Category: Australian News

Labor yet again is resisting scrutiny of its draconian IR Bill.

Today in the House of Representatives Labor refused to support the Opposition’s proposal that the 278 page industrial relations Bill should be referred to a parliamentary committee.

A parliamentary committee inquiry would be an appropriate and wholly orthodox next step as the Parliament considers this long and complex Bill with profound economy wide implications.

But Labor’s refusal to allow this scrutiny of the Bill follows a regrettable pattern.

Yesterday Labor refused to support an Opposition proposal to adopt an orthodox timetable for this Bill, resuming debate in the next but one sitting week, to allow MPs to study the details of a 278 page Bill which was only made public yesterday.

Even before the Bill was introduced, Labor took extraordinary steps to avoid scrutiny, forcing the handful of people who were consulted to sign legally binding non-disclosure agreements, preventing them from disclosing publicly what they had been told about the Bill’s contents.

When a government goes to such efforts to avoid its legislation receiving scrutiny and examination, there is only one conclusion: it knows how bad the Bill is and is trying to hide the details as much as it can.

The Opposition is calling on the Albanese Government to urgently deliver equitable funding to high-risk Indigenous students under its Alice Springs community safety package.

On 30 July 2023, I wrote to Education Minister Jason Clare requesting that he deliver $40.4 million to Central Australian schools to increase school engagement and combat youth crime, as he promised to do.

More than a month on, it is disappointing that I have not received a reply to my letter.

Mr Clare’s decision to plug the Northern Territory government’s education budget black hole, rather than prioritise Indigenous students most at risk such as those who attend Yipirinya School in Alice Springs, constitutes a blatant broken promise.

As Yipirinya principal Gavin Morris told the Daily Telegraph today, “… what we are seeing is you can have a Voice in Parliament but if you are not being heard, you are voiceless.”

The Opposition recently called out the Albanese Government for axeing the construction of two Indigenous boarding schools in East Arnhem Land and the Pilbara. Now, plans to build a satellite school in Burt Creek, 60 kilometres north of Alice Springs, are in ruins.

This is such gross hypocrisy from Labor which is failing to listen to the voices of some of the most disadvantaged Indigenous children in the country.

My letter to the Minister is reproduced below.

Dear Minister

Request to provide equitable funding to high-risk indigenous students in Alice Springs

On behalf of Senator Nampijinpa Price and myself, I write to raise deep concerns about the Albanese Government’s inequitable distribution of funding to 46 Central Australian schools, as part of a package of measures to combat youth crime in Alice Springs.

As you announced on 9 May 2023, $40.4 million was to be shared between these schools for ‘On-Country Learning’ to improve school attendance and engagement. The schools were asked to “develop tailored solutions to better engage children and young people in school and provide them with the wrap-around support they need to succeed” to “…improve community safety, tackle alcohol-related harm, and provide more opportunities for young people.”[1]

In short, this funding was delivered to keep young people at school, off the streets and out of jail.

Astonishingly, you have determined not to provide some of the most at-risk indigenous students with their fair share of funding.

Indigenous independent school, Yipirinya School in Alice Springs, which is home to many vulnerable and disengaged aboriginal children suffering acute disadvantage, has been advised it will receive only $329,000 and not the nearly $1 million it was expecting.

It is understood that 10 independent and catholic schools, including Yipirinya School, will receive only $2 million of the $40.5 million with the lion’s share going to government schools, calculated in accordance with the ‘Gonski’ School Resource Standard (SRS) and not for the purpose for which the funding was intended which was to combat the Alice Springs crime wave.

In distributing this funding to prop up the Northern Territory Labor government which is providing only 59 per cent of the 75 per cent funding required under the SRS, we believe you have profoundly misled local principals and their school communities.

This is the latest example of the Albanese Government listening to selective indigenous voices, and not the voices of local indigenous people most in need.

Consistent with your request that Central Australian schools develop On-Country Learning initiatives, Yipirinya School was planning to build a satellite school at Burt Creek, 60 kilometres north of Alice Springs, which would have allowed students to attend school in their community rather than drive three hours to and from Alice Springs each day. These plans are now in ruins.

