16 News

Australian Greens DIsability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John has labelled comments made this morning by Minister Robert about the NDIS as cynical, misleading and offensive.
“Minister Robert’s comments about our NDIS are deeply concerning and a smokescreen for a much broader power grab from the Morrison government,” Steele-John said.
“If a disabled person who is a participant of the NDIS can show that a support or a service they wish to include in their plan is reasonable or necessary, then the scheme is working as it should.
“It is the very antithesis of the scheme for the Minister have the power to veto – based on his own moral beliefs – the kind of services and supports a disabled person might need in their plan.
“Disabled people across Australia campaigned for decades for the NDIS and its creation – the largest social reform since MediCare – is one of our community’s greatest achievements.
“Since Tony Abbott came into power in 2013, successive Coalition governments have been intent on interfering with, and dismantling, our NDIS through insufficient funding and staffing caps that limit the ability of the scheme to do the job it was designed to do.
“Now with the deeply flawed trial of Compulsory Independent Assessments and negative public commentary – such as we’ve seen today from Minister Robert – on the very foundations of the scheme, we are seeing a blatant public grab for control over the NDIS that will ultimately lead to even more negative outcomes for disabled people.
“We should not have to fight the system that was created to support us. Our NDIS needs to be fixed and disabled people must be at the centre of the conversation because we know what the solutions are.”

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for Media and Communications has announced today the Greens will be seeking amendments to the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020.
The Greens will be seeking amendments to the bill that:

1. require news organisations to spend the revenue from the Code on resourcing public interest journalism
2. require the 12 month review of the Code to report on the impact that the Code is having on small, independent and start up publications

In addition to these amendments, the Greens are calling on the Government to commit to establishing a permanent Public Interest News Gathering Trust, a proposal put forward in the recent Media Reform Green Paper.
“This Code is about supporting public interest journalism, an essential pillar of our democracy. The funds that news organisations receive through the Code should be directed to producing journalism and not lining shareholders pockets.
“Media diversity is essential for public interest journalism, the Code must cover all publishers that contribute to public interest journalism in Australia. We need a 12 month review of the Code that gives a clear picture of the impact this policy change will have on small, independent and start up news media publications.
“We cannot have media diversity in Australia without a news wire service. While funding received from the PING fund has supported AAP in the short-term, the long-term stability of the news wire is still at risk. To protect public interest journalism, the Government must step up and provide long-term funding for AAP to secure their future.
“The establishment of a permanent PING Trust would provide ongoing support for not only AAP but also other essential public interest news gathering organisations including small and independent publishers.”

Greens Senators Janet Rice and Jordon Steele-John have called on the Australian Government to immediately suspend all military ties with Myanmar, and impose targeted sanctions on General Min Aung Hlaing and others involved in yesterday’s coup.
The Australian Greens also urge the Myanmar military to respect democratic norms and immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and others who have been unlawfully detained.
Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens Foreign Affairs spokesperson said:
“The Australian Greens are incredibly concerned at the declaration of emergency law by the Myanmar military, and the unlawful detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint, and other individuals.
“The November 2020 general elections reflect the will of the people of Myanmar to keep building democratic traditions and norms, and must be respected. The Greens urge the Myanmar military to release those that have been detained, and to cease interference with election outcomes and democratic transition.
“The Australian Government must turn their concern into action. Australia must scrap all military ties with Myanmar until democratic processes have been restored, and impose targeted sanctions on General Min Aung Hlaing and all others involved in this action by the military.
“The Australian Government should also accept any political refugees from Myanmar seeking protection in Australia.”
Senator Jordon Steele-John, Australian Greens Peace spokesperson said:
“Given the Military Coup that has taken place over the last 48 hours, Australian Defence Forces must immediately suspend their military relationship with Myanmar.
“Since Myanmar began its transition to fragile democracy a little over a decade ago, Australian Defence forces have been strengthening ties with Myanmar’s military by providing training in non-combat areas, humanitarian and disaster relief and english-language services.
“The deadly crackdown on the Rohingya in 2017 has stretched this relationship to breaking point and with the events of the last 48 hours, it is clear there can be no more military cooperation until the situation in Myanmar is resolved.”
 

