Category: Australian News

National Cabinet will next meet in Brisbane on 16 August 2023.

The key priority for the meeting is to discuss progress on housing and planning reforms, including proposals to increase housing supply and affordability.

Consistent with National Cabinet’s 2023 priorities, First Ministers will also discuss health reform ahead of a dedicated health meeting planned for later in 2023.

Prime Minister Albanese said:

“I am looking forward to meeting with First Ministers this month for positive and constructive discussions on Australia’s national priorities.

“Our key priority for this meeting is increasing housing supply and affordability across Australia.

The Albanese Government’s new international development policy will advance Australia’s interests in a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific and ensure we are a partner of choice for our region.

The new long-term policy – the first in almost a decade – will drive the Government’s aid investments in tackling regional challenges like poverty, economic growth, healthcare, infrastructure investment, climate change and gender equality.

It will deliver a development program that is effective, responsive, transparent and accountable: fit for the challenges and opportunities of our times.

Australia will invest more in locally-led solutions, creating local jobs and economic opportunities and building genuine, respectful partnerships. A new fund will be established to provide direct support to community organisations in the region and drive local development outcomes.

The Government’s commitment to gender equality and climate action will be at the heart of the development program. New targets will ensure Australian development assistance tackles climate impacts and improves the lives of women and girls.

The new policy will underpin the Government’s record international development investments, which are delivering $1.7 billion in new spending over five years and a commitment to long-term growth of the development program.

A new performance and delivery framework will guide the implementation of the new policy and measure the effectiveness of our efforts.

The Government will also improve development skills and expertise in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, after nine years of Coalition cuts and neglect.

At the same time, the Government has released the Development Finance Review, conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, accepting all eight recommendations.

This will boost the Government’s partnerships with impact investors and philanthropists, encouraging greater flows of private finance towards development outcomes in the Indo-Pacific.

As recommended by the Review, the Government will establish Australian Development Investments, a new vehicle providing up to $250 million as a catalyst for private impact investment in the Indo-Pacific.

The new development policy and Development Finance Review were informed by extensive consultations in Australia and across the Indo-Pacific. We thank all who participated for their important contributions.

They are part of the Albanese Government’s commitment to rebuild and revitalise Australia’s development program to ensure our aid investments are delivering a better future for our region.

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

“Australia is using all elements of our national power to advance our interests and shape the world for the better.

“Development and prosperity underpin peace and stability.

“This new policy reflects who we are. Australia is there, not only in times of crisis, but is working with the region to strengthen its resilience and to help deliver its aspirations.

“The new policy will guide how Australia’s development program works alongside our diplomatic, defence and economic engagement.”

Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the Hon Pat Conroy MP said:

“The Albanese Government is rebuilding and reinvesting in Australia’s development program after the Liberals and Nationals slashed $11 billion and neglected development expertise.

“We are responding to the priorities of our partner countries and helping to lift people out of poverty, building resilience and strengthening relationships in our region.

“We will invest in local solutions that deliver a double dividend – creating local jobs and delivering direct economic benefits on the ground, while also improving the development impact of Australia’s investments.”

The Office of the National Rural Health Commissioner has partnered with the Medical Journal of Australia to produce a special supplement that shines a light on the important role education plays in developing and growing Australia’s regional, rural, and remote health workforce.

The reality is people who live in country areas of Australia are generally less healthy than those in our big cities. They have a higher burden of disease and are more socioeconomically disadvantaged.

At the same time, in the vast majority of instances, the number of employed full-time equivalent registered health professionals decreases on a per-population basis the more remote the location is.

Governments have long understood that students who undertake their health and medical studies in rural and regional Australia are more likely to practise in country areas. Australia’s first rural clinical school was established in Traralgon, Victoria, in 1992, and the first university department of rural health, in Broken Hill, NSW, in 1996.

National Rural Health Commissioner, Adjunct Professor Ruth Stewart, said progress had been made to narrow the gap in healthcare workers on a per-population basis between metropolitan and country areas.