We also note that despite repeated requests and funding submissions for more than a year, your government including the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, continues to stall on the delivery of funding to build boarding facilities at Yipirinya School which are vital to keep children safe at school.

We urge the Albanese Government to deliver on its commitment to ‘support a better, safer future for Central Australia’ by distributing the $40.5 million On-Country Learning measure consistent with its purpose. Distribution of funding should be equitable, taking into account schools which have the highest rates of student disengagement and youth offending, and the lowest attendance rates.

Given the lack of transparency about these funding arrangements, we also seek information as to the indicative amount allocated to each of the 46 schools as soon as possible this week, noting it is open to us to request this information by way of an Order for the Production of Documents in the Senate.

Yours sincerely

Sarah Henderson

The Australian Government has today launched Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 to deepen Australia’s economic engagement with our region and ensure our shared future prosperity.

The strategy, developed by Mr Nicholas Moore AO, Special Envoy for Southeast Asia, was announced by the Prime Minister at the ASEAN Indo-Pacific Forum in Jakarta today.

It sets out a practical pathway to increase Australia’s two-way trade and investment with the region.

Southeast Asia is a centre of global activity and business, and one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. The strategy outlines how Australia can seize the vast opportunities our diverse and vibrant region presents. It also describes what Australia can offer our region, as a trusted and reliable partner.

The Special Envoy identified 10 priority sectors offering the most potential for growth: agriculture and food; resources; green energy transition; infrastructure; education and skills; visitor economy; healthcare; digital economy, professional and financial services; and creative industries.
The Prime Minister has committed to immediately support three initiatives that go to the heart of the strategy and are an investment in Australia’s economic future:

• Investment Deal Teams ($70.2 million over four years) who will be based in the ASEAN region and will work with Australian investors, Southeast Asian businesses and governments to identify and facilitate investment opportunities.
• Southeast Asia Business Exchange ($19.2 million over four years) to boost two-way trade and support Australian exporters to enter, compete and grow in the fast-growing markets of Southeast Asia. This will include a trade and investment campaign to promote opportunities in Southeast Asian markets to Australian business and consumers.
• Placements and Internships Pilot Program for Young Professionals ($6 million over four years) which will help to build enduring links between Australia and Southeast Asian businesses.

This strategy reaffirms the Australian Government’s commitment to deepening our engagement with Southeast Asia.

The strategy is available at: Southeast Asia Economic Strategy | Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (dfat.gov.au).

Implementation of the strategy will be led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Treasurer and the Minister for Trade and Tourism, supported by a joint taskforce between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Treasury.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:

“Southeast Asia’s fast-growing economies present a major opportunity for Australian business, but we haven’t kept pace with their exponential growth.

“Our economic future lies with Southeast Asia. This strategy outlines how we can harness this growth, and seize the vast trade and investment opportunities our region presents.

“I thank Special Envoy to Southeast Asia, Nicholas Moore, for developing a comprehensive strategy based on extensive consultation across the region.”

the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong said:

“The Albanese Government is deploying all elements of our national power to make Australia stronger and more influential in the world, including by deepening our engagement in the region.

“Investing in priority sectors such as the green energy transition, infrastructure and food security is an investment in Australia’s future and the future of the region.

“The strategy reinforces that trade and investment diversification is key to our shared future prosperity and economic security. We seek genuine partnership with Southeast Asian economies to capture untapped opportunities for our mutual benefit.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said:

“Australians can be the beneficiaries of the some of the big shifts that are underway in the region by deepening our engagement in Southeast Asia.

“Whether it be the energy transformation, high-skilled manufacturing or world-class produce, we have the goods and services that the region needs to power its growth in the decades ahead.

“Greater integration with the dynamic markets of Southeast Asia will ultimately help deliver better jobs and better opportunities here at home.”

the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell said:

“This strategy reinforces our intent and priorities to expand and diversify trade and investment between Australia and Southeast Asia.

“It charts a pathway to help Australian exporters, investors, tourism businesses, higher education providers, and creative sectors make the most of the booming opportunities in our region.”

Greens Leader in the Senate, Senator Larissa Waters will introduce the Greens Fairer Grants and Government Contracts Bill to the Senate today, to finally put an end to the influence of political donations on winning government contracts, grant money and environmental approvals. 

