnam to be a strong and independent representative for them in Canberra who will keep Dutton out and get Labor to act.” 

Greens candidate for Wills, Samantha Ratnam:

“Voters in Wills are some of the most powerful in the country. They know the Greens will stop Dutton forming government and will get Labor to act on what matters: housing, cost of living and climate.

“Over the past year, we’ve knocked on over 50,000 doors and had thousands and thousands of conversations in Wills. Our community understands that if we want change, we have to vote for it, and more people here than ever before are planning to vote Green this election.” 

The Greens have slammed Peter Dutton’s plan to withhold public school funding and cut ‘thousands’ of jobs in the Commonwealth Department of Education. The Greens say a Dutton Government would result in cuts to public schools, a wound back Department of Education, and a Minister fixated on moulding the curriculum after her own image rather than supporting disadvantaged kids.Comments attributable to Greens spokesperson on Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:“Peter Dutton has said he will hold public school kids to ransom, withholding funds unless he gets to decide the curriculum. “He can’t help himself – cutting public school funding is in his DNA. “Kids in Australia deserve a world class, free public education, not threats and bluster from a wannabe Trump. “He’s seen what Trump is doing to public education in America and would love nothing more than to import that ideology into Australia. This is seriously dangerous and weird stuff. “The Liberals are fundamentally opposed to public schools – they’d prefer all schools to be fee-charging private schools. They don’t get that education is a right.“The last thing you want to see is Peter Dutton standing at the whiteboard telling your kid what they can and can’t learn.“Dutton and Sarah Henderson need to be up front here: are they talking about banning science or First Nations history as a condition of funding? Or forbidding queer teachers from discussing their lives?“In seats like Brisbane and Ryan, the only thing standing in the way of a Dutton majority are local Greens MPs. This election, a vote for the Greens is a vote to keep Dutton out and make Labor act.”

A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will crack down on price gouging by supermarkets because Australian families deserve fair prices for their groceries.

Australians shouldn’t be treated like mugs at the checkout – that’s why Labor will make supermarket price gouging illegal.

This is another cost-of-living relief measure the Albanese Government is taking – along with tax cuts for every tax payer, energy bill relief and cheaper medicines. 

It is unfair and un-Australian for supermarkets to exploit consumers by inflating prices and profits when they do not face enough competition. 

A re-elected Labor Government will confront price gouging to fix a key gap in Australia’s competition and consumer protection framework.

Laws to protect consumers from companies abusing their market power through excessive pricing are in place in the European Union, United Kingdom and over 30 states in the US in particular circumstances.  

We want Australians to have these protections.

As a first step, Labor will implement the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) supermarket inquiry report recommendations that will improve transparency about prices, price trends and promotions, and loyalty programs. 

This includes mandatory and harmonised minimum information and notification requirements about prices and changes in product sizes for both consumers and fresh produce providers. 

We will establish a taskforce to provide advice on introducing an excessive pricing regime for supermarkets that would be policed by the ACCC.

This advice will consider other countries’ laws and options suitable for Australia.

The taskforce will include Treasury, the ACCC and other market and regulatory experts. It will consult on the approach and report to the Government within six months with a way forward on this regime.

While Australia does have protections that prevent companies abusing their market power, unlike other countries these laws do not prohibit excessive pricing. Our reforms will ensure the ACCC can investigate a broader range of concerning pricing practices by supermarkets with market power.

This is about holding big business to account, not the staff working behind the checkout.

Those workers are facing the same pressures as every Australian, are just doing their jobs, and deserve safety and respect.

Labor is determined for Australians to get a better deal at the checkout.

That’s why we:

• Have made the Food and Grocery Code mandatory from 1 April 2025
• Are tackling shrinkflation by strengthening the Unit Pricing Code and introducing penalties for breaches
• Have increased resourcing for the ACCC to undertake enforcement and increased penalties for anti-competitive conduct. 

While Labor is laser focused on helping families manage cost of living pressures caused by the world-wide inflation surge, the Coalition has opposed every cost-of-living measure the Government has proposed. 

Last year, they voted against fairness for families and farmers and wouldn’t back Labor’s bill that warned supermarkets we were serious about cracking down on dodgy behaviour.

And they will introduce laws to make every taxpayer pay more income tax, hurting Australians’ hip pockets even more.

Peter Dutton’s $350 billion in cuts will hit regulators, like the ACCC, making it easier for conduct that hurts Australians to go unchecked.

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese:

“Labor will make price gouging by supermarkets illegal.

“Because Australian families deserve a fair price at the checkout and Australian farmers deserve a fair price for their goods.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers:

“Labor is making sure Australians aren’t being treated like mugs.
 
“We’re delivering a better deal for families at the checkout and a better deal for farmers at the farm gate. 
 
“Our plan helps deliver more competition, fairer prices and better deals for Australians.
 