‘However, more sustained effort, with new ideas based on what we have learned in recent decades, is necessary to deliver healthcare equity for regional, rural and remote Australia,’ Professor Stewart said.

‘My office has worked with the Medical Journal of Australia and key rural health training and education stakeholders, including the National Regional Education Commissioner, the Hon Fiona Nash, on a special supplement that focuses on what we’ve learned from our continued investment in this important area.

‘It also looks at what’s needed to better support growing and retaining the rural and remote health workforce – an outcome that is so vital to address the health inequities experienced in country communities.

‘This special supplement provides us with reflections and evidence on what is working, and what can be further done to improve access to health services in rural and remote communities.

‘We know there are many opportunities to influence where clinicians work; we must now focus on how policy can support rural and remote community needs.”

The supplement is available on the Medical Journal of Australia’s website and through Wiley Online Library.

Today the Greens are delivering the results of the extensive public consultation on the first ever bill to legalise adult use of recreational cannabis across Australia. 

A total of 8,916 individual responses on our survey were received and we received 38 detailed submissions in response to our consultation paper. This is in addition to thousands of calls, social media messages and real life conversations. 

The results show an extremely strong level of support for legalising cannabis with a single national cannabis market that allows for home grow and prioritises co-ops and small business involvement. Respondents told us they don’t want an overly corporatised scheme and how it is important to ensure any tax rate doesn’t force up prices and drive people back into the illicit market. 

The bill delivers on this, with a “grassroots” market that also creates $28 billion in anticipated public revenue in the first 9 years of operation.  

The consultation has led to a significant number of improvements to the final bill which will make a gold standard scheme for all Australians.

• Quality and labelling to set out labelling requirements for cannabis and cannabis products including safety and dosage information, strength and chemical composition
• Penalties – we will amend the bill to provide a clear requirement for serious or repeated breaches of licence conditions to result in serious consequences for the licence holder – not just employees.
• Home grow and production – we will amend the bill to explicitly allow people to make products like brownies or gummies at home for personal use, we will also explicitly require that grow at home cannabis not be accessible to the public.
• Young people – we’ll add a new requirement to store cannabis where it’s not readily available to minors and give the regulator the capacity to impose other safe storage if needed like child safe containers for edibles for example.
• Advertising – we will make clear that the ban on advertising won’t stop cafes and dispensaries from point of sale advertising or having an authorised online presence. 

Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson David Shoebridge said: 

“Using the collective wisdom of almost ten thousand respondents we know the Greens will be tabling the most popular and effective bill possible to legalise cannabis for the whole country. 

“We have made improvements around labelling, storage, manufacture, advertising, penalties and more as a result of this consultation process. 

“It’s not enough to just decriminalise cannabis, the community is demanding a comprehensive plan for legalisation that will provide safe access to cannabis and cannabis products, end over policing and draw people away from the illicit market. 

“From what we’ve heard in this consultation I believe this model, with these improvements that people have asked for, provides the right plan to create a single, legal national cannabis market. 

“There is an extraordinary level of excitement and engagement with this plan, and people are on standby to speak with their local MPs around the country to push for this to become law. 

“With political courage and public support we can make this law,” Senator Shoebridge said.  

READ THE REPORT: LEGALISING CANNABIS BILL 2023 (PDF)

Today the Australian Government was notified that from tomorrow, China will remove the 80.5 per cent anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Australian barley.

We welcome this outcome, which paves the way for our barley exporters to re-enter the Chinese market – benefiting Australian producers and Chinese consumers.

It affirms the calm and consistent approach that the Albanese Government has taken.

Since May 2020, China’s duties on Australian barley have effectively blocked exports to that market, worth about $916 million in 2018-19.

The removal of duties is the result of work by government and industry to resolve this matter.

We acknowledge and thank industry and affected businesses for their support and patience throughout the World Trade Organization (WTO) process.

In April this year, Australia announced a pathway agreed with China to temporarily suspend our WTO dispute while China conducted an expedited review of the measures.

The removal of these duties means that Australia will now discontinue legal proceedings at the WTO.

