Category: Australian News

The Australian Greens say today’s report into workplace culture in NSW Parliament shows that the toxic boys club of politics extends beyond Canberra.

NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens Deputy Leader and member of the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards said:

“The Broderick report is nothing short of traumatic and devastating. Sadly, however, it does not surprise me that this is what has been revealed about my old workplace.

“The sexist and racist underbelly of parliamentary work has been exposed again and again, and needs to end. Bullying and harassment cannot just be accepted as part of our political culture. It has to be eradicated at all levels.

“As a member of the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards, which is looking at enforceable codes of conduct for parliamentary workplaces, I’m committed to making sure that the highest standards are set and followed. It’s beyond time to get this done, and to implement all the recommendations of the Jenkins report.

“As leaders, it is our responsibility to set the best example for others to follow. That means a safe and respectful workplace free from bullying, harassment, sexual assault, sexism and racism. Nothing less is acceptable.”

Senator Larissa Waters, Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on women said:

“Today’s report has devastating similarities to the appalling behaviour in federal parliament outlined in Commissioner Jenkins’ Set the Standard report just last year. It’s yet another wake-up call about the need to do politics differently.

“We need more diverse, inclusive, and respectful parliamentary workplaces to end the toxic old white boys club that has allowed bad behaviour to go unchecked for too long.

“Toxic behaviour is not confined to parliament, and the Greens will continue to call for a positive duty on employers to make all workplaces safe and national efforts to address the gender inequality that drives this behaviour.”

The Greens have called on the nation’s education ministers to tackle the root causes of the teacher shortage crisis, after today’s roundtable failed to produce a credible plan for real reform.

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

“It’s great that teachers had a seat at the table at today’s Education Ministers Meeting. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that the ministers were really paying attention. 

“Despite listening to stories of 65-hour work weeks and crippling workloads, we heard almost nothing about that in the media conference that followed the meeting. Instead, the conversation turned quickly to recruitment and training.

“If you want to stop the exodus of teachers from the profession and attract more people into it, governments have to address pay and conditions.

“To tackle teacher workloads, the system needs to be resourced properly. Right now, nearly every public school in the country is receiving less than 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard, which is the minimum funding level required for students to achieve the minimum standard.

“Meanwhile, funding to private schools has increased at five times the rate of funding to public schools, and Australia has one of the greatest education funding inequality gaps in the OECD. This needs to be reversed.

“Similarly teacher salaries have gone backwards when compared to other professions over the last 30 years. Creating higher pay points for a select few won’t address this problem. We need a competitive pay structure for the profession as a whole.

“Frustratingly, none of this is new. Teachers and their unions have been raising these issues for over a decade.

“The December roadmap must include strategies to immediately address under-resourcing of schools and pay and conditions for all teachers. Otherwise it’s still just talk.”

Analysis provided by the Parliamentary Library predicts that Labor’s housing plan will deliver only 3% of the social housing Australia will need by 2032. 

According to estimates provided by the Parliamentary Library, Australia currently has a shortfall of 524,200 social housing dwellings, and this is projected to grow to 670,600 dwellings by 2032. 

This estimate takes into account the number of people who are homeless, currently on social housing waiting lists and low-income renters who are in rental stress, to provide an estimate of the total unmet need for social housing dwellings in Australia.

Under Labor’s policy, the Housing Australia Future Fund will build 4,000 social houses each year over 5 years, a tiny fraction of what is needed.

Max Chandler-Mather Greens Federal Member  for Griffith said:

“Housing in Australia is in crisis and Labor’s plan falls short by 97%, which is a pretty spectacular failure.” 

By building only 3% of the social housing Australia needs, Labor is guaranteeing the housing crisis will get worse – millions will remain homeless, stuck for years on social housing waiting lists or in serious rental stress. 

“The Federal Labor Government plans on spending $224 billion over 10 years on the Stage 3 tax cuts, but only $10 billion on building social and affordable housing, which is a real kick in the teeth for the hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need of a home.”

“The Greens plan would see at least 250,000 public and affordable homes built over 5 years, and 1 million over 20 years, which is exactly what we need to ensure everyone has a place to call home.”

“We have the capacity, money and resources to build enough public housing for everyone who needs one, we just need to break the hold banks and property developers have over our political system.”

On the Climate Change Authority Report into the international offsets market released today, attributable to Greens leader Adam Bandt MP:

“The government must reject international offset accounting tricks.

“This Morrison-era report, commissioned by Angus Taylor to justify his government’s Paris accounting tricks, should be binned.

“We need to cut emissions here in Australia so that we get the benefits of transitioning to a zero economy. These international offsets just delay action and could also undercut our farmers, who could earn income from helping draw down pollution locally.

“The EU no longer allows international offsets and Australia should ban them too.

“If climate action is left to accounting tricks, pollution will go up and we won’t stop the climate crisis.

