16 News

Family First is worried it may be banned as a “hate group” after the Liberals backed Labor’s antisemitism, hate and extremism laws.

There are plenty of radical activist groups that don’t like our advocacy for women’s and children’s rights or against mass immigration and want us shut down. Now they can claim woolly terms like ‘social, economic and psychological harm’ as justification to launch criminal proceedings against us,” National Director Lyle Shelton said.

The minister has unprecedented powers to abandon due process and shut down organisations at the behest of activists who claim their feelings are hurt.

This is a stake in the heart for free speech and freedom of religion.”

Mr Shelton said he has been pursued through the courts for six years under Australia’s existing regime of deeply flawed “hate speech” laws.

The Liberals voting for yet more ill-defined ‘hate speech’ laws will do little to stop Islamic terror, but it will entrap mainstream Australian groups who speak their minds on things like LGBTIQA+ child gender clinics, Islamic extremism and the traditional definition of marriage.

After some promising signs last week, the Liberals abandoned the fight for freedom of speech and freedom of religion and capitulated in a late-night deal with Australia’s most anti-free speech government.”

Mr Shelton praised the Nationals and One Nation for voting against the new “hate speech” bill.

Mr Shelton welcomed the banning of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a terrorist group banned in many European and even in Islamic countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.

Groups with links to terrorism have no place in Australia and Family First had long called for its banning here.

Inciting violence is where the line should be drawn when crafting hate speech laws.

Sadly laws against inciting violence were not enforced or strengthened since Muslims and left wing activists started supporting Hamas in the wake of October 7.

Clearly the Albanese Government has used the antisemitism crisis it created to dust off its anti-free speech agenda with the Liberals happy to play the part of useful idiots in the latest clampdown on freedom in Australia.”

Mr Shelton said Family First was standing candidates at the upcoming South Australian, Victorian and NSW elections who will fight to repeal the anti-free speech provisions of state-based “hate speech” laws so freedom can be restored.

ACT Greens Member for Ginninderra, Jo Clay, has expressed concerns following the announcement that the Big Splash site has been repossessed by its Lenders, and called on the ACT Government to immediately step in to save the site.

“It’s really disappointing that the ACT Government didn’t move faster to step in and address this issue. It was clear from the start there were serious issues in relation to the management of the site,” said Ms Clay.

“I’ve lost count of how many times I asked the ACT Government when they would start hard enforcement action, issue fines or consider a lease termination. But instead, the Minister took a backseat and we watched the inevitable slowly unfold.

“Big Splash is an iconic Canberra landmark that this Government has allowed to fall into ruin. That’s simply not good enough, the residents of Belconnen – and indeed broader Canberra – deserve better.

“The Government must now step in to save Big Splash and those conversations need to start today. Government ownership of the site is the safest pathway to ensure the community gets a pool on the site.

“It is imperative that this site be retained as a recreational area and I support the calls from Friends of Big Splash for a 50m pool and waterpark on the site. I’ve also heard good ideas for hydrotherapy and an indoor sports and recreation centre.

“There are many in our community calling for these options as part of a better planned use of the site and we’ve seen architect plans drawn up for such a facility. This is a key opportunity that Government must not miss.

“There’s a huge amount of passion amongst the community, but the current situation means the future of the site is precarious. The government must step in and ensure this site is retained for the good of the community,” said Ms Clay.

The Greens call for federal leadership and funding for more effective shark bite mitigation measures in the wake of four incidents in just three days at NSW beaches. 

Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson: 

“The four incidents at NSW beaches in the past three days have ignited public discussion about what creates the perfect storm for shark encounters to spike, and how best to reduce risks to both ocean-goers and marine wildlife. 

“This has again highlighted the urgent need for federal government leadership, starting with establishing a national summit of experts to drive shark risk education campaigns and provide better information and resources to the states.  

“This is something the Greens and shark experts have been calling for governments to implement for years. 

“A Greens-led Senate inquiry into shark mitigation found the issue requires a nationally coordinated approach and the federal government needs to show leadership in striking the right balance between reducing the risk of shark encounters and conserving nature.

“The Senate inquiry recommended governments help keep ocean-goers safe by supercharging investment in modern-day alternatives to outdated and ineffective shark nets and lethal drumlines. This includes investing in public education, shark shield personal deterrent devices, shark spotter programs, eco-shark barriers, and bite-proof wetsuits.

“Resorting to lethal shark mitigation measures, such as nets and drumlines, is a lazy and ineffective approach – and evidence now shows these measures may attract sharks to beaches, where they can feed on captured marine wildlife.

“Palming off responsibility for shark bite mitigation to the states is a cop-out given many sharks and other marine creatures killed in lethal shark control programs are federally protected species.

“If we want to transition from lethal shark control programs that don’t work, to more effective and sophisticated approaches that protect marine wildlife and ocean-goers, the federal government has an important role to play.

“For the last decade successive federal governments have shown no leadership on this critical matter of public interest – and it’s time for that to change.”

Today’s announcement that Eraring power station will continue operating beyond its scheduled closure until 2029 is a disaster for NSW and Australia’s climate targets.

Greens NSW MLC and spokesperson for Energy, Abigail Boyd, has condemned the decision by Origin Energy to again extend the life of all of Eraring power station’s generators to 2029.

Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW energy spokesperson:

“Today’s decision by Origin Energy to again extend the life of Eraring power station is a direct product of government failure by the NSW Labor government. The government’s lack of ambition and urgency, resulting in the decision to extend Eraring from 2025 to 2027, sent a go slow signal to the market, and this 2029 decision will compound this dangerous failure.