The Bill would ban political donations for 12 months before and after any contract tender, environmental or development application was made. 

Lines attributable to Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters

“This obscene merry-go-round of public money for political donors is an ongoing blight on our political system, and it needs to come to an end. 

“Money shouldn’t be able to buy government contracts, development approvals, political access or political influence. This is not a controversial idea.

“Yet it’s clear that’s what years of donations has been getting for organisations like PwC and the rest of the Big 4. It’s legalised bribery.

“The Big 4 donated $1.2million in FY21-22. In the financial year that followed, those same companies were awarded government contracts valued at over half a billion dollars. 

	FY21-22 donations	FY22-23 contracts
PwC	$659,623	$188,507,022.05
KPMG	$267,270	$5,834,245.70
EY	$210,881	$153,983,428.84
Deloitte	$148,000	$212,665,768.03

“Tamboran Resources donated $200,000 to the major parties in FY21-22, and in the same financial year, received $7.5 million in public grant money to frack for gas in the Beetaloo.

“And of course, who can forget Adani. Over $250,000 donated to the coalition in the same financial year as it received final environmental approval for its Carmichael coal mine, including donating $100,000 in the month after the approval was given.

“Is it any wonder that recent polling confirmed 74% of Australians, including 80% of Coalition voters and 70% of Labor voters, support banning political donations from organisations that receive funding from government contracts.

“Stopping donations effectively buying lucrative government contracts, grants or environmental approvals, would ensure tender processes are made based on merit, and help reinstate public trust in our political system.

“The Greens would still like to cap all political donations at $1,000 per year, but we are proposing this Bill as an urgent measure that should receive multipartisan support. Now we need to see Labor get on board.”

^1. https://democracyforsale.net
^2. Contracts published between 1 July 2022 – 30 June 2023 https://www.tenders.gov.au

The Coalition will today take the fight against Labor’s deeply flawed Misinformation Bill to the floor of Parliament.

Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman will lead a debate in the House on the many problems with Labor’s plan and acknowledge the community leaders highlighting these faults.

This will be the first time that Members have had a chance to debate the merits of Labor’s draft Bill since public submissions closed last month.

“Labor has so far refused to release the thousands of submissions and comments which included serious, detailed critiques of the Bill,”Mr Coleman said.

“The Albanese Government has managed to unite civil liberties groups, lawyers, religious institutions and human rights groups against this appalling Bill.

“But the Government continues to sit on thousands of submissions. We only know about the opposition of so many groups because those organisations have self-published their views on the Bill.

“It’s time that the Government stopped playing games and just released the submissions to the public. Then, everyone will be able to see the full extent of the opposition to this attack on free speech.”

Today’s Private Member’s Motion will highlight the Bill’s appalling impact on free speech in Australia. Coalition Members will support a call to bin the Bill.

Labor’s plan to ram through the Parliament its draconian changes to Australia’s industrial relations system should alarm every Australian, Manager of Opposition Business in the House Paul Fletcher said today.

According to Labor’s legislative program, released on Thursday, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is intending to introduce his Bill on Monday afternoon and then have debate on the Bill commence the very next day.

Scandalously, the full text of the Bill has still not been released. Instead, Labor has secretly shared it with a small group of selected recipients who have been forced to sign legally binding non-disclosure agreements.

The Parliament will have less than twenty-four hours to consider this detailed Bill before the debate commences – a Bill which is making fundamental changes to the rules governing Australian workplaces.

Mr Fletcher said Labor is trying to implement the agenda of their union bosses, even though only about eight per cent of private sector workers are members of a union.

“Labor wants to avoid proper parliamentary consideration of this Bill because they would prefer to put their political interests ahead of the national interest,” Mr Fletcher said.

“This Bill imposes new barriers to casual employment – even though many Australians prefer this mode of work – and aims to force all workers in a given role at a given workplace to be paid exactly the same, regardless of experience or performance.

“The Bill also amounts to a direct attack on the efficiency and flexibility of the digital economy.

“Millions of Australians have enthusiastically embraced digital platforms due their convenience and innovative offerings. Labor wants to return to a rigid 1950s style economy because that is what union bosses want.

