16 News

The Albanese Government welcomes Export Finance Australia’s credit approved loan facility of up to US$150 million to shipbuilder Austal to help it expand its shipyard in Alabama in the United States. 

Austal is an Australian success story, and support from Export Finance Australia will help it to deliver on recently awarded major contracts for the US Navy and US Coast Guard. 

The expansion of Austal’s shipyard further deepens defence industrial cooperation with our key ally, the United States, and complements Australia’s investments into the sovereign industrial bases of AUKUS partners.

The finance will help fund the development and construction of a new assembly facility, waterfront improvements and a new ship lift system. 

The expansion marks a major milestone for Austal, and it shows the strength of the Australian defence industry, its capabilities and support for our international partners. 

Export Finance Australia’s loan facility is subject to completion of finance documentation and satisfaction of conditions precedent.

Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator the Hon Don Farrell:

“The Albanese Government is backing Australian defence companies to grow and export their world-class capabilities by securing lucrative international contracts.

“This financial support from Export Finance Australia is another example of how the Albanese Government is providing support to Aussie businesses to expand and grow overseas.

“Austal’s expansion shows the strength of Australian businesses to export, invest and support shared Australian-US priorities such as defence.”

Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Pat Conroy MP:

“Austal’s investment into its United States shipyard demonstrates its commitment to support the United States’ domestic shipbuilding ambition and will deliver greater security and economic resilience for both Australia and the United States.

“I visited Austal’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama last year and witnessed firsthand its contribution to the submarine industrial base in the United States, including manufacturing components for Virginia class submarines.

“In times of geopolitical uncertainty, closer defence industrial collaboration with our AUKUS partners will deliver major security and economic benefits.” 

Australia will provide $386 million to support the vital work of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2026 to 2030, to fight deadly diseases in our region and beyond. This includes a new funding commitment of $300 million.

The Albanese Government recognises global health challenges require sustained commitments.

Gavi is a public-private partnership which has helped vaccinate more than 1.1 billion children globally, saving more than 18.8 million lives.

Australia’s support for Gavi directly benefits Australia’s closest neighbours.

In Asia and the Pacific, Gavi has helped immunise more than 633 million children, saving six million lives.

Gavi has also prevented more than 27,000 cervical cancer deaths by enabling access to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

In addition to the new funding, Gavi will also be able to utilise $86 million previously pledged by Australia for COVID vaccines, through the International Finance Facility for Immunisation.

In a time of heightened global uncertainty, Australia is pleased to partner with Gavi and directly support our closest neighbours.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong:

“The Albanese Government is supporting access to new and more effective vaccines and strengthening our region’s ability to respond to disease outbreaks.

“When we invest in a healthier Indo-Pacific, we’re investing in a safer and more secure Australia.”

Minister for International Development, the Hon Dr Anne Aly:

“Australia is steadfast in our commitment to Gavi because we know countries in our region and around the world rely on Gavi’s support.”

“Health security requires collective action, and our new pledge to Gavi will help ensure countries in our region and around the world can access lifesaving vaccines.”

I am pleased to announce the recipients of the Australia-Indonesia Institute’s 2024-25 grants program.

Since 1989, the Australia-Indonesia Institute (AII) has worked to foster mutual understanding and drive deeper community engagement between Australia and Indonesia.

Australia and Indonesia are the closest of partners and share a long history of close friendship and cooperation.

Championing initiatives that span education and research, business, media, the arts, youth and sport, and community development, the work of the AII demonstrates the breadth of the bilateral relationship between our people, institutions and businesses.

Successful recipients will be listed on GrantConnect and activities include:

• an initiative by the University of New South Wales Business School to support Australian investors to navigate the Indonesian market, furthering implementation of Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040;
• a partnership on biofuel development between Australian and Indonesian universities and industry, supporting Indonesia’s transition to net zero;
• an exchange between leading Australian and Indonesian creative institutions, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and Common Room, culminating in a public event showcasing technology-driven collaboration; and
• a futsal diplomacy program to strengthen skills and connections between First Nations and Indonesian players and coaches, supporting the implementation of Australia’s Sports Diplomacy Strategy 2032+.