“Keeping any coal power station open longer is a cost-of-living and human health disaster. Not to mention the devastating climate impacts it will cause. This is the reality under a Minns Labor government that simply doesn’t take our climate and environmental responsibilities seriously.

“The prolonged operation of an ageing coal fired power fleet, as well as gas peaking, is the worst thing that can happen to the power bills of energy consumers in this state. These companies keep operating because they want to extract every available dollar in price gouged profits from energy consumers from their ageing and polluting assets.

“If Eraring Power Station is extended for a further two years at full production of 16twh, will contribute to taking us upwards of 50% further away from our legislated emissions reduction targets each year of operation, or around 3.5% of our total emissions budget.

“Despite persistent warnings that NSW is already not on track to achieve our legislated climate targets, the NSW Labor government has been continuing on a business as usual trajectory. Recent policy decisions by the NSW Labor government are actively contrary to our energy security and emissions reduction targets.

“There are enough renewables and power lines on track to be delivered in time to replace Eraring in 2027, but new increased demand imperils system security requirements.

“Origin Energy, in their market announcement, directly referenced risks to system security highlighted by AEMO in its recently released Transition Plan for System Security. That report identified the unmitigated growth in new data centre developments as a key transition risk – large data centres are projected to rapidly become major loads on the system, with over 10 GW lodged connection enquiries (some single data centres exceeding 1 GW) in New South Wales by the end of 2024-25.

“AEMO have said new large inverter based loads, in particular data centres, present system security risks including through power system oscillations, sudden load loss or ramping, transient stability, and increased inertia requirements. But it is these project the NSW Labor government is seeking to expedite, with 23 massive projects in the works under a new fast tracked assessment process.

“Having pushed the NSW Labor government in recent budget estimates hearings, answers I received today to my questions on the impact of data centre developments on NSW climate and environment confirm the NSW Government is pursuing a dramatic ramping up on data centre developments in the stunning absence of any plans or guardrails.

“These decisions are the epitome of the rudderless NSW Minns Labor government, with no vision or plan for the safety, prosperity and wellbeing of the people of NSW.”

The NSW Forestry Corporation has been issued two new fines, totalling $60,000, by the Environment Protection Authority for failing to comply with a clean-up notice in Mogo State Forest.

The EPA has charged that the Forestry Corporation did not construct creek crossings in compliance with best practice and that an ongoing risk to downstream water quality is being caused by the Corporation’s failure to conduct remediation works.

Greens MP, Solicitor and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said:

“The Forestry Corporation has once again ignored their environmental protection obligations and failed to comply with an order by the EPA, this has now cost the NSW community $60,000 in fines and has allowed water pollution to continue as a result of shoddy work and logging,”

“The criminal track record of the Forestry Corporation is shocking, with unlawful logging and fines essentially built into their business model. It’s one thing to claim to ‘make mistakes’ while logging, something that has caused significant environmental harm and cost NSW hundreds of thousands of dollars, but in this case – the Forestry Corporation just flat out failed to respond to an instruction from the EPA. This is maladministration at its worst,”

“Destructive, costly, and profitless logging in public native forests is not just about the loss of habitat and the increase in fire risk, every living system that is connected to the forest is negatively impacted too. This includes the headwaters of our coastal rivers and estuaries,”

“The Minns Labor Government must recognise that the Forestry Corporation is misusing our public resources and is not fit to be allowed to continue. Our environment and our community deserve to have accountable, regenerative and best practice management of our forests, not this current state of affairs where a publicly owned company wrecks the environment and ignores its legal obligations,”

“There will be more and more crimes committed by the Forestry Corporation as the damage they have done to our forests continues. Their failed industry has harmed their own product so much so that they are now increasingly desperate to log trees in more and more irresponsible ways. It has to end,” Ms Higginson said.

The Greens have issued a stark warning about rushed Coalition amendments to Labor’s anti-association legislation. The changes represent an unprecedented expansion of political power to ban organisations and criminalise speech based on vague standards like “ridicule” and “contempt”. 

Amendments agreed to in secret between the Coalition and Labor have only made the laws more dangerous, greatly expanding their reach well beyond legitimate efforts to end violence, promote safety and reduce political and social division.

Sen. Mehreen Faruqi, Greens Deputy Leader and Antiracism spokesperson:

“The sham process that the government has undertaken on this bill is as appalling as the bill itself, and this last minute deal with the Coalition makes a terrible bill even more divisive and even more dangerous.

“With this bill the government is saying that they care about some communities but not others, and they have thrown muslims and migrants under the bus.

“This terrible deal between Labor and the Coalition will have a chilling effect on political debate, protest, civil rights, and people speaking up about civil rights abuses across the world. The Greens will vehemently and strongly oppose this bill.”

Senator David Shoebridge, Greens Spokesperson for Justice: 

“Coalition amendments expand the reach of Labor’s already dangerous crackdown on speech and political expression in unprecedented ways. Far from narrowing these laws, these changes expand the law to expressly cover conduct that falls far short of violence.

“The rushed changes expand the conduct that can lead to organisations being banned by including references to 7 different State and Territory laws. This raises multiple constitutional issues and significant uncertainty in how the laws apply across the Commonwealth.

“This Labor and Coalition deal may lead to organisations being banned, and people being criminalised across the country, if they ridicule or express contempt for a group or person.

“These laws cover much more than threats of violence, extending to ‘economic, social and psychological harm’ enforced not by courts but by ASIO and the Home Affairs Minister.

“Labor and the Coalition are intending to capture acts and statements done in the past with the retrospective operation of this law. Groups may be captured for actions or words said before these offences were even created.

“What was a rushed process last week has now become a farce. Unprecedented legal changes are being made law without even a cursory review by experts or the community.”