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The Australian Greens are horrified by the ongoing escalation in violence in Israel and Palestine, which has resulted in more than 109 Palestinians and 7 Israelis being killed.
Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens foreign affairs spokesperson, said:
“This escalation in violence follows the threatened evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Israeli settlers, and the restrictions and violence against worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan.
“Fundamentally, the latest outbreak in violence stems from the Israeli Government’s unlawful and unjust occupation of Palestine, which has subjected Palestinians to systematic discrimination and oppression.
“The Greens oppose any violence, whether that be airstrikes or rockets, especially that which impacts innocent civilians. But we cannot ignore the asymmetry of power or that this cycle of violence will not end until the root causes of injustice are addressed.  It will not stop until the occupation ends – we must end the evictions, the illegal settlements, the demolitions and the oppression.
“Staying silent is not an option. If the Australian Government is committed to a two-state solution, it must forcefully call on the Israeli Government to cease its occupation of Palestine.  Once again we urge the Morrison Government to recognise Palestine.”

Australian Greens Housing spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that Labor’s plan doesn’t go nearly far enough to tackle the housing crisis, slash waiting lists and provide universal housing.
Senator Faruqi said:
“The scale of the housing crisis requires serious ambition and unprecedented funding. Labor has missed the mark on that front.
“Any housing plan that doesn’t dismantle the tax loopholes which inflate prices isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Labor has failed to renew its commitment to wind back negative gearing and capital gains tax exemptions, forgoing revenue that could be used to build more homes.
“When it comes to new builds, we need to be talking in the hundreds of thousands of homes – not in the tens of thousands.
“The sector expects that over the next fifteen years, we’ll need more than 700,000 new dwellings. Labor’s commitment is a fraction of what’s required.
“The Greens have committed to building one million homes over the next twenty years to obliterate public housing waiting lists, finally end homelessness, and ensure everyone has a roof over their head.”

The world’s climate emergency should be Australia’s jobs opportunity.
But after eight long years of energy policy chaos under the Liberals – it’s an opportunity missed.
An Albanese Labor Government will invest $100 million to support 10,000 New Energy Apprenticeships.
It will encourage apprentices to train in the new energy jobs of the future.
Examples of eligible industries include rooftop solar installation and maintenance, large-scale renewable projects including emerging green hydrogen, energy efficiency upgrades to homes and businesses, renewable manufacturing, and relevant agricultural activities.
Australia has some of the world’s best natural assets – solar, wind and minerals that could power the globe’s new energy economy.
And some of the smartest, hardest-working people on earth.
Yet three in four solar companies say they have difficulty recruiting electricians because they can’t find workers with specific experience in renewables.
Instead of securing new energy jobs for Australians, the Liberals have wasted 8 years worrying about their own jobs and bickering over more than 22 climate policies.
Under Labor, new energy apprentices will receive $10,000 over the cycle of their apprenticeship in a new energy industry.
This incentive payment will encourage today’s apprentices to take on the occupations that we need for the new energy economy.
The program cuts across multiple skillsets – sparkies, mechanics, fridgies, construction workers, and more – because the opportunities new energy presents are economy wide.
Labor will also invest $10 million in a New Energy Skills Program to tailor skills training to the specific needs of new energy industries.
The New Energy Skills Program will work with the states, industry and unions to ensure workers have access to training pathways that are fit-for-purpose.
This is a downpayment on the many measures to support employment security for existing energy workers as part of Labor’s jobs-focussed climate policy.
The skills and training sector can supercharge Australian ingenuity and spur on economic growth, but only a Labor Government understands the power of it.
A Prime Minister that can barely say the word solar can’t deliver these jobs for Australian tradies.
Yes, Australia is a lucky country – but it’s our people that make it so.
We need a Government that invests in them and their skills to turn that luck into gold.
And that’s exactly what an Albanese Labor Government will do.
Chris Bowen, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy said:
“The world’s climate emergency should be Australia’s jobs opportunity – but under Scott Morrison it’s an opportunity missed.”
 
We’re directly supporting apprentices to train in the new energy industries that will boost our economy”

An Albanese Labor Government will establish a Startup Year to tap into the energy and ideas of young Australians to accelerate the creation of new businesses and future jobs.
The program will allow final year university students, or recent graduates, to learn from experts about how to transform their cutting edge ideas and research into products and services that Australia can sell to the world.
“This policy harnesses the ideas and energy of young Australians and focuses on the huge potential our younger generations have to lead us into the future,” said Ed Husic, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation.
The students would do their training at established ‘accelerators’ or ‘incubators’, which are organisations that specialise in helping new businesses get off the ground. A lot of these organisations are linked to universities.
“We need to inspire and empower an ever-greater diversity of communities and individuals to build great Australian companies that become world-leading in emerging global markets, Mr Husic said.
“This program will bring together the most innovative young entrepreneurs, universities and other industry leaders to work in concert to increase the success of Australia’s startup sector,” he said.
This is about training a generation of young entrepreneurs to be confident to expand new industries and learn how to attract private investment. These industries have the potential to be some of the big employers of the future.
Australian startups in areas like manufacturing, medicine, IT, and clean energy have the potential to build the industries of tomorrow while helping solve some of our toughest domestic and global challenges.
Australia has one of the lowest startup rates in the world. After eight long years of failing to invest in innovation under the Morrison Government, Australia is already lagging the rest of the world when it comes to accelerating future industries.
Under the Liberals, Australia has fallen to number 23 on the Global Innovation Index. We must be more ambitious if we want to bring more great Australian ideas to the global market, and create new jobs.
Data from the Australian Department of Industry shows that new businesses create more jobs than established ones. Over a six year period, businesses younger than three years old created 1.44 million jobs, while established business lost 400,000 jobs.
You can sum up Scott Morrison’s approach to innovation and tech: always late, always little and always over-hyped.
Startup Year will train up to 2,000 students per year.
The Startup Year will be supported by HELP/HECS loans, up to a maximum of $11,300.
The loans can go towards paying for things such as training, equipment, or building prototypes.

