Category: Australian News

The Greens say new OECD data showing Australia’s most disadvantaged school students falling further behind their more privileged peers should be the wake-up call Labor needs to finally deliver full funding to public schools.

The 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, the first published since 2018, reveals a growing gap between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged students in mathematics performance, a worrying sign that inequity is increasingly baked in to the school system.

Some of the report’s key findings include:

• The average performance of Australian students across reading, mathematics and science continues to trend downwards
• Advantaged students outperformed their disadvantaged peers by 101 points in mathematics, higher than the OECD average of 93 and a rise of 20 points since 2018
• The gap between the highest performing students and the weakest students widened in mathematics and science
• 61% of school principals reported their capacity to provide instruction was hindered by a lack of teaching staff, a 44% jump from 2018

Greens spokesperson on Education (Primary and Secondary) Senator Penny Allman-Payne said:

“The PISA report reveals that not only is the average performance of Australian students continuing to trend downwards, Australia’s school system is increasingly unequal, with the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students widening over the past four years.

“Only 1.3% of public schools in Australia receive their bare minimum funding. Meanwhile, 98% of private schools are overfunded by governments, and they continue to charge ever-growing private fees, compounding the inequity.

“In the decade since Gonski, combined recurrent funding from Commonwealth, state and territory governments to Independent schools increased 34.04%, while spending on Catholic schools grew 31.17%. Spending on public schools only increased 16.92%.

“First Nations kids, kids in regional, rural and remote areas, neurodivergent and disabled kids, kids experiencing poverty and housing insecurity – when our governments make the choice to leave our public system underfunded, this is who they’re choosing to abandon.

“Labor and the Coalition’s collective failure means we do not have the sector-blind, needs-based funding system that Gonski proposed and all governments signed on to. What we have is the opposite of that: a sector-based, needs-blind Frankenstein stitched together with dodgy deals and caveats.

“With the new National School Reform Agreement and bilateral deals to be negotiated in coming months, and Labor in power federally and across the mainland, this is an historic opportunity to end a decade of false dawns and broken promises and deliver 100% SRS funding to every public school by January 2025.”

Documents obtained by Greens Senator David Shoebridge have revealed how the Future Fund has invested more than $600 million in public funds in global weapons companies. 

The documents, current to 31 October 2023, show the Future Fund has direct holdings in 30 weapons and aerospace companies including Thales, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems.

Remarkably the Fund’s board has invested nearly half a million dollars into the Israel-based Elbit Systems despite the Future Fund being banned from investing in Elbit System since at least 2021 due to ‘exclusions related to military weapons-related Conventions or Treaties ratified by Australia’.

Greens Defence Spokesperson, Senator David Shoebridge said: 

“The Albanese Government needs to introduce mandatory ethical investment rules for the Future Fund and that must absolutely include a prohibition on investing in weapon manufacturers. 

“Elbit Systems is meant to be excluded from the Future Fund’s investment choices because of exclusions related to military weapons-related Conventions and Treaties ratified by Australia. 

“The Future Fund’s board needs to explain how it continues to invest in Elbit Systems despite the publicly announced direction it gave to withdraw those funds because of Australia’s international legal obligations.

“Elbit Systems is also deeply implicated in the current destruction in Gaza where a suite of its weapons are deployed from artillery pieces to drones. 

“The majority of Australians want peace and justice, not just in Palestine, but around the world, yet the country’s wealth is instead being funnelled into companies that fuel violence.

“The Future Fund is meant to benefit future generations. That rings very hollow when they are investing in companies making equipment that ends future generations.”

Greens Finance spokesperson, Senator Barbara Pocock said:

“We’ve been looking at some of the investments the Future Fund has been making through an ethical lens and found some very questionable products including fossil fuel ventures, gambling and now this, weapons manufacturing that could be contributing to the deaths of innocent civilians.

“I think many Australians would be deeply distressed to find out that our sovereign wealth fund, our money, is being used in a variety of ways that conflict with basic moral and ethical principles. 

“We need to review the investment guidelines that govern the Future Fund and put some restrictions in place so that Australians can live with a clear conscience, knowing that our investments are making the world a better place and not the opposite.”