“Mr Burke has called the gig economy a cancer and wants to impose new laws that he acknowledges will drive up consumer prices.”

Mr Fletcher said forcing through these radical industrial relations changes is Mr Burke’s calling card.

“When Mr Burke introduced his Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill last year, he similarly tried to condense debate and even threatened to have Parliament sit on a Saturday, at great expense to taxpayers,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Before the election, Mr Burke made many grand statements about upholding parliamentary accountability, but the reality is that the Albanese Labor Government has consistently used tricky tactics to quash debate and block questions.”

The 7th Australia-China High Level Dialogue will be held in Beijing on 7 September, providing a platform for senior representatives from industry, government, academia, media and the arts to exchange perspectives across the breadth of Australia and China’s bilateral relationship.

The Dialogue is an opportunity for constructive discussion between stakeholders on both sides of the bilateral relationship across a range of issues, including trade and investment, people-to-people links and regional and international security.

Former Trade Minister, the Hon Dr Craig Emerson, will co-chair the Dialogue as the head of the Australian delegation.

Reflecting bipartisan support for the Dialogue since its establishment, former Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop, will participate as a delegate and session lead.

Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Jan Adams AO PSM, will also attend as part of the delegation and participate as a session lead.

The Dialogue has contributed to Australia’s Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with China since it was first held in 2014.

The National Foundation for Australia-China Relations and the Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs co-host the Dialogue. China’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Honorary President of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, Li Zhaoxing, will co-chair and lead the Chinese delegation.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong said:

“This is first time the Dialogue has been held since early 2020 and it represents another step towards increasing bilateral engagement and stabilising our relationship with China.

“The resumption of the Dialogue was one of the outcomes of my meeting with China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, in Beijing in December.

“It provides an opportunity for representatives from both countries to discuss our perspectives and how we can grow our cooperation in areas of shared interest.”

Hon Dr Craig Emerson said:

“Since it was established, the Dialogue has been an opportunity to deepen mutual understanding with Chinese participants and to find common ground.

“I am proud to lead the Australian delegation and contribute to the Albanese government’s efforts to stabilise the relationship with China.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has today approved the fourth coal project this year, at the Gregory Crinum Coal Mine in the Bowen Basin, to run until 2073. 

This follows project approvals for the Isaac River Coal Mine, the Star Coal Mine, and the Ensham Coal Mine.

Last week’s emissions update found that fossil fuel emissions continue to rise under Labor, their weak 43% by 2030 target won’t be reached until 2037, and Australia won’t hit net zero until 2080.

Even if Labor’s 43% emissions reduction target was reached, it is consistent with a global temperature rise of over 2C, in breach of our Paris Target commitments. 

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP said:

“Labor is making global heating worse by opening new coal mines,” Mr Bandt said.

“Tanya Plibersek has just approved a new coal project that will run until 2073, when we’re meant to be reaching net zero. That’s another 50 years of coal, when the science tells us we can’t open any new coal or gas mines.

“The science is crystal clear. If we’re going to stop the world going over the climate cliff, we can’t open up a single new coal project, but Labor has approved four.

“With Labor opening new coal and gas mines, it is no surprise that emissions are continuing to rise under Labor.”

Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens Environment Spokesperson, Senator for SA said:

“Another day, another coal mine approved by the so-called Environment Minister.”

“Every time this Government approves a new coal or gas project they are risking our River Murray, our Reef and the safety of our children.

“Our environment laws are broken. We need laws that stop  native forest logging and the stop pollution that fuels the climate crisis.

“The Minister has promised to fix our environment laws this year and that must include making sure they account for climate change when assessing these projects, at the very least.”

In his speech at the National Press Club today the Minister for Industrial Relations Tony Burke signalled the government’s intention to criminalise wage theft but there was no mention of a glaring problem that costs Australian workers $93 billion a year in unpaid overtime.

Minister Burke’s outline of the next round of IR reforms in the Closing Loopholes Bill to be introduced to Parliament next week ignores a major loophole in our employment laws. The unrestricted access employers currently have to workers outside their paid working hours is costing the average Australian worker six weeks of unpaid overtime per year.