This outcome demonstrates the importance of the WTO dispute mechanism in defending the interests of Australia’s world-class producers and farmers.

We have been clear that we expect a similar process to be followed to remove the duties on Australian wine.

In the meantime, we are continuing to pursue our wine dispute at the WTO and remain confident in a positive outcome.

The Australian Government’s approach has been to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest. The outcome on barley reflects that approach.

We will continue to press for all trade impediments affecting Australian exports to be removed, which is in the interests of both Australia and China. 

Recent revelations of a cover-up over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the Australian government’s deliberate suppression of free speech during the pandemic have made the need for a Royal Commission more urgent.

The Prime Minister has promised it, and while he’s not known for keeping promises (remember how our electricity bills were supposed to fall by $275 per year), he must keep this.

The pandemic was the most disruptive event in Australia since the Second World War. Thousands of people died. Entire cities were locked down. State borders were closed. Military forces were deployed to support the police. Hundreds of billions of dollars were borrowed by Australian governments to fund pandemic relief.

Thousands of jobs were lost, and many skilled workers in critical sectors are still excluded from working thanks to vaccine mandates being maintained by vindictive government bureaucracies. Thousands of businesses closed, many never to open again.

Fundamental human rights like freedom of speech, freedom to travel, freedom of assembly and freedom of association were suppressed or attacked outright. Australians who questioned or resisted these attacks were demonised by the media and elected politicians.

Only a Royal Commission has the necessary coercive power to compel the ‘expert’ health advice that led to lockdowns and mandates – advice which remains hidden from the Australian people – and unearth the accurate figures on who died from, or just died with, the virus. We need to learn what worked and what didn’t to better prepare us for the next pandemic.

The Albanese Government is pleased to announce $6.4 million towards the Yolngu people’s long held vision for a world class tertiary institution in northeast Arnhem Land.

As the 24th annual Garma Festival kicks off, the investment from the Aboriginals Benefit Account (ABA) to support the Yothu Yindi Foundation with Stage One for the design and development of the Garma Institute – a new tertiary and vocational education facility.

The Garma Institute represents decades of work by the Yothu Yindi Foundation and Yolngu community leaders on a whole-life education project to provide on-Country learning for Yolngu people from early childhood education to university.

The Yothu Yindi Foundation already offers a Yolngu-centred curriculum for school students through the Dhupuma Barker School at Gunyangara. The independent bilingual school has driven strong school attendance rates and improved education outcomes.

This $6.4 million investment will see those students given a pathway to continue their higher education at the Garma Institute.

Consultations with community and stakeholders about the curriculum offered in the new facility will begin at this year’s Garma Festival.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:

“This is a vision for the future – ensuring the next generation of students can live and learn on-country.

“This has been a long aspiration of the Yolngu people. This partnership shows how governments can work alongside communities, meeting their needs and helping them realise their full potential.”

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney said:

“This investment is a step towards realising the dream of the Yothu Yindi Foundation for a world-class education hub for Yolngu people in northeast Arnhem Land.

“The Garma Institute will give Yolngu people the opportunity to continue their education journey, without having to move away from their family and community.

“I commend the Yothu Yindi Foundation and Yolngu community leaders for their dedication and determination to pursue their vision for the Garma Institute.”

Yothu Yindi Foundation Chairman, Djawa Yunupingu said:

“Education remains the number one priority for the Yothu Yindi Foundation and the Dilak Elders.

“The vision of creating a world-class home for education is something that our community leaders have been working towards for more than 20 years. That dream is now becoming a reality.”

CEO of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Denise Bowden said:

“This is ground-breaking and exciting work.

“The Garma Institute is about getting the best education outcomes possible for Yolngu students.

“This funding will enable the Yothu Yindi Foundation to invest in the extensive consultation and planning required to ensure the long-term success of the Garma Institute.”

The Greens have condemned the Albanese Government’s Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Amendment (Using New Technologies to Fight Climate Change) Bill 2023, calling it a naked attempt to facilitate more oil and gas development in our oceans.

Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said: 

“This Bill is a naked attempt to facilitate more oil and gas development in our oceans through legitimising carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a commercially viable and effective climate solution. 