The political donations data released today once again shows how corporations are buying influence in the major parties, said Greens Leader in the Senate and democracy spokesperson, Senator Larissa Waters.
“We know that political donations to the two major parties have tripled between the 2016 and 2019 elections, and that big money is playing more and more of a role in our politics,” Senator Waters said.
“Political parties still raked in over $150 million in donations from big corporations in the last financial year even though it wasn’t an election year.
“The coal, oil and gas industry has continued its regular donations spree, with $313,500 worth of donations disclosed to the Liberals and Nationals, and $346,850 to Labor.
“And these are only the donations that Australians are told about: around a third of all donations fall below the $14,000 disclosure threshold and rely on weak categorisation to stay hidden from public view as ‘dark money’.
“We also only know about these donations up to 19 months after the fact, as donations are only disclosed once a year, rather than in real time so people know who’s paying the major parties before they vote.
“Once again, we see that the big companies splashing cash are the same ones being awarded federal government contracts and approvals.
“The four biggest consulting firms – PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young – donated $208,000 to the Coalition in the 19/20 financial year. In that same period, they were awarded $600 million in federal government contracts. Some would say that is a pretty good return on investment.
“Mining magnate Trevor St Baker’s trust donated $25,000 to the Liberal Party while his company’s successful application for an $8.7 million federal grant to upgrade its coal plant was going through the department.
“Another mining company, Santos, gave $60,000 to the Coalition parties. In the same year, Australia got a ‘gas-led recovery’ and Santos’ Narrabri gas project got federal approval.
“Pratt Holdings, which owns Visy printing, donated an eye-watering $1.6 million the Coalition parties. Visy has won a $10 million grant from Australia’s Bushfire Recovery Fund, and benefited from the Government’s recycling export ban, which forces recycling collectors and sorters to sell to Visy, which has a near monopoly in paper and glass reprocessing in Australia.
“Today’s data also reveals a rise in shell companies and front groups laundering millions of dollars to the major parties in order to keep the original donors’ names off the public books. A holding company called ‘LNP nominees’ laundered $366,615 in donations to, you guessed it, the Liberal Party.
“The Greens have been campaigning for decades to clean up our democracy. We have a bill to ban corporate donations from dirty industries and cap donations at $1,000. But the major parties have blocked reform because they don’t want to stop the millions of dollars flowing into their coffers.
“We need to stop the perception – and the reality – of legalised bribery in federal politics.
“That’s why the Greens will be introducing a bill to prevent companies seeking approvals or government contracts from making a political donation while their application is on foot, or six months on either side of it. It’s a common-sense plan that even the donations-addicted major parties should support.
“Elected representatives should be working for the people, not the highest bidder.”

The median cost of childcare is the highest it’s ever been and there are worrying signs for service quality, according to new figures from the Productivity Commission. The new data also confirms that demand for early childhood education and care is higher than ever before.
The Greens say that this is a call to action for the Australian government to invest in universal, high-quality and fee-free early childhood education, and deal with the crisis facing early learning.
Greens education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi said:
“With costs higher than ever before, and more families’ income eaten up by expensive early learning fees, we need a new approach.
“Early learning costs in Australia are out of control. High fees make access harder, and limit choices for women, who have to give up study, career and work opportunities.
“There are worrying signs for service quality in this report, with breaches of the National Quality Framework and serious incidents on the rise. For years, early childhood educators and unions have been crying out to the government for more support to ensure high-quality, safe early learning, and keep up with demand.
“We must not only secure the place of early learning as an essential service in the eyes of the government, but expand public operation of childcare and lock in the right to free and universal childcare for all,” she said.
Background:

• More children than ever before are accessing ECEC, with almost 800,000 in centre-based care. [Table 3A.15]
• New high for average hours of attendance per week – 30.0 hours nationwide for centre-based care. [Table 3A.16]
• Median weekly cost is up to $523 per week for 50 hours of CCS approved services nationwide. [Table 3A.22].
• Out-of-pocket costs are increasing across the board, year-on-year [Table 3A.23, as compared to last year’s data].
• Worrying signs for service quality:
  • Confirmed breaches of the National Quality Framework up to over 25,000 breaches or 182.3 per 100 services for centre based care for 2019-20. Up from 158.8 in 2018-19 and 155.3 per 100 services in 2017-18. [Table 3A.33]
  • Serious incidents per 100 services marginally higher as well. Up to 138.1 for centre-based care from 133.5 in 2018-19 [Table 3A.34]

