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The Australian Government welcomes the adoption of the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement.

The Agreement is a significant step towards strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The Agreement takes account of lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic and supports collective action to address pandemic threats, including by strengthening multi-sectoral disease surveillance and access to vaccines.

While the Agreement has been adopted by the World Health Assembly, there are further steps remaining to finalise technical details. Australia will only commence our treaty making process after the Agreement opens for signature, which is not expected until at least mid-2026.

Once the Agreement has entered into force, Australia and our region will be better positioned to reduce pandemic risks and respond swiftly if a pandemic occurs, saving lives and mitigating the impacts on our economies. Australia will retain full sovereignty in making public health decisions which promote the interests of Australians.

Australia is proud to have served as Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body for the Pandemic Agreement, representing our diverse Western Pacific region.

This outcome reaffirms the value of multilateral solutions to shared global challenges.

Australia will continue to play our part to ensure the international community is better prepared to respond to future pandemics

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong:

“We need international cooperation on health to help keep Australia, our region, and the world safe. The adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement demonstrates the value of the international community working together to find solutions to shared global challenges.”

Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Disability and the NDIS, the Hon Mark Butler MP:

“The next pandemic is not a matter of if, but when. We have a collective responsibility to protect public health in all of our countries. The adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement is an important step forward.”

NSW Parliament’s Law and Justice Committee has just handed down its report into the NSW Labor Government’s proposed changes to workers compensation entitlements. This follows a mammoth hearing just last Friday where the Committee heard from almost 40 witnesses across nine and a half hours of evidence. 

The evidence contained in the report details near universal opposition to the major elements of the government’s proposed reforms from witnesses and stakeholders. 

The inquiry into the government’s legislation follows only two years after the Committee conducted a fulsome and comprehensive inquiry into the drivers and impacts of workplace psychological injuries resulting in compensation claims. The majority of recommendations, including key prevention and management recommendations, from that report remain unfulfilled. Despite the NSW Labor government agreeing or agreeing in principle to all of those recommendations, many of the elements of the government’s proposed reforms are in direct contradiction to those recommendations. 

Abigail Boyd, Greens Spokesperson for Treasury, Work Health and Safety, and Industrial Relations: 

“The evidence received by the committee in our one-day hearing painted a damning picture of what the government proposes to do to injured workers in this state. 

“Everything we heard pointed to just how ill-conceived and incomprehensibly cruel the Minns Labor Government’s proposed curtailment of support for psychologically injured workers is – these reforms will be actively harmful to thousands of injured and deserving people. 

“The government’s inability to present coherent modelling and financial analysis of either the scheme liabilities or the impact of these proposed changes is cause for great concern. Projected future rates of growth of psychological injury are based on heroic assumptions that only an actuary could love, and a highly motivated one at that. It’s on these shaky projections that the supposed crisis the government claims to be responding to is based. 

“But even if you are to believe that there is to be some catastrophic blowout in costs from psychological injuries, the answer is not to pretend those injuries don’t exist – we have to focus on stopping people getting injured at work in the first place and, if they are injured, doing everything we can to get them quickly back on their feet. Anything less is not only dangerous to workers’ lives and morally wrong, it’s also an incredibly naive way to manage the State’s longer-term finances, dependent as they are on a productive and resilient workforce. 

“The proposal to increase the threshold for accessing long-term support to a level that would require a worker to be rendered essentially catatonic or in need of permanent around-the-clock professional care was identified by experts as being particularly cruel and without basis or justification. If allowed to go through, these changes will cost lives.” 

This morning, a Victorian Greens request to urgently debate the Albanese Labor Government’s decision to approve the extension of the North West Shelf gas project in the Victorian Parliament was denied.

The Victorian Greens used a tool that allows MPs to bring matters of urgent public importance forward for debate in the Parliament at short notice – arguing that as the state faces worsening drought and NSW reels from once-in-500-year floods, the project’s 6.1 billion tonnes of emissions will fuel climate chaos impacting every Victorian, harming public health, driving up insurance costs, and endangering future generations.

The request was denied. In response, the Greens say: if Labor approving a climate bomb with projected emissions of up to 6.1 billion tonnes isn’t a matter of urgent public importance, then what is?

It comes on the same day that state Labor has made comments boasting of billions of dollars in new gas investment in Victoria this year alone.

The Greens have accused the Victorian Labor Government of following in Albo’s footsteps, saying that Labor is guilty of ‘climate betrayal’ at both levels of government.

The North West Shelf Project will release more emissions than every coal-fired power station in Australia combined, locking in fossil fuel use until 2070 – decades beyond the climate deadlines set by the IPCC and Paris Agreement.

The Victorian Greens say that the Parliament shouldn’t be avoiding scrutiny and debate on such an important matter that will impact every Victorian.

Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:

“Woodside’s massive new gas project is a climate bomb – the equivalent of opening 12 new coal-fired power stations. Labor’s approval of this disastrous project will blow our climate targets, supercharging floods, bushfires and extreme weather already hitting Victorians. If that’s not a matter of urgent public importance for Parliament to debate, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s incredibly disappointing to see Labor here in Victoria boasting about new gas projects the day after their federal Labor colleagues approved Woodside’s climate disaster. Future generations will never forgive Labor for this climate betrayal”

As communities across the Mid North Coast and Hunter grapple with the aftermath of catastrophic flooding, NSW Greens MPs Tamara Smith and Sue Higginson have called on the NSW Government to urgently abandon its ongoing support for policies that fuel climate disaster, including coal and gas expansion and native forest logging.  

Tamara Smith MP, Member for Ballina and Greens NSW spokesperson for Disaster Relief said:

“No sooner have the people of the Northern Rivers marked the third anniversary of the devastating 2022 floods, than communities just south of us are facing another deadly climate-driven disaster,” 

“Some flood levels in the Hunter and Mid North Coast have exceeded those of 1929. These are not one-in-100-year events – they are our new reality, and they demand a serious response from Government.”  

Tamara Smith expressed her deep concern for affected residents, saying: 

“My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones, the nearly 800 families who cannot return to their homes, to the townspeople and business owners whose lives have been upended, to the farmers who have lost stock and crops, and to the SES workers and volunteers holding these communities together. No one is untouched by this disaster.”  

Sue Higginson MLC, Greens NSW spokesperson for Climate Change, said the disaster must be a turning point for government action on climate.  

“The science has long warned us that climate change would drive more frequent and more intense flooding across the East Coast of NSW. We are now living that warning, and yet the Minns Government continues to approve new coal and gas projects, and allows the ongoing destruction of climate-critical native forests.”  

“The peer-reviewed attribution report produced by ClimaMeteras the floods were going on, demonstrate that the intensity of the floods were a direct result of human activity and climate change. The fact that the NSW Government approved the extension of a large coal mine during these climate fuelled floods, is a reckless act of harm against all communities living on the front lines of the climate crisis,” 

“The Government is committing acts of climate negligence. Every day they delay real action is another day it fails the people of NSW.”  

Both MPs have called for: 

• An immediate end to new coal and gas approvals in NSW. 
• A moratorium on native forest logging to protect carbon stores and natural flood mitigation. 
• Urgent review of planning and housing approvals in flood-prone regions. 
• Increased funding and permanent support for disaster preparedness and community resilience programs. 

“Climate change is not a future threat – it is here, and it is destroying lives,” said Tamara Smith.  

“To pretend these floods are simply freak weather events is wilful ignorance. The NSW Government must face reality and take responsibility.”  

Upgrades to the Light-to-Light Walk in Beowa National Park on Yuin Country, near Eden are now complete and open to the public, with the multi-day walk showcasing everything that makes the South Coast special. The works are part of a $14.9 million investment in the National Park.

Commencing in March 2023, the upgrade and restoration work stretches from Boyds Tower to Green Cape Lighthouse. Works include new and re-routed sections of the previous walk, as well as two new purpose-built campgrounds at Mowarry Point and Hegartys Bay.

These new campgrounds feature 10 new timber camping platforms and toilets to accommodate walkers on the upgraded track. 

Significant work has also been completed to repair damage after the 2019/2020 bushfires, including track repair, Boyds Tower precinct renewal, Green Cape precinct car park and Bittangabee Campground upgrades.

The funds for the upgrades and restoration work are jointly provided by the Regional Growth – Environment and Tourism Fund program and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The 32km Grade 4 Light-to-Light walk can be tackled on your own, or on a guided tour. Several local companies offer guided tours which include stories of the area’s rich cultural history and ensure you don’t miss a thing along the way.  

Before embarking on any long distance or multi-day hike, it’s important to hire a personal locator beacon and to fill in a trip intention form. Further advice on hiking safety is available via the NPWS bushwalking webpage. 

Further upgrade works are planned this year for the Green Cape Lighthouse precinct accommodation located at the southern end of the walk. Information on the Light-to-Light Walk is available via the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service website.

Minister for the Illawarra and the South Coast, Ryan Park:

“The Light-to-Light Walk is one of the crown jewels of the South Coast, and these upgrades ensure it remains a world-class experience for visitors.

“This investment reflects the Minns Labor Government’s commitment to sustainable tourism, regional jobs, and providing people with better access to nature and the stories of Country that make this place so special.”

Member for Bega, Dr Michael Holland:

“The Light-to-Light Walk is poised to bring great economic benefits to the region whether it is accommodation providers, tour companies, restaurants or cafes, we welcome visitors from across Australia and abroad to come and take in the beauty of the South Coast.”