“This is despite evidence identifying CCS as a public relations and delaying tactic for the coal and gas industry to pretend it is doing something other than jeopardising our future on this planet.

“Pumping carbon under the sea from gas rigs or storing it underground just doesn’t stack up. The importing and exporting of carbon dioxide for sub-seabed sequestration risks turning Australia’s oceans, and those of our near neighbours, into the dumping grounds for the world’s pollution. Meanwhile, the CCS industry has largely been a ploy and a distraction designed to greenwash a dirty industry and delay the inevitable. 

“The Greens are incredibly concerned that this legislation appears to be motivated to primarily facilitate the Santos Barossa project, its related Bayu-Undan CCS projects and other fossil fuel projects off Australia’s northern coastlines, as well as provide this government and its mates in the fossil fuel cartel political cover to open up new areas of our ocean to fossil fuel exploration.

“The Albanese government should be taking tangible, meaningful steps to fight climate change by ending the expansion of new fossil fuel projects. Instead it has taken the valuable time and energy to draft and bring forward a Bill that appears to be written by the fossil fuel industry, for the fossil fuel industry.

** See the Greens’ dissenting report to the Bill’s inquiry here.

The Greens have welcomed the AEU’s new campaign for fully funded public schools and are calling on governments to stop gifting money to elite private schools and finally deliver on the promise of Gonski.

Greens spokesperson on schools, Senator Penny Allman-Payne said:

“Congratulations to the AEU for launching their For Every Child campaign for fully funded public schools. The union is right: public school kids deserve 100% funding.

“But schools can’t wait until the end of the next national funding agreement to get the money they desperately need. That’s 2028. Another five years away.

“That means a public school student in year 7 today will graduate high school having never experienced a fully resourced education.

“There are currently 2.6 million kids enrolled in public schools in Australia. About 2.5 million of them have never experienced a single day at a fully resourced school. Not one day. How many more kids are governments prepared to let down? What’s an acceptable number?

“Things are getting desperate. Overworked teachers, often forced to pay for basic educational resources schools can’t afford, are leaving in droves. Out-of-pocket costs for parents and carers are soaring. More students are disengaging and performance is dropping. 

“Australia now has one of the most privatised and inequitable school systems in the world. It’s a system that heaps privilege onto a fortunate few under the guise of ‘parental choice’, while robbing millions of disadvantaged kids of their futures.

“Labor has an historic opportunity to right the wrongs of the past. They have a weak and chaotic opposition, friendly governments in every mainland state and territory, and a budget surplus of $20 billion. They could end this crisis tomorrow.

“The Greens are calling on Labor to guarantee full funding to all public schools from the start of the next national funding agreement in January 2025.

“Our kids can’t wait any longer.”

The Albanese Government must set the record straight and address rising fears about what science programs will be axed as a result of a $25 million cut from the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). 

Concerns continue to be raised from within the AAD about the future of Australia’s Antarctic science programs, following an email sent to staff revealing the division is set to cut approximately 16% of its operating budget. 

Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said:

“Science is the currency of the Antarctic Treaty and if the Albanese Government wants to secure Australia’s leadership role in the region it must properly fund our scientific efforts.

“It’s shocking that we are not hearing more from the Australian Government on this, given we claim 40% of Antarctica as Australian Territory.

“AAD staff are languishing in uncertainty right now. It’s time for the Albanese Government to put its money where its mouth is: prioritise science and fund all Antarctic projects as originally planned.  

“Science programs have suffered a death by a thousand cuts in Antarctica. The Morrison Government had a penchant for big announcements and cutting ribbons on Antarctic projects, but not for investing in people and critical science programs. Whether or not Labor reverses these latest cuts will show us if it is any different.

“Instead of funding fossil fuels, the Albanese Government should be funding science – especially at this juncture in history when scientists are warning of a reduction in Antarctic sea ice equivalent to a once every 7.5 million year event.

“More than ever our planet depends on us understanding the Antarctic region, and that means we need to fund the necessary science to achieve that.”