The Greens welcome Labor’s calls to limit political donations, and look forward to their support for the Greens bill to cap all donations at $1,000 a year when it is debated on 15 February.
Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson for democracy, Senator Larissa Waters, said:
“The Greens have fought for years to clean up our democracy and put a cap on donations of $1,000 a year no matter who you are: big corporation, union, or individual. We’re glad that, after years of opposing Greens moves to cap donations, Labor has decided to change their tune.
“The Senate will debate the Greens bill to cap all donations at $1,000 a year on 15 February, and the Greens will seek to bring it to a vote. Then we will see whether Labor want genuine donations reform, or are just cranky that Clive Palmer gave $75,000 to the National Party instead of them.
“The Greens have reached out to Labor and the crossbench to discuss the cap on donations.
“Political donations data released yesterday once against showed the major parties are owned by the mining, gambling, alcohol, property and banking industries. The sheer volume of money spilling into the system is shocking: political parties in Australia received $168 million in donations in the 2019-2020 financial year, and just 5% of donors accounted for half of declared donations.
“We know that donations to the two major parties have tripled between the 2016 and 2019 elections.
“Once again, the data shows how big corporations are buying influence in the major parties. The coal, oil and gas industry continued its regular donations spree, with $313,500 worth of donations disclosed to the Liberals and Nationals, and $346,850 to Labor. In the same year, Australia got a ‘gas-led recovery’, tax subsidies for fossil fuel companies, and no plan to transition to clean energy.
“Democracy should be about serving people, not corporate interests. It’s time Labor put their money where their mouth is and worked with the Greens to get the influence of big money out of parliament.”

New figures released by Universities Australia today that more than 17,000 university jobs have been lost in the past year are devastating but unsurprising, the Greens say, as the impacts of the Morrison Government’s abandonment of universities has been made clear. All eyes are on the new minister, Alan Tudge, to prevent further carnage.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens Education spokesperson, said:
“The Covid-19 crisis has smashed universities and the Morrison government allowed it to happen.
“Every single one of these estimated 17,000 job losses was preventable.
“Not only were universities specifically excluded from JobKeeper support, the government forced on them a massive overhaul of fees and funding that will mean further cuts in the years to come.
“Universities immediately need a big funding boost to help them weather the Covid storm without further job losses and austerity. This is a test for Alan Tudge and his commitment to education.
“The current situation is completely unsustainable. We can’t just cross our fingers and hope for the best. Alan Tudge needs to intervene to prevent any further damage,” she said.

Following threats from Google to withdraw services from Australia, the Greens have called on the Morrison Government to investigate the establishment of a publicly owned search engine.
“Google’s threat to shut down their search services if they don’t get the laws they want shows that the corporate giant has far too much power – not just over the market but across the community,” Greens spokesperson for Media and Communications Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“The government needs a plan for how Australians will continue to be able to access essential information online if Google Search were to be taken offline. We need an independent search engine that is run in the public interest not for the profit of a corporate giant.
“Google’s threat to leave Australia shows we cannot be reliant on corporations to provide essential services such as access to information online. This is an opportunity for the government to investigate setting up a publicly owned search engine that could be the gateway to the internet for Australians. It would mean Australians can search the internet with the peace of mind that their data is not being sold off to advertisers and corporations.
“The internet is an essential service for most Australians. Currently, access to the internet is controlled by a small number of very powerful corporations. We should not seek out another foreign giant to fill the gap of Google, whether it’s Microsoft or anyone else, as they will still profit off the data of Australians and be beholden to shareholder interests. A publicly owned and independent search engine would be an important step forward in restoring a free and open internet.
“A publicly owned search engine that is accountable to the public and not shareholders would be able to be set up with global best practice data privacy standards to ensure users own their own data and have control over what data is collected on them and how it is used.
“Like the ABC, a public search engine should be independent of the government of the day and be there to provide access to information for all Australians.”