The Greens want to see a right to disconnect in our workplace laws to further protect Australian workers from ongoing wage theft.

Senator Barbara Pocock, Greens spokesperson on Employment said:

“Australian workers need a right to disconnect to stop wage theft and close a critical loophole for undercutting wages.

“Australian workers do an excessive amount of unpaid overtime, in large part because they are always contactable. Workers should have the right to turn off their phones, block their bosses’ calls, and switch off their emails when they’re finished work for the day.

“With so much workplace technology intruding into our lives outside work we need some legislated protections that will allow workers to get their lives back. So many ordinary Australians have caring responsibilities and need to be able to give their full attention to their families and those they care for, as well as to recharge their batteries and do the things that are important to them.

“We need a more productive workforce and the best way to achieve this is by working smarter not harder. And this means having a right to disconnect from workplace distractions when we are on our own time.

“I’m also keen to see more detail on proposed protections for workers in the gig economy which are not just the people who deliver your meals but also the workers in the care economy who look after your children or your grandparents.

“While Minister Burke signalled some minimum standards for gig workers including a minimum wage, there are some other big issues that remain unaddressed including minimum hours, pay during wait times and health and safety compensation.

“The Labor Government could be ushering in a new class of underprivileged workers with the introduction of employee-like workers if these protections are not included.”

The Australian Greens are demanding urgent action be taken in Australia’s corrections system to address a mental health crisis and prevent further deaths in custody.

A coronial report into the death of 30-year-old First Nations man Mr Blanket, handed down by Coroner Philip Urquhart in Western Australia, has highlighted a ‘chronic shortage’ of safe cells.

Mr Blanket died in his cell at the privately run Acacia Prison in 2019, after his mental health deteriorated and he experienced multiple episodes of psychosis and self-harm.

WA Greens Senator, First Nations portfolio holder and Yamatji-Noongar woman, Dorinda Cox said:

“It is simply unacceptable that someone has been able to take their life in prison because there are not enough safe cells available, particularly for those who are also vulnerable due to their mental health.

“The evidence shows there were many failings of the current system including failure to provide previous mental health assessments to Acacia’s mental health service providers, that Mr Blanket expressed suicidal ideations to prison staff, and his mother had told prison staff of his suicide risk, but wasn’t listened to.

“Red flags were missed despite Mr Blanket having a history of self-harm and attempted suicide and Mr Blanket was not moved to a safe cell in time.

“It is time for the what the coroner described as a ‘chronic shortage’ to be addressed.

“These shocking and continuing deaths are avoidable and the coroner has found that the treatment and care provided to Mr Blanket was anything but culturally appropriate.

“The continuing deaths in custody cause ongoing distress for First Nations communities and Mr Blanket’s family has been seeking answers and change so that no other family endures the pain of losing a loved one.

“I have previously called on our governments to implement all the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report handed down in 1991, I reiterate that call with what is another tragic and devastating death in custody.”

Greens Justice Spokesperson Senator David Shoebridge said:

“More than 30 years since the Royal Commission we have a prison where only a tiny fraction of cells were safe cells without hanging points, that’s disgraceful.

“The coroner has found that the lack of safe cells a cause of Mr Blanket’s death, meaning the WA Government cannot dodge responsibility for this dreadfully predictable loss.

“It is deeply distressing for Mr Blanket’s family to hear how the lack of treatment programs denied him parole and left him in jail as his mental health deteriorated.

“Mr Blanket was killed by a system that refused to provide him with treatment and then locked him in a room with hanging points, a situation we have known is unsafe for decades.”

George Newhouse, Principal Solicitor of the National Justice Project said:

“The coroner has made some significant recommendations however they do not go far enough and Aboriginal medical services need to provide culturally safe therapeutic health care in prisons.

“The prison system needs to listen to families who know their loved ones well; they need a voice, they need to be heard.

“The failure to allow Mr Blanket to participate in a rehabilitation program meant that he was precluded from parole which destabilised him and contributed to his mental health crisis.

“The coroner has called on the Department and Serco to address the inability of short-term prisoners to access programs that are necessary to get parole. Corporate prison operators like Serco have an economic incentive to deny programs to prisoners and keep people like Mr Blanket behind bars but that can destroy lives.”