The Greens have today written to Commonwealth, state and territory education ministers to urge them to fully fund public schools, after PISA results published overnight revealed a growing gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students.

Read the letter here

Greens spokesperson on Education (Primary & Secondary) Senator Penny Allman-Payne said:

“The single biggest determinant of an Australian child’s school performance is their socioeconomic status. This is unacceptable in a wealthy country that professes to value fairness.

“The PISA data shows that in the lowest socioeconomic quartile, only 40% of students are reaching the national proficiency standard in science and reading, while less than a third hit that mark in mathematics. Among the most affluent students, around three-quarters of them are at or above the standard.

“Labor is in power federally and across the mainland. There has never been a better time to end a decade of delay and false dawns and finally deliver on the Gonski vision of a truly sector-blind and needs-based funding model.

“With education ministers meeting on Monday we urge them to seriously consider the PISA report and agree to fully fund public schools at the start of the next National School Reform Agreement, in January 2025.”

Today, Australia has imposed Magnitsky-style targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on three Federal Security Service agents involved in the poisoning of prominent Russian opposition figure and pro-democracy activist, Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Australia has also imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on ten individuals, including a Russian Deputy Minister, who are linked to the politically motivated arrest, trial and sentencing of Mr Kara-Murza.

A long-time critic of President Putin’s repressive regime, Mr Kara-Murza was subjected to two near-fatal poisoning attempts in 2015 and 2017. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison under Russia’s draconian laws which prohibit criticism of the Russian Armed Forces.

Those responsible for Russia’s appalling crackdown on civil society, human rights defenders, independent journalists, opposition figures and minority groups must be held to account.

Today’s announcement builds on our existing actions. This includes sanctions on individuals involved in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, and Australia’s statements in key multilateral forums, such as the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

Australia calls on Russia to comply with its human rights obligations under international treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. We also call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Kara-Murza and all other detained political activists.

Food and fibre production worth more than $22 billion per year is now at great risk following changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan, which were rushed through Parliament last week. 

It’s been nothing less than a return to the bad old days early in the development of the Basin Plan under the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments, when irrigators and river communities were facing savage reductions in the water they could use to grow 40% of Australia’s food and fibre. 

After already giving up more than 2000 gigalitres per year of water to the Plan—the equivalent of more than four Sydney Harbours—irrigators and their communities are about to be asked to give up another 700 gigalitres through buybacks. 

Buybacks have already devastated communities in the Basin, from Dirranbandi to Shepparton to Waikerie and everywhere in between. Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts have visited communities across the Basin and seen this devastation for themselves; there is no denying it. 

Desperate irrigators have left the system, leaving those who have remained to pick up the water delivery costs, which do not fall with the loss of farmers and their properties. The loss of food production in these areas means processors and packing sheds – the big employers in the basin—are left with no choice but to stand down workers. This forces more people out of Basin communities to look for work, and with less people needing their services, institutions like banks and schools also close down. It’s a vicious cycle, and every Australian will feel it as their grocery bills skyrocket. 

And where does most of this water recovered for the environment go? Down into South Australia’s Lower Lakes, where about 1000 gigaliters just evaporate into the air every year. These are not natural freshwater lakes; before the barrages were built near the Murray mouth in the 1930s, they were saltwater lakes, and seawater penetrated inland as far as Swan Reach, 250km upstream. 

Labor and the Greens did a very dirty deal to get this bill hastily passed, a deal also involving the Jacqui Lambie Network and newly-independent senator David Van. We don’t know what favours were traded, but it’s a fair bet they’re not in the interests of Australia. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will welcome Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Hon James Marape MP, to Australia on 7 December 2023 for an official visit.

Connected through our shared maritime border and joined through our rich cultures and history, Australia and Papua New Guinea have a close and longstanding partnership underpinned by mutual respect and trust.

The Prime Ministers will meet in Canberra to discuss the enduring security partnership and broader issues impacting on Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Pacific.

As near neighbours, our economic, trade, defence and security interests are deeply connected. Australia and Papua New Guinea have a proud history of working together in the region.