I look forward to these initiatives further deepening the close friendship and partnership between our people, businesses and governments.

The Greens have called on the Albanese Government to reaffirm their commitment to the global minimum tax agreement and use their position in the G20 to advocate for US companies to remain subject to the tax.  

“Trump is trying to turn the US into a tax haven for his corporate mates, and we shouldn’t dance to his tune,” Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“Labor needs to hold the line. One in three big corporations already pays zero tax in Australia. That situation cannot be allowed to become even worse.”

Last term, the Greens supported laws to implement part of the global minimum tax, aimed at stopping corporate giants from shifting profits offshore to dodge tax.

“American companies no longer being subject to global minimum tax laws could have serious budget consequences for Australia.”

“Labor must use their position at the G20 to call out this move by the US and defend the principle that big corporations should pay tax where they make their profits.”

“This is about fairness. It’s about whether governments run the country, or billionaire CEOs and the political cronies they bankroll.”

Kobi Shetty MP has today called on the Minns Labor Government to reject a recommendation to privatise Callan Park.

Ms Shetty has made these comments on the back of a review of the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Act 2022 that was tabled in Parliament today.

Kobi Shetty MP

Callan Park is one of the most significant parklands in the inner west. For more than 20 years our community has worked incredibly hard to preserve Callan Park as public green space and community asset. Time after time our community has had to fend off moves to allow for the commercialisation and privatisation of Callan Park, and this is the latest iteration.

The whole point of the Callan Park Act was to save the park from privatisation, and to ensure it is never again proposed as a site for profit-driven development. Any moves to wind back the Act’s protections are of grave concern. The review committee has absolutely got it wrong on this.

Allowing the Minister to sign off on 50-year leases that can effectively cut the community out of the park without any public scrutiny would be a terrible outcome.

My community believes that Callan Park should be reserved for education, health and creative not-for-profit uses for the community. Government can, and must, maintain not-for-profit activity while securing funds from external sources for larger upkeep costs like much-needed heritage conservation work in the iconic Kirkbride precinct.

This argument that the park needs commercial investment in order to be maintained is simply not true. There are literally dozens of not-for-profit agencies who are willing to take Kirkbride on. This would save the government millions and ensure the place is kept in good order, while keeping it open for our community to enjoy. I’ve presented these suggestions directly to the Premier, and now it’s time that Premier Minns and his government take them seriously, instead of opening the floodgates to commercial interests.

This week we are celebrating another significant investment in Callan Park, which is on top of the millions put up in the last term by the coalition. The former government’s Landscape Structure Plan sets out a blueprint for revitalisation and now we just need to get on with the job.

Background

Callan Park, Rozelle is in the heart of the Balmain electorate. It contains 61 hectares of open and accessible green space in one of the most densely populated parts of Sydney, and where public open space is in short supply.

The Joint Select Committee on the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust has handed down its review of the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Act 2022. The report makes 26 recommendations including that the Callan Park (Special Provisions) Act be amended to:

• remove provisions that limit development in Callan Park to not-for-profit purposes
• extend the maximum term of leases and licenses to 50 years
• remove the requirement for a notice of a proposed lease or license totalling more than 10 years to be tabled in both Houses of Parliament
• provide that the public notice requirements for proposed leases and licenses only apply to leases of licenses totalling more than five years

A peaceful picket at SEC Plating in Belmore descended into violence when the NSW Police violently attacked and assaulted protestors this morning, leaving one woman with serious facial injuries and arresting multiple demonstrators.

SEC Plating reportedly is involved in providing plating services for various parts used in F-35 jets. The State of Israel’s fleet of around 40 F-35 rely on the global supply chain and supplement supply from countries like Australia to continue the genocide against the Palestinian people.