“The biggest threat to household budgets is Peter Dutton. He will jack up taxes and cut essential services and make Australians worse off.”

Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh:
 
“A fair market needs fair rules. When competition is weak, prices go up and families pay the cost. 

“It’s time Australians had the same protections from excessive pricing as consumers overseas.”

The Australian Government is providing further support for communities impacted by the flooding in Western Queensland – activating the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP).

The payment will be available for eligible resident in the Barcoo, Bulloo, Longreach, Paroo, Quilpie and Winton Local Government Areas – providing further support for these communities.

This event has impacted people in different ways.

The Australian Government is working closely with the Queensland Government to ensure that supports are available in response to the different challenges that people have experienced.

Commonwealth supports

1. If a person has suffered the most serious impacts including major damage to their home, serious injury, or loss of a loved one as a result of severe weather, they may be eligible for the AGDRP which offers residents $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child.

Residents can check their eligibility for the AGDRP on the Services Australia Website.

Claims for the AGDRP will open at 2pm local time on Tuesday, 1 April 2025.

The quickest way to claim is online through myGov, or via the myGov app. If people need help to claim, they can call the Australian Government Emergency Information Line on 180 22 66.

To change or pause Centrelink debt repayments, affected people can do so online or in the mobile app (through the Money you owe service), or they can call 1800 076 072.

Joint Commonwealth-State supports

1. If a person lost essential services such as power, gas, water or sewerage for more than 5 days, they may be eligible for the Essential Services Hardship Assistance: a payment of between $150 – $750 depending on household size.
2. If a person needs help to cover the costs of emergency essentials like food clothing and medicine, they may be eligible for the Emergency Hardship Assistance: a payment of between $180 – $900 depending on household size.
3. If a person lost essential household contents like bed linen or white goods, they may be eligible for the Essential Household Contents Grant: a payment of between $1,765 – $5,300 depending on household size.
4. If a person’s home has become structurally unsafe to live in, they may be eligible for the Structural Assistance Grant: uninsured, low income owner occupiers can receive up to $80,000 to help repair home to make it safe, secure and habitable.

These payments are administered by the Queensland Government and people can check their eligibility on the Queensland Government Website.

As additional information about impacts becomes available, the government will consider other locations.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

“At the worst of times we see the best of the Australian character, and we’re seeing that again in Queensland.

“These are tough times but Queenslanders are tougher. The stock losses in these communities will be particularly distressing.

 “We’ve got their back, which is why we’re rolling out support now to help communities get through these floods”.

Minister for Government Services Katy Gallagher

“The government is working hard to support impacted communities in western Queensland during this difficult time.

“The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment will help eligible residents who have experienced severe impacts like major damage to their home.

“Services Australia staff are well practiced in supporting the community during times of emergency and will work round the clock to process claims as quickly as possible.

“I encourage people in the impacted areas to check their eligibility for payments on Services Australia’s website.”

Minister for Emergency Management Jenny McAllister

“We know the current flooding in western Queensland has impacted people in different ways. We’re working closely with the Queensland Government to ensure that there are a range of payments available to meet different needs.  

“As we are receiving information about impacts, we are acting quickly to make financial assistance available for people and families who need it.

“We will continue working hand in glove with the Queensland Government to support impacted communities through this event and into recovery.”

Australia will provide an initial $2 million to Myanmar through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for immediate humanitarian relief following Friday’s magnitude 7.7 earthquake.

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this devastating event, which only adds to an already-dire humanitarian situation in Myanmar.

It has caused extensive damage to infrastructure and loss of life in Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw, as well as in surrounding regions, with hospitals overwhelmed. Neighbouring countries, including Thailand, have also been impacted.

Australia’s support will assist ICRC to carry out immediate lifesaving support including to address emergency medical needs.

Australia also welcomes the release of US$5 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support urgent needs such as shelter, food and water. Australia is a longstanding donor to the CERF.

The ongoing crisis in Myanmar is a major threat to stability in our region. Australia continues to provide support in response to the worsening humanitarian situation.

Australia does not provide any direct funding to the military regime and takes proactive steps to ensure our assistance does not legitimise the military regime in Myanmar.

Campaigning today in the Greens’ target seat of Macnamara, the Australian Greens have said Greens pressure works after Labor adopted the Greens’ plan to make supermarket price-gouging illegal. 

The move comes after Labor also adopted the Greens’ plan to triple the bulk-billing incentive for GPs, with the Greens saying a minority Parliament will see a number of other Greens policies implemented.

Last year the Greens introduced a bill to stop supermarket price gouging, which both Labor and the Liberals voted against in October. The Greens also announced a widely-reported election plan to make price-gouging illegal earlier this month. 

The Greens have said if the Prime Minister is looking for some more homework to copy, he should get dental and mental health into Medicare, wipe all student debt, cap rent increases, and stop new coal and gas and native forest logging.