This visit will continue to strengthen the partnership between Prime Ministers, who last met at APEC in San Francisco in November, following the Prime Minister’s visit to Port Moresby and Wewak in January.

Prime Minister Albanese said:

“I am delighted to welcome Prime Minister Marape to Australia.

“Australia and Papua New Guinea’s partnership represents our shared priorities across a range of areas, including economic development, security, climate resilience and sport.

“Australia’s relationship with Papua New Guinea is special; we hold common history, values, and an enduring bond as neighbours, partners and friends.”

National Cabinet met in Canberra today and made important progress on key reforms that will strengthen our health system, secure the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and keep Australians safe.

Today we see the Commonwealth acting with common purpose, in the common interests of all Australians. The Federation is working for Australia.

Australia has world-leading health and disability support services, and National Cabinet agreed we must work better together to address growing pressures on our health system and the NDIS, to ensure the systems can continue to be delivered sustainably into the future.

Health reform

Health was National Cabinet’s top priority for 2023 and First Ministers remain committed to addressing the pressures facing our health system.

Strengthening Medicare

First Ministers have agreed to a further $1.2 billion package of Strengthening Medicare measures to take pressure off our hospitals. These measures will grow and support our health workforce, while reducing unnecessary presentations to emergency departments.

The Commonwealth will:

• Fund and implement, with states and territories, the health-related recommendations from the Independent Review of Health Practitioner Regulatory Settings (Kruk Review)
• Boost funding for Medicare Urgent Care Clinics; and
• Supporting older Australians through avoided hospital admission and earlier discharge from hospital

National Health Reform Agreement

Australians rightly want a whole-of-system approach to healthcare, where primary care and hospitals are connected and able to provide optimal models of care in the right place and the right time.

National Cabinet endorsed Commonwealth increasing National Health Reform Agreement contributions to 45 per cent over a maximum of a 10-year glide path from 1 July 2025, with an achievement of 42.5 per cent before 2030.

National Cabinet endorsed the current 6.5 per cent funding cap being replaced by a more generous approach that applies a cumulative cap over the period 2025-2030 and includes a first year ‘catch up’ growth premium.

As part of these reforms, agreed to a continued focus on addressing elective surgery waiting lists as a priority.

Health Ministers will commence the renegotiation of the National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA) Addendum to embed long-term, system-wide structural health reforms, including considering the NHRA Mid-Term Review findings.

These reforms will focus on the entire health system and move towards a more integrated, equitable, efficient and sustainable system. This will give Australians better access to health services they need, when they need them, and alleviate current pressures in public hospitals across the country.

First Ministers are committed to continuing to work together as these reforms progress.

National Disability Insurance Scheme

National Cabinet acknowledged the need for reforms to secure the future of the NDIS, ensuring it can continue to provide life-changing support to future generations of Australians with a disability.

Governments noted the forthcoming release of the final report of the Independent NDIS Review, co-led by Professor Bruce Bonyhady AM and Ms Lisa Paul AO PSM.

As an initial response to the NDIS Review, National Cabinet agreed to work together to:

• Implement legislative and other changes to the NDIS to improve the experience of participants and restore the original intent of the Scheme to support people with permanent and significant disability, within a broader ecosystem of supports.
• Adjust state and territory NDIS contribution escalation rates, increasing from 4 per cent to be in line with actual Scheme growth, capped at 8 per cent, with the Commonwealth paying the remainder of Scheme costs growth, commencing from 1 July 2028.

The National Cabinet agreed to jointly design additional Foundational Supports to be jointly commissioned by the Commonwealth and the states, with the work oversighted by the First Secretaries Group. Additionally, the Council of Federal Financial Relations (CFFR) will oversight costs of the reforms and report to National Cabinet.

An initial tranche of legislation will be introduced into the Commonwealth Parliament in the first half of 2024, with rule changes phased in as developed.

The delivery of Foundational Supports would look to be delivered through existing government service settings where appropriate (e.g. child care, schools), phased in over time.

Funding would be agreed through new Federal Funding Agreements, with additional costs split 50-50, and final details to be settled through CFFR.

The Commonwealth agreed to cap an additional expenditure for states and territories on new foundational disability services to ensure the combined health and disability reforms will see all states and territories better off.

