Category: Australian News

The Greens will oppose Labor’s Scams Prevention Framework Bill in the House of Representatives because it fails to adequately support people who have been scammed and hold corporations accountable.

“Labor has delivered for big banking corporations by making sure this Bill is more about protecting profit than helping people who have been scammed,” Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“This whole Bill is a scam because it claims to support people who have been scammed but is designed to make it almost impossible for them to get compensation.”

“Labor’s Bill leaves Australians who have been scammed to fight a complicated, lengthy battle against big banks, telcos, and social media giants to get their money back.”

“This legislation creates a David and Goliath scenario where scam victims face a convoluted and lengthy process, likely taking years, to seek redress.”

The Greens said the bill should include a presumptive reimbursement model, similar to the successful UK scheme, which ensures scam victims are reimbursed quickly. Under this model, banks would refund victims promptly and recover costs from other companies involved, such as telcos and social media platforms.

“The Greens will continue fighting for stronger protections, quicker reimbursements for scam victims, and incentives for businesses to prevent scams in the first place.”

“We will also push for the Bill to be referred to inquiry so we can hear from stakeholders and the community.”

“The big banks made almost $32 billion in profit last year, yet Labor has designed a bill to protect their bottom lines instead of protecting Australians.

“As is often the case, Labor is more interested in appeasing its corporate donors than protecting customers and helping scam victims.”

The Australian Government is gravely concerned by the sentence handed down in Hong Kong for Australian citizen Mr Gordon Ng and other members of the NSL47.

This is a deeply difficult time for Mr Ng, his family and supporters. Our thoughts are with them following the sentencing.

The Australian Government has advocated at senior levels in support of Mr Ng’s best interests and welfare and has sought consular access to Mr Ng. We will continue to do so.

Mr Ng and others in the NSL47 were arrested in January 2021 for organising and participating in an election primary. Mr Ng was convicted under the National Security Law on 30 May 2024.

Australia has expressed our strong objections to the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities on the continuing broad application of national security legislation, including in application to Australian citizens.

We call for China to cease suppression of freedoms of expression, assembly, media and civil society, consistent with the Human Rights Committee and Special Procedure recommendations, including the repeal of the National Security Law in Hong Kong.

Plastic production makes up 45% of the petrochemical sector which is expected to drive half the world’s oil demand growth between now and 2050, according to the International Energy Agency.

Action on waste is action on climate, yet the Albanese government is refusing to take this seriously. Australia needs legislation and regulation that tackles plastic waste and Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) at the design stage, instead of waiting for the pollutants to be created, only to then figure out how to manage or repurpose them.

That’s why the Greens have today announced plans to ensure big producers of plastics are forced to clean up the mess they make, and take a design-first approach to waste that bans the most toxic plastics and all PFAS pollutants.

Greens spokesperson for Waste and Recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:

“Plastic pollution is no longer some faraway problem floating out in a distant ocean. Toxic and dangerous plastics are now found everywhere, and people are increasingly clued into the fact most are cooked up in a lab from oil-based chemicals. Make no mistake, plastics and PFAS are fuelling the climate crisis.

“It’s farcical that big corporate producers and retailers of toxic plastics and plastic packaging currently have no obligation to take responsibility for the products they unleash into the world. Successive federal governments have disgracefully allowed big plastic producers to set their own voluntary plastic waste reduction targets they’ve had no intention of meeting without any penalties or threats of regulation – it’s got to change.

“The big producers of plastics and PFAS have had their chance to clean up their act and they haven’t. Our planet is now sick and our communities are suffering. It’s beyond time for mandated plastic waste reduction schemes and action that tackles the most harmful plastic pollutants at the design stage.”

Greens candidate for Macnamara, Sonya Semmens:
 

“The dolphins in Port Phillip Bay have the highest reported PFAS levels in the world. It’s not surprising when you understand the amount of plastic rubbish and wastewater that washes onto the beach. I know I’m not the only parent wondering what the health risks are for kids
and families swimming in the bay.

“To end this plastic pollution, we need to change the system that creates it. Australia desperately needs legislation and regulation that tackles plastic waste and PFAS at the design stage instead of waiting for the pollutants to be created, only to then figure out how to manage or repurpose them.

“We know that action on waste is action on climate, yet the government is refusing to take this seriously. Other countries started phasing out PFAS years ago and Australia now risks becoming the global dumping ground for products containing these insidious chemicals.

“Labor and the Liberals have both failed to protect communities across the nation from plastic waste and PFAS. We can’t keep voting for these same two tired parties and expecting a different result – Australia needs change now, and we need more Greens in parliament to
make it happen.