After returning from yesterday’s ‘Keep Dutton Out’ rally in Queensland, Greens Leader Adam Bandt will today be campaigning in the party’s target seat of Macnamara in inner-city Melbourne with candidate Sonya Semmens, Victorian Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May and Wills candidate Samantha Ratnam.

The Greens’ plan to make supermarket price gouging illegal has been incredibly popular in Wills and Macnamara, and the Greens will be doorknocking there today to say today’s announcement is proof the Greens get Labor to act.

The Greens came within 300 votes of winning the Macnamara at the 2022 election. Last election Macnamara saw a 5.5% swing to the Greens and the party has already knocked on more than 65,000 doors this campaign. 

Macnamara has one of the highest proportions of renting households in the country. 51.5 per cent of households are rented and a further 24 per cent have a mortgage, which means 3 in 4 households in the electorate are being heavily impacted by the rental and housing crisis. 

In addition to Macnamara, the Greens are targeting Wills (VIC), Richmond (NSW), Sturt (SA) and Perth (WA). The party is also seeking to return its four Lower House MPs and all its Senators who are up for re-election. 

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt MP:

“Greens pressure works. After adopting most of our plan to see the GP for free, Labor has now followed the Greens’ plan to make supermarket price gouging illegal.

“The Greens get Labor to act. If Labor had voted for our bill last year shoppers would have cheaper groceries already, but this move is better late than never.

“The Greens are leading the way this election, and with a minority Parliament coming, we can keep Dutton out and get Labor to get dental and mental health into Medicare, wipe all student debt, cap rent increases, and stop new coal and gas.

“With more Greens MPs in Parliament, like Sonya Semmens in Macnamara and Samantha Ratnam in Wills, we can keep Dutton out and get Labor to act.

“This election, we can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result.

“Right now, one in three big corporations pays zero tax. We should tax big corporations and billionaires to fund dental into Medicare, cap rent increases and lower mortgages, bring back free GPs and take strong climate action.

“Last minority government the Greens got dental into Medicare for kids, and now we want to get it for everyone.

“If you want change, the first step is to vote for it.

Greens economic justice spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim:

“While Mr Albanese is browsing the Greens’ website looking for policy ideas, he should also copy and paste our plan to get dental into Medicare and end native forest logging.

“Because the Greens don’t take donations from the supermarket corporations, we have led the charge on taking on the duopoly.

“Our leadership and pressure has led to the Nationals and Liberals supporting supermarket divestiture and now Labor is backing our plan to make price gouging illegal.”

Greens candidate for Macnamara, Sonya Semmens:

“In Macnamara more than half the households are renting and they’ve been smashed by the cost of living crisis. 

“This election, nothing changes unless your vote does.

“In a minority government, the Greens will keep Dutton out and get Labor to act on housing, cost of living and the climate crisis.”

Australia will provide a further $11 million in lifesaving humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, and an additional $15 million in critical support for people affected by humanitarian crises in Myanmar and Afghanistan.

The additional funding to Gaza will address urgent needs, including healthcare, food and water.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, and Australia reiterates calls for sustained, unimpeded aid to those who desperately need it.

Additional assistance will be provided to those impacted by rapidly escalating humanitarian crises. It includes:

• $7 million in lifesaving food assistance for Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar, as well as their host communities in Bangladesh. More than one million Rohingyas in Bangladesh depend on humanitarian support, with no legal status or right to work.
• $3 million in lifesaving assistance to provide food, health, shelter and protection support for displaced people on the Thai-Myanmar border.
• An additional $5 million will also be provided to enable United Nations partners to deliver services for Afghan women and girls that address critical sexual and reproductive health needs, gender-based violence and displacement.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong:

“Helping others in crisis reflects Australian values, but also supports our interests in a peaceful, stable world. Australia’s contribution will provide lifesaving assistance to people enduring immense suffering.
“Australia is engaging diplomatically as part of the international call for all parties to return to the ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. We continue to press for the protection of civilians, the release of hostages and unimpeded and sustained humanitarian aid.

“Humanitarian needs have increased twenty-fold since the Myanmar coup. We call on the military regime to prioritise civilian safety and immediately cease violence and ensure unhindered and safe humanitarian access across the country.

“Australia is steadfast in its support for Afghan women and girls, who have shown incredible courage in the face of the Taliban’s systematic human rights violations and abuses.”

Minister for International Development and the Pacific and Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, the Hon Pat Conroy MP:

“Humanitarian crises contribute to regional instability and global insecurity.

“Australia is providing lifesaving healthcare and assistance for civilians in need, as part of an international effort to reduce the devastating human toll of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

“Protection for women and girls in humanitarian emergencies is a central pillar of the Humanitarian Policy we released in 2024. We know the situation under the Taliban is particularly egregious and we are proud to be supporting the provision of critical health services to Afghan women and girls.

“We will continue to play our part to support people in humanitarian need, both in our region and globally.”