These commitments demonstrate Governments’ ongoing commitment to the NDIS. Discussions with the disability community will continue over the coming months as we work together to make the positive changes needed for people with disability.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) No Worse Off Guarantee

National Cabinet agreed to extend the GST No Worse Off Guarantee in its current form for three years from 2027-28. This will ensure GST proceeds are shared fairly and equitably, providing funding certainty for states.

National Cabinet’s priority is safeguarding service delivery and achieving fiscal sustainability, and extending the GST No Worse Off Guarantee will help support this.

National Firearms Register

Ahead of the anniversary of the police shooting in Wieambilla, National Cabinet agreed to implement a National Firearms Register – delivering on an outstanding reform from the Port Arthur massacre response in 1996. This represents the most significant improvement in Australia’s firearms management systems in almost 30 years and will keep Australia’s first responders and community safer.

While Australia has some of the strongest firearms laws in the world, the Register will address significant gaps and inconsistencies with the way firearms are managed across all jurisdictions.

The register will be a federated model – state data connects with a central hub data allowing near real time information sharing across the country.

The Commonwealth will assist states and territories with funding the reforms, which will provide enduring benefits for decades to come.

National Cabinet agreed to work together to ensure that the Register is fully operational within four years.

Operation AEGIS

National Cabinet was briefed by the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Reece Kershaw and Acting Australian Border Force Commissioner, Kaylene Zakharoff on Operation AEGIS and the close collaboration between Commonwealth and State and Territory law enforcement.

This media statement has been agreed by First Ministers and serves as a record of meeting outcomes.

Today we signed a Bilateral Security Agreement.

The Agreement is a legally-binding framework to deepen our security cooperation – in traditional areas of defence, policing, border and maritime security, and also non-traditional areas of cyber security, climate change, gender-based violence and critical infrastructure.

It will elevate our security relationship to advance shared security interests while contributing to our region’s security.

The Agreement fulfils a commitment under our Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership.  Consistent with our shared commitment to transparency, the Agreement will be publicly available.

As we sign the Agreement, we announce a commitment of $200 million in support of Papua New Guinea’s national security priorities.

We have agreed full circle support for Papua New Guinea’s internal security, from police to courts to correctional services. This includes initiatives that reflect the Bilateral Security Agreement’s focus on climate change, gender-based violence and cyber.

Papua New Guinea will establish a Port Moresby-based Police Recruit and Investigations Training Centre with Australia’s support.  The Centre will enable Papua New Guinea to recruit and train a larger and more capable force.

Papua New Guinea has offered to open the Training Centre to other Pacific police forces.  Papua New Guinea and Australia will continue to support the development of regional policing in the Pacific through the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police as our region’s policing institution.

We will continue to support economic security, including through support for trade, border security and increased engagement in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme.

Reports that the Fyles Government political strategy is being advised and led by the same consultancy that is directly responsible for lobbying by fracking giant Tamboran Resources are alarming and outrageous.

The third major scandal within a month that shows the Chief Minister answers to the gas industry not her constituents. The Greens are calling on the Prime Minister to raise this clear conflict of interest with Chief Minister Fyles at tomorrow’s national cabinet meeting.

Greens leader in the Senate and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:

“It is outrageous for Mr Richardson to be in charge of political strategy for the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, while also lobbying for Tamboran Resources to unleash a carbon-bomb by fracking the Beetaloo Basin.

“This isn’t just a back door into parliament and influencing political decisions, it’s rolling out the red carpet for Tamboran to have all the information they need to get their way on Beetaloo.

“It’s bad enough when we see ex-parliamentarians and senior staffers heading straight into a lobbying role after they leave office – but in the NT, the lobbyists appear to be on the Parliamentary payroll.

“This is absolutely unacceptable and yet another case of poor decision-making from Chief Minister Fyles. The Northern Territory, democracy and the environment deserve better.”

NT Greens Convenor, Jonathan Parry said:

“The capture of the NT Labor government by big gas companies is disturbing and unethical. It is offensive to Territorians to have their elected members so blatantly disregard basic integrity.