“Cleaning up our Bay and waterways won’t happen overnight, but the first step is to vote for someone who is fighting for it.”

The Greens plan for plastics, packaging & recycling:

• Implement a national ban on the most harmful single-use plastic items to ensure a federally consistent approach across Australian jurisdictions;
• Deliver a mandated packaging product stewardship scheme (extended producer responsibility scheme) that brings Australia into line with international best practice;
• Legislate to make adoption of Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) mandatory on all consumer packaging;
• Invest $500 million over five years into building infrastructure and deploying innovative technologies to increase recycling rates in Australia. This includes investment to build secondary markets for recycled materials.

The Greens plan for PFAS & forever chemicals:

• Act immediately to ban all types of forever chemicals (PFAS) in all uses. This will include, but not be limited to, bans for PFAS use in consumer packaging, agrichemicals/pesticides and cosmetic products;
• Take a design-first approach to management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and PFAS by regulating out harmful chemicals and other contaminants in packaging;
•  Implement standardised national frameworks for acceptable levels of all POPs and compounds – especially PFAS – in the creation of organic compost;
• To support food waste recycling and to relieve current pressures on the waste and resource recovery sector to manage PFAS, the Greens will work with industry and stakeholders to develop a timeline to remove contaminants from compostable food packaging.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined with leaders from across the region in Lima, Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

APEC is the leading economic and trade forum for our Asia-Pacific region.

Keeping trade free, fair and open benefits all Australians. One in four Australian jobs are related to trade, and around 75 per cent of Australia’s total trade is with APEC members.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Albanese called for further regional economic cooperation and progress towards digital trade, which will make trade faster, easier and cheaper for businesses and consumers.

Leaders discussed the transition to net zero, with Prime Minister Albanese sharing Australia’s ambition to become a renewable energy superpower and highlighting the economic and job opportunities this will present.

Prime Minister Albanese joined leaders to endorse the 2024 APEC Leaders’ Declaration that advances inclusive and interconnected trade initiatives. The declaration sets out APEC’s work in trade facilitation, services trade, digital trade, agricultural sustainability, and gender equality and inclusion.

In the sidelines of the APEC Leaders’ Summit, the Prime Minister met with Peruvian President Boluarte, Indonesian President Prabowo, and Singaporean Prime Minister Wong.

The Prime Minister will now travel to Brazil for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

“With one in four Australian jobs connected to trade, forums like APEC are vital to keep trade free and open.

“Australia is committed to working through APEC to achieve strong, sustainable and inclusive growth.

“I congratulate Peru and President Boluarte on a successful APEC and look forward to working closely with the Republic of Korea as host of APEC in 2025.”

The Albanese Government is partnering with Pacific nations to improve energy security and scale up energy grid transition with a $125 million investment in renewable energy.

At COP29, Australia announced the funding which comprises a $75 million investment through the REnew Pacific program and $50 million through the Australia-Pacific Partnership for Energy Transition (APPET) program.

Delivered by the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, the ‘REnew Pacific’ program will help deliver off-grid and community scale renewable energy in remote and rural parts of the Pacific.

The program will enable lighting, access to water, improved agriculture, better food security, quality education and health services, reliable communications connectivity and enhanced incomes.

The $50 million APPET funding responds to Pacific priorities to capture more of the benefits of renewable energy investments. This may include energy transition modelling, grid studies, renewable energy project feasibility studies, university collaborations and other activities to support energy transition progress.

It will support the skills and training needed to grow the Pacific’s renewable energy workforce and provide practical, Pacific-led support to Pacific governments and energy operators.

Australia recently announced an additional $9 million contribution to the Pacific Regional NDC Hub, which is designed to respond to Pacific requests for support on a range of climate activities.

Funding for APPET and the contribution to the Pacific Regional NDC Hub is being made available by repurposing funds from the Indo Pacific Carbon Offset Scheme (IPCOS), an initiative of the former Government. Existing bilateral commitments made under IPCOS will be honoured where they remain relevant.

Further information can be found on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water’s website.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong

“Supporting Pacific nations’ transition to renewable energy and away from imported fossil fuels will enhance economic resilience, improve energy security and help them meet their climate goals.

“Addressing climate change is a key priority for the Pacific, and the Albanese Labor Government is working hard to restore Australia’s climate leadership at home and abroad.”

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen

“Climate change is no longer an abstract concern, it’s a reality and an existential threat for Pacific nations. Australia is working with our Pacific neighbours to strengthen their energy security and accelerate the renewable energy transformation across our region.

“Each step we take to fight climate change is a step back from the brink, and Australia is dedicated to working with our Pacific neighbours to make sure our next steps are the right ones.”

Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy

“The five-year REnew Pacific program shows our commitment to bringing affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy to remote and rural communities in the Pacific region.

“This will help improve living standards and create jobs. We are strengthening the region’s climate resilience through inclusive development and support its energy transition.”

Plastic production makes up 45% of the petrochemical sector which is expected to drive half the world’s oil demand growth between now and 2050, according to the International Energy Agency.

Action on waste is action on climate, yet the Albanese government is refusing to take this seriously. Australia needs legislation and regulation that tackles plastic waste and Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) at the design stage, instead of waiting for the pollutants to be created, only to then figure out how to manage or repurpose them.

That’s why the Greens have today announced plans to ensure big producers of plastics are forced to clean up the mess they make, and take a design-first approach to waste that bans the most toxic plastics and all PFAS pollutants.

Greens spokesperson for Waste and Recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:

“Plastic pollution is no longer some faraway problem floating out in a distant ocean. Toxic and dangerous plastics are now found everywhere, and people are increasingly clued into the fact most are cooked up in a lab from oil-based chemicals. Make no mistake, plastics and PFAS are fuelling the climate crisis.

“It’s farcical that big corporate producers and retailers of toxic plastics and plastic packaging currently have no obligation to take responsibility for the products they unleash into the world. Successive federal governments have disgracefully allowed big plastic producers to set their own voluntary plastic waste reduction targets they’ve had no intention of meeting without any penalties or threats of regulation – it’s got to change.

“The big producers of plastics and PFAS have had their chance to clean up their act and they haven’t. Our planet is now sick and our communities are suffering. It’s beyond time for mandated plastic waste reduction schemes and action that tackles the most harmful plastic pollutants at the design stage.”

Greens candidate for Macnamara, Sonya Semmens:
 

“The dolphins in Port Phillip Bay have the highest reported PFAS levels in the world. It’s not surprising when you understand the amount of plastic rubbish and wastewater that washes onto the beach. I know I’m not the only parent wondering what the health risks are for kids
and families swimming in the bay.

“To end this plastic pollution, we need to change the system that creates it. Australia desperately needs legislation and regulation that tackles plastic waste and PFAS at the design stage instead of waiting for the pollutants to be created, only to then figure out how to manage or repurpose them.

“We know that action on waste is action on climate, yet the government is refusing to take this seriously. Other countries started phasing out PFAS years ago and Australia now risks becoming the global dumping ground for products containing these insidious chemicals.

“Labor and the Liberals have both failed to protect communities across the nation from plastic waste and PFAS. We can’t keep voting for these same two tired parties and expecting a different result – Australia needs change now, and we need more Greens in parliament to
make it happen.

“Cleaning up our Bay and waterways won’t happen overnight, but the first step is to vote for someone who is fighting for it.”

The Greens plan for plastics, packaging & recycling:

• Implement a national ban on the most harmful single-use plastic items to ensure a federally consistent approach across Australian jurisdictions;
• Deliver a mandated packaging product stewardship scheme (extended producer responsibility scheme) that brings Australia into line with international best practice;
• Legislate to make adoption of Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) mandatory on all consumer packaging;
• Invest $500 million over five years into building infrastructure and deploying innovative technologies to increase recycling rates in Australia. This includes investment to build secondary markets for recycled materials.

The Greens plan for PFAS & forever chemicals:

• Act immediately to ban all types of forever chemicals (PFAS) in all uses. This will include, but not be limited to, bans for PFAS use in consumer packaging, agrichemicals/pesticides and cosmetic products;
• Take a design-first approach to management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and PFAS by regulating out harmful chemicals and other contaminants in packaging;
•  Implement standardised national frameworks for acceptable levels of all POPs and compounds – especially PFAS – in the creation of organic compost;
• To support food waste recycling and to relieve current pressures on the waste and resource recovery sector to manage PFAS, the Greens will work with industry and stakeholders to develop a timeline to remove contaminants from compostable food packaging.

The Minns Labor Government has received a letter from 5 key independent members of the NSW Parliament calling for an immediate halt to logging in the promised Great Koala National Park, and they have committed to exiting native forest logging in NSW entirely. The cross bench members in the Upper House from the Greens, Animal Justice Party and the Legalise Cannabis Party have also sent a letter today to the Premier, echoing the calls to exit native forest logging.

Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “This letter is a display of the unity that exists in the NSW Parliament on the question of continued native forest logging in NSW. Liberal, Labor, Green and the majority of Members in the Parliament are ready to end the destruction of native forests by logging now, and we are collectively calling on Premier Chris Minns to act now,”

“The Minns Labor Government is in a minority position, and the same Independents that have guaranteed him confidence and supply are now telling him “it’s time” on the Great Koala National Park and native forest logging,”

“NSW Labor have taken the promise of a Great Koala National Park to 3 general elections over 8 years, and 20 months after winning minority Government in 2023 – but logging is still occurring in the best koala habitat in NSW, forests that are supposed to be a National Park. In fact logging has intensified within the Great Koala National Park since Labor came into power,”

“The environmental, economic and social evidence of the need to end native forest logging is overwhelming, and now the political support is palpable. We just need political leadership, the question now is will Chris Minns be the Premier who can and will lead this important outcome for all.”

“Chris Minns is now hearing this call from within his Party Room, from Independents that gave him Government, and from the entire progressive crossbench in the Upper House – it’s time to end native forest logging. It would be a mistake for him to disregard that strength of our unified voices, and it would be a tragedy for our native forests if he falters now,” Ms Higginson said.

Dailan Pugh, North East Forest Alliance:

“The completed environmental assessments prove that all 176,000 hectares of the proposed park deserve protection. They also show that there is direct conflict between the highest density koala habitat and the forests most sought by the loggers. It comes down to a choice between koalas and logging these areas,”

“The damage that is being caused is across the entire area of the public native forest estate that is subject to logging, and it must end. Ultimately, the further we allow logging to be concentrated, the greater damage is being done to the habitat of threatened species within those areas. We must end this now, once and for all,”

Doro Babeck, Bob Brown Foundation:

“The time to end native forest logging was about two years ago with Labor being elected on a promise to do better for the environment. The public is behind this, 7,000 people rallied across the nation two weeks ago for our forests. In NSW nearly 14,000 people signed our native forest declaration to end native forest logging. What is the Government waiting for?”

Alec Marr, Wilderness Australia:

“There are three steps required by the NSW Government to resolve the native forest issue. First is to stop logging in the Great Koala National Park. Second is to immediately cease all logging in all identified areas of endangered species habitat (including Gliders and Koalas). Third, implement a rapid exit from native forest logging in this Parliamentary term of Government,”

The NSW Government has tabled a report on the review into the Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Act 2022, 43 days after it was legally obliged to do so, and has ignored thousands of submissions from the public calling for a repeal of the anti-protest laws. The report was tabled as the NSW Parliament debated a motion by the Greens to disallow new regulations that extend the laws.

Greens MP and spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson said “The report that has been tabled today is a disgrace, it has failed to listen to the community consultation and has disregarded the fact that it was more than a month overdue and that the laws have been declared partially unconstitutional by the Supreme Court,”

“Public consultation, like protest, is a key pillar of our democracy – this report is a spit in the face to both of those pillars. The public consultation in this case, where only one submission out of thousands supported the anti-protest laws, has resulted in no recommendation for change. This erodes the public’s trust in Parliament and our democracy, I am furious,”

“The Government has failed to abide by the laws that they rushed through in 2022 by failing to table the report on 1 October, yet they have the temerity to expand those laws while the community was still waiting to hear back on the consultation that we had to fight so hard for,”

“The Greens fought against these laws in 2022, and this new expansion is something we are attempting to disallow in Parliament today. The community should feel empowered to engage in peaceful protests, even if it’s inconvenient for others – that’s sometimes the point or consequence of protest,”

“It is a shame that the NSW Labor Party is no longer a party that understands the importance of protests, strikes and other acts of political communication to the Government.” Ms Higginson said.

The Greens have responded to the Albanese Government’s Digital Duty of Care announcement today and called for the full release of the Online Safety Act Review. 

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is Greens Spokesperson for Communications, Senator for South Australia:

“Harmful platforms are the problem, not everyday people and these corporations have a duty to ensure their product is not doing systemic harm to our democracy or our kids. 

“That’s why the Greens have long called for the Government to tackle the toxic business model of social media giants with systemic EU-style measures to reduce harm. 

“Forcing companies to provide a safe product is a smarter approach than banning students from YouTube. 

“The Greens and experts have urged the Albanese Government to tackle the poisonous algorithms that fuel extremism, mental health problems and division in our democracy at a systemic level. We will scrutinise this legislation in detail when it is available but the Government is moving in the right direction with a Digital Duty of Care. 

“The Government appears to be making announcements based on a report which is yet to be released to the public or the Parliament. The Minister should publicly release the Online Safety Act review immediately in full. The public have a right to know. 

“Parents are rightfully worried about the safety of their kids online but they also know unless platforms are forced to clean up their act, their child won’t be safe online when they turn 16 either.

“The tech giants should be prohibited from collecting, selling and exploiting young people’s data to make massive profits. 

“All users must also have the ability to switch off or turn down the algorithms that push unwanted content into their feeds.”