16 News

Greens Foreign Aid Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has responded to the Government’s announcement of a review of Australia’s foreign aid.
Senator Faruqi said:
“The Government must take this review as an opportunity to reset their approach to foreign aid to one that puts social, economic and climate justice at the heart of all our aid programs.
“At an irresponsibly low 0.2% of GNI, Australian aid has shrunk dramatically to well below the average for OECD countries. Our aid budget must be raised to at least meet our UN obligation of 0.7% of GNI.
“We know the Liberals’ political repurposing of aid for Australia’s self-interest and budget cuts have decimated our foreign aid program. The goal of aid should be to make the world a more equal and just place for all.
“Aid should never be used purely as a tool to further national interest. At the heart of our foreign aid program should be poverty reduction, climate resilience and social justice for our neighbours and other recipient communities,” she concluded.

Greens Senators Janet Rice and Nick McKim have condemned the treatment of two Saudi journalists by the Australian government.
Quotes attributable to Senator Janet Rice, Greens LGBTIQ+ spokesperson
“Since being gay is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, Sultan and Nassar* had no choice but to flee and seek asylum here.
“It’s unconscionable that Australia is treating them like criminals when the supposed ‘crime’ was loving each other. What values does our purportedly fair and diverse country stand for?
“These men were fleeing a country that would lock them up, in appalling conditions, for an indefinite period of time, only to arrive in Australia to find even worse treatment here.
“When these journalists liken their treatment in Saudi to the violence they have experienced here in Australia, it should be a wake-up call to our government.
“These two journalists are also being punished for telling the truth about their intention to seek asylum here. What message does the Morrison government think that sends to people who are entitled to seek refuge in Australia?”
Quotes attributable to Senator Nick McKim, Greens Immigration and Citizenship spokesperson
“These men must be released in Australia while their claims for asylum are assessed.
“Australia’s co-operation with the Saudi regime on immigration matters is deeply troubling.
“This case shows Australia desperately needs immigration reform, with human rights front and centre.”
*Names have been changed

Australian Greens Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has welcomed National Australia Bank’s release of their Animal Welfare Principles as an important step forward in corporations acknowledging their responsibility to protect animals. She has said that banks need to go even further to protect animals.
“National Australia Bank’s release of these principles is an important step toward banks beginning to acknowledge the huge impact their lending practices have on animals. Other banks should immediately get on board.
“While I welcome NAB’s initiative in establishing animal welfare principles, we need banks to go further. Any business involved in morally suspect industries like greyhound and horse racing, factory farming and live exports are complicit in animal abuse. We need all banks to bring their lending standards in line with the community expectation that all animals will be protected and treated as sentient beings.
“More and more Australians are deeply concerned about the way animals are treated. We cannot rely on corporations to take voluntary action. The Government must take leadership and enact the Greens’ plan for national animal cruelty laws, end factory farming and outlaw the cruel greyhound racing industry,” she concluded.

Greens climate and energy spokesperson Adam Bandt MP has slammed the government’s latest push for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, dismissing it as a useless pipedream.
“As the climate bushfires continue to devastate the country, the government’s only climate proposal is a pipedream,” said Mr Bandt.
“The clear message we’ve been hearing from former emergency services chiefs and those impacted by the bushfires is that we need to tackle the climate emergency. If you don’t have a plan to phase out coal you don’t have a plan to tackle the climate crisis.
“CCS won’t save coal and won’t save people from the climate crisis. This apparent policy miracle has been hailed as the magic bullet for over a decade, but in reality it’s just a pipedream.
“If this government wants to invest in infrastructure, they should invest in clean, renewable energy to make Australia a renewable energy superpower.
“Today, as the Insurance Council added their voice to calls for the government to factor in climate crisis to bushfire preparations, it’s time for the government to come to the table with real policy solutions, not another coal-fired thought bubble.”

Ahead of the Disney+ launch in Australia on Tuesday, November 19, the Greens have made a renewed push for local content quotas for streaming services.
Greens Spokesperson for Communications Sarah Hanson-Young said it was time local content rules applied to all screen industry players.
“Local content quotas are a huge boost for Australian creative content and deliver jobs for Australian production and recording companies, writers, directors, musicians, talent and stories,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“But not only are current local content quotas weak, unambitious and poorly enforced, they don’t apply to the international giants like Netflix  and Amazon, and now Disney+, who are operating in the Australian market.
“These overseas streaming services create very little employment in Australia and often pay very little tax, the least they could do in exchange for consumer dollars is spend some money on local content.
“The screen and music industries inject almost $14billion into our economy and employ hundreds of thousands of people so it makes good economic sense to support this industry and share it with the rest of the world.”