“Frankly, I am disgusted that the Chief Minister would think it appropriate to spend taxpayers money getting political advice from the same firm lobbying for an expansion of fracking in the NT.

“It is becoming impossible to see where the Fyles Labor Government ends and the gas industry begins.

“We need a transparent lobbyist register for the NT that identifies those seeking to influence the government.”

Australia and France share a commitment to a dynamic bilateral relationship founded on trust, shared values and shared interests, globally and in the Indo-Pacific, in line with the priorities agreed by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during their meeting on 1 July 2022.

Today’s visit by France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna, at the invitation of Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator the Hon Penny Wong, and the adoption of the France-Australia Bilateral Roadmap are further milestones in our renewed and ambitious France-Australia partnership.

The Roadmap is based on the three pillars of defence and security, resilience and climate action, and education and culture. We recognise the strategic challenges that the Indo-Pacific is facing, and we are using our partnership to advance regional peace, stability, and prosperity. We are working to support a just and clean energy transition and adaptation in both countries and with our partners in the Indo-Pacific. We are boosting opportunities for educational and research collaboration, and cultural understanding, to strengthen our people-to-people links.

We share a commitment to uphold multilateralism, international rules and norms, particularly the fundamental principles reflected in international law and the UN Charter, including on human rights, on sovereignty, territorial integrity and the peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to the threat or use of force or coercion.

Australia and France unequivocally condemn Hamas’s 7 October terror attacks on Israel, and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Australia and France recognise Israel’s right to defend itself. In doing so, Israel must respect international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Safe and unimpeded humanitarian access must be increased. The world has witnessed a harrowing number of civilian deaths, including children. This must not continue. The recent pause in hostilities allowed for the release of more than 100 hostages and supported an increase in humanitarian access to affected civilians. We want to see the pause resumed and support international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire. We recognise this cannot be one-sided. Hamas, a terror organisation, is still bombing Israel, using Palestinian civilians as shields, and holding hostages. The crisis underscores the need for a political solution to the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, which can only be a two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state exist in peace and security within internationally recognised borders.

Almost two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Australia and France reaffirm their ongoing and unequivocal condemnation of Russia’s illegal unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. Our shared commitment to supporting Ukraine remains unchanged. We demand that Russia immediately cease hostilities and withdraw its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and its announced deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus are unacceptable. We call on all those with influence with Russia including China, to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and to support a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, fully respecting the United Nations Charter and, in particular, Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

As Indo-Pacific countries, Australia and France agree to continue to work together to guarantee an Indo-Pacific region that is open, stable, prosperous and inclusive, with respect for all countries’ sovereignty. We agree to commit to promoting practical measures to reduce the risk of strategic competition escalating into conflict.

Australia and France express strong opposition to any coercion or destabilising actions in the South China Sea, including militarisation of disputed features. We affirm the need for safe and professional behaviour in all domains and reaffirm the intention to continue transits and deployments in the Indo-Pacific in accordance with international law , particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). We underline the importance of continuing to work together to support countries being able to exercise their rights under UNCLOS, including freedom of navigation and overflight. Australia and France recognise the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award is final and binding on both parties.

Australia and France reaffirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We oppose any unilateral change to the status quo and call for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues through dialogue without the threat or use of force or coercion. We will continue to deepen unofficial economic, scientific, technological and cultural ties with Taiwan. We support Taiwan’s meaningful participation to the work of international organisations, including as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite.

Australia and France are committed to continuing to develop their cooperation to support Pacific priorities, fostering regional security, stability and economic progress. The Letter of Intent signed between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Agence Française de Développement will enhance our coordination and cooperation in the Pacific, including on Pacific priorities such as climate change resilience, fostering energy transition, humanitarian assistance, the prevention of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and action in the leadup to UNOC3 in 2025. We will continue to strengthen cooperation with the Pacific, including through the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and other regional organisations, in support of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

On the existential challenge of climate change, the France-Australia partnership is committed to strengthening adaptability and resilience of island countries, while protecting their forest and marine ecosystems. Preservation of the rich biodiversity of the Pacific remains at the heart of our common interests. Australia and France will continue to act in concert to ensure an effective response to natural disasters and their humanitarian impacts in the Pacific.