Peter O’Brien Lawyers have been engaged to represent the community member that was assaulted, along with other members of the community who were arrested and currently being held in custody after witnessing the assault. Images seen by Senator David Shoebridge and Sue Higginson MLC show the shocking extent of the injuries experienced, they have been reserved by the victim of the assault. The victim of the assault is undergoing medical tests this morning, and the extent of the injuries may require facial reconstruction surgery.

Greens MP and NSW Justice Spokesperson Sue Higginson said:

“The actions of the NSW Police can only be described as brutal and excessive, there is a significant question about the lawfulness of what they have done to members of the community exercising their rights of assembly this morning,”

“I have spoken with the people in police custody this morning, in my legal capacity, and they can not believe what they saw happen to the individual who has sustained serious injury as a result of the excessive police force,”

“Premier Chris Minns must answer for his empowerment of the NSW Police State against protest, with his Labor Government continuing the vilification and targeting of community members who are taking a stand against the ongoing genocide being committed against the Palestinian People,”

“If the NSW Police feel empowered to violently and brutally assault members of the community engaging in lawful and legitimate protest, then it is the responsibility of our democratic Government to call this out, and to act to protect protest,”

“This news this morning is part of a wider trend in NSW towards an authoritarian state, where the NSW Police are deployed against innocent people with the intent to chill and intimidate people who are exercising what should be an guaranteed right to all people living in a democracy – the right to protest and express political expression free from state violence,”

Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:
“When police are deployed to protect weapons companies instead of protecting the right to peaceful protest, we must ask whose interests they are really serving.
“Police are being used here to support a corporate-run global weapons chain against a people-powered global peace movement.
“The arrest of multiple peaceful protesters who are calling for Australia to stop arming a genocide shows how far we’ve moved from protecting peaceful dissent.
“This morning is not isolated, we have seen a disturbing pattern of increased politically motivated violence from police against people peacefully protesting genocide.
“Anyone watching knows it’s wrong that police are violently arresting those calling for an end to genocide while simultaneously protecting the companies who profit from the killing.”

Rising Tide Organiser Zack Schofield (also arrested) said:

“The State of NSW, and Premier Chris Minns, cannot arrest their way through community who are engaging in legitimate political expression against genocide. I witnessed the brutal assault against a community member this morning, someone who was lawfully expressing themselves in public, and it was sickening,”

The NSW Government has today tabled the 2024 State of the Environment Report , just under eight months after it was due to be released. The delayed report has confirmed that the natural systems in NSW that we all rely on are continuing to decline, and comes just one day after the Government revealed they underspent on environment protection by $446 million in the last year.

Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment and climate change said “This report paints a catastrophic picture of just how badly the Minns Labor Government is performing when it comes to our precious, life-giving and supporting environment,”

“The biodiversity crisis has continued unabated in NSW, despite Premier Chris Minns promising to halt extinction in NSW. With 36 new species added to the threatened species list since 2020 and a shocking 5% increase in the number of animal species threatened with extinction. In addition to this report, the Government has categorically failed to act on their election commitment to protect and create the Great Koala National Park, with logging in those forests still occurring at higher rates than under the last Government,”

“With average temperatures in NSW already 1.4 degrees celsius above earliest records, we can assume with confidence that this means our state is already living beyond the 1.5 degrees that was legislated as a target less than two years ago. The revelations that sea levels have risen by 12 centimetres in 30 years pales compared to the existential threat posed by the likely additional one metre sea level rise predicted by the report between now and the end of the century,”

“Our regions and agricultural districts are in serious decline on almost all measures too, significant losses to woody and non-woody native vegetation, increasing rates of soil acidification, and plummeting levels of organic carbon in our soil. These indicators will have serious consequences for our ability to grow food and fibre across NSW, along with the dire consequences for the natural world,”