An Albanese Labor Government will strengthen laws to make it clear employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work.
The change is a key recommendation of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect@Work report. This change will confirm that employers have a positive duty to keep their staff safe from sexual harassment.
In the past five years, one in three people experienced sexual harassment at work, including two in five women.
Often there are only consequences for employers after sexual harassment has occurred, and only if victims are brave enough to risk their careers by making a formal complaint.
This can lead to employers discouraging victims from making complaints, instead of providing a safe working environment, free from sexual harassment.
As the Respect@Work report makes clear, existing laws are not working to protect workers and reform is urgently needed.
Labor’s commitment is about helping to stop workplace sexual harassment before it starts.
In Government, Labor would have the Workplace Sexual Harassment Council consult with employers, workers, unions, and legal experts on the design and implementation of these strengthened laws.
The Liberals made a big flashy announcement and said they had agreed to all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report. But they haven’t.
That’s the thing about Scott Morrison announcements: there’s always a catch. There’s always a nasty surprise in the fine print.
Australian women want action from their government, not just words. Australian women want real leadership. They are not getting that from Scott Morrison, but they will with Labor.

An Albanese Labor Government will create a ten billion dollar off-budget Housing Australia Future Fund to build social and affordable housing now and into the future.
This will create jobs, build homes and change lives.
Over the first five years, it will:

• Build 20,000 new social housing properties, including 4,000 homes for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness,
• Build 10,000 affordable homes for the heroes of the pandemic – frontline workers like police, nurses and cleaners that kept us safe,
• Directly support 21,500[1] full-time jobs across the construction industry and broader economy, per year, over 5 years, nationwide – One in 10 direct workers on site will be apprentices.
• Provide $200 million for the repair, maintenance and improvements of housing in remote Indigenous communities, where some of the worst housing standards in the world are endured by our First Nations people,
• Invest $100 million in crisis and transitional housing for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence, and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness, and
• Invest $30 million to build housing and fund specialist services for veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness.

After the first five years, a portion of the investment returns will be available to fund acute housing needs each year, in perpetuity. This funding will be used for additional crisis housing, transitional housing and long-term social housing in parts of the country with the greatest need.
This is not just good social policy, it’s also good economic policy.
Over the first five years the value of residential construction work directly supported by the Housing Australia Future Fund will be approximately $12 billion and inject over $34.8 billion into the economy. [2]
After eight long years in Government, housing affordability has just got worse and there are more homeless Australians than ever before.
The Housing Australia Future Fund will give more Australians a future.
Quote attributable to the Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Anthony Albanese:
“The security of a roof over one’s head should be available to all Australians.”
 
“The home I grew up in gave me and my mum so much more than somewhere to sleep. It gave us pride, dignity and security, and it gave me a future.”
Quote attributable to Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Jason Clare:
“This will make money, create jobs, build homes and change lives.”

An Albanese Labor Government will protect Australian workers from exploitation and rip-offs by criminalising wage theft.
Wage theft costs workers an estimated $1.35 billion every year.
It happens across industries – from construction to health care, from retail to accommodation – and disproportionately affects vulnerable workers like women, young people and migrants.
Across Australia a worker who steals from the till is committing a crime – but in most states and territories an employer who steals their workers’ wages is not. This is completely unfair.
For some employers, wage theft has become part of their business model. It’s well past time we end this epidemic.
A Labor Government will consult with states and territories, unions and employers to develop laws that criminalise wage theft nationwide.
Labor’s laws will not water down any wage theft laws already passed by the states.
The Labor governments in Victoria and Queensland moved to criminalise wage theft last year because Scott Morrison has refused to act. But Australia needs a national wage theft system to end the rip-offs.
The Liberals and Nationals have been in government for eight long years. There have been dozens of high profile wage theft scandals under their watch with tens of thousands of workers ripped off.
Mr Morrison had to be dragged kicking and screaming into even acknowledging there was a problem. Two years ago he finally announced he’d do something about it – but as usual he hasn’t delivered.
Labor voted in the Senate in March to pass national wage theft laws.
With Labor and the Senate crossbench on board, the Government had the numbers to easily pass the wage theft laws through Parliament. Instead it threw a tantrum and tore up its own laws because it couldn’t also get support for its plans to cut workers’ pay and conditions.
Mr Morrison decided to send a clear signal to wage thieves: keep it up.
It’s clear now the only way Australia will get national wage theft laws to protect workers is by electing an Albanese Labor Government.