“We should all be furious at the NSW Government underspending on environment protection by $446 million. It’s a clear sign that they are just not taking this crisis seriously. They have spent the lowest proportion on environment protection of any Government since at least 2016, and the results today in this report show what their disregard has bought,”

“Of the 70 key indicators covered in this report, just 7 of them show any improvement. The number of indicators that are going backwards is more than three times higher with close to double remaining unknown,”

“This must be a wake up call for Premier Chris Minns and his whole Government. If they do not commit to turning this around, with resources commensurate with that target, we will continue to see a decline in our own environment, and the entire natural world in NSW. I have come to realise this city based, city focussed Labor Party is not getting it. When our Country suffers, we all suffer,” Ms Higginson said.

Background

There are currently no enforceable drinking water quality standards throughout the Northern Territory. People living in many remote communities have no right to clean drinking water and no mechanisms to seek improvements to drinking water quality. 

In estimates the Health Minister Steve Edgington revealed that the CLP government is not continuing work started by the previous Labor government to develop a safe drinking water act. 

The NT Greens call on the government to urgently recommence work with the Department of Health to develop a clear and enforceable regulatory framework that guarantees a right to clean drinking water and has mechanisms in place for action if water quality standards are not met. We also call on the federal government to work with the NT Government to ensure that every person living in the NT is guaranteed this most fundamental human right.

Jonathan Parry, Convenor of the NT Greens

“Access to safe, clean and adequate drinking water is a fundamental human right. It is a national shame that this is not upheld in the Northern Territory” 

“The town you live in shouldn’t determine whether you get access to safe drinking water.”

“We call on the government to enshrine the rights of all Territorians to clean drinking water in law.” 

Background

In Budget estimates last week, Minister for the Environment Josh Burgoyne revealed that the Finocchiaro government has walked away from its commitment to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030. The commitment was initially confirmed by Jo Hersey MLA in her capacity as Shadow Minister for the Environment in a letter to the Environment Centre of the NT. 

However when questioned on the target by the Member for Gwoja, Chansey Paech MLA, Minister Burgoyne said that the target “is not current government policy.” He also said that the net zero by 2050 target is still in place and “has yet to change”, leaving the door open for it to be scrapped also. He said that the NT is a “relatively small emitter”, and that we must make the most of “opportunities” such as the Beetaloo Basin. This ignores the immense risk and cost of climate change to the NT arising from the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters, health issues arising from extreme heat, damage to the tourism industry, and so much more. 

During Budget Estimates, the Chief Minister, the Treasurer and the Deputy Chief Minister (who is also the Minister for Mining and the Minister for Agriculture) said that they accept the science of climate change. However when further questioned by the Member for Nightcliff, Kat McNamara MLA, it became clear that they have no plans to systematically assess and respond to climate risks to our community, our economy or our environment. 

At the 2024 Northern Territory Election, the Minister for the Environment came within 350 votes of losing his seat to the Greens candidate Asta Hill. There is a loud demand for climate action in the Minister’s own electorate, yet he has continually weakening protections for the environment, climate and cultural heritage. 

The Northern Territory is on the frontline of the climate catastrophe. The NT must urgently develop and implement plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change so that we can ensure our home is resilient and liveable into the future. The NT Greens call on the Finocchiaro and Albanese governments to stop approving new gas projects and urgently invest in renewable energy and environmental protection and restoration. 

Jonathan Parry, Convenor of the NT Greens

“The CLP has backflipped on yet another election promise. Nothing they say can be trusted.”

“The CLP only listens to their mates in the gas industry, not the community.”

“The CLP government and Federal Labor must urgently stop approving new fossil fuel projects.”

“We need to take this seriously to ensure the NT is safe and liveable into the future.”

Kat McNamara MLA, Member for Nightcliff

“It is a disgrace that in 2025 we are still debating whether or not to have climate targets.”

“This is indicative of a government who is so driven ideologically to oppose the international scientific consensus on climate change, that they would rather let the territory be destroyed by climate change than do anything about it.”