“Some of these supposed “carbon credits” are nothing but hot air: they don’t represent real cuts to emissions, they get traded hundreds of times, and they give corporations a free pass to keep pumping pollution into the atmosphere.

“The climate crisis and the threat of floods and fires is urgent. Any carbon reduction scheme must see emissions actually come down and carbon drawdown activities increased.

“If we want to turn the tide on climate breakdown we need to see negative emissions, with more carbon drawdown through reforestation than pollution output. The time for ambition is now and we can’t waste time on schemes that achieve net nothing.”

On Tamboran Resources’ submission to the Climate Change Bill enquiry, attributable to Greens leader Adam Bandt MP:

“The gas industry would rather the government sign off on widespread crop failures, water insecurity, extreme heat and flash flooding rather than take reasonable steps to avert the worsening of the climate crisis.

“No amount of spin from the gas grifters changes the fact that the Beetaloo Basin project will lift Australia’s pollution by up to 13%.

“Fracking the Beetaloo Basin is impossible if the government wants to meet even its weak 43% target.

“There’s no room for new coal and gas in our future.”

The Greens have urged the Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to consider the emissions and climate impact of billionaire miner Gina Rinehart’s proposed expansion of a coal seam gas project in Queensland.

According to reports today, South Korean steel maker Posco will partner with Rinehart to lift production at the Senex venture in the Surat Basin with work set to begin in coming weeks. 

The plan still needs approval by the Environment Minister and comes just days after the Albanese Labor Government passed their 43 per cent climate target bill through the Lower House. 

Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:

“Any new or expanded coal or gas projects will blow Labor’s already weak 43 per cent target out the water. 

“Approving more coal and gas in the midst of a climate crisis is reckless and dangerous. Minister Plibersek should rule this one out too.

“It is clear we need a climate trigger in our environment laws to require the Minister to consider the impact the emissions from the project will have on the climate crisis. 

“The comments from the Resources Minister backing in the future of coal and gas are a very worrying sign. 

“If the Albanese Labor Government is truly committed to tackling the climate crisis then making sure they, and the government that comes next, don’t approve projects that make it worse is a must.

“Gas is not a transition fuel, there’s no shortage and expanding production only further lines the pockets of billionaires like Rinehart and big fossil fuel corporations, while making the climate crisis worse and doing nothing to lower power prices for everyday Australians.”

Greens spokesperson for mining and resources Senator Dorinda Cox said:

“Mining companies operating in the Surat Basin have repeatedly breached Native Title Land Use Agreements and have not enacted free, prior, and informed consent with Traditional owners and we simply cannot let it happen again. Enough is enough.

“Governments must stop destroying First Nations people’s cultural heritage in favour of untaxed billionaires who get public funding and resources for free.

“The Federal Government is heading the wrong way by creating a vision for Australia’s future resources industry that is backed in by coal and gas. It should be focused on investing in green resources and creating a clean energy export industry, including renewables-generated fuels such as Green Hydrogen.”

The Albanese Government has announced a new $10 million biosecurity cooperation package to assist Indonesia as it responds to the outbreaks of both foot and mouth disease (FMD) and lumpy skin disease (LSD).

The package announced by Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt at the National Press Club today, will see Australia supply additional vaccinations, as well as technical and advisory support to strengthen Indonesia’s biosecurity measures.

Australia will deliver personal protective equipment and disinfectants, train staff on the ground, and provide biosecurity expertise to tackle these outbreaks.

Minister Watt said one of the ways to prevent any outbreak in Australia was to assist the Indonesian Government in their efforts to stop the spread of FMD.

“This package includes $4 million for the purchase of both FMD and LSD vaccines. This is on top of support already announced for Indonesia, which included 1 million doses of FMD vaccine and almost half a million doses of LSD vaccine already committed by the Australian Government,” Minister Watt said.

“The Indonesian Government will direct these vaccines to the areas of the country that need them the most.

“We’ve also included seed funding so Indonesia can get a livestock identification system up and running.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said the package was another demonstration of the close partnership between Australia and Indonesia.

“Indonesia is one of our closest neighbours and partners in the region and the Australian Government wants to offer whatever help we can at this time,” Minister Wong said.

“Safeguarding the biosecurity of our region is a shared concern and this package will build on our longstanding health cooperation including through the Australia Indonesia Health Security Partnership.

“We are committed to working together to respond to this common threat.”

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim, has responded to the ACTU’s paper to the Government Jobs Summit saying the pressure is growing on Labor to walk away from the Stage 3 tax cuts.

“The Greens welcome the ACTU’s paper and congratulate them on making the case for serious economic reform.

“Scott Morrison’s Stage 3 tax cuts will overwhelmingly flow to the wealthiest people in the country, with a $9000 tax break for people earning $200,000 but nothing for those on the minimum wage.

“Instead of giving a tax cut to billionaires and politicians, we should be putting dental and mental health into Medicare and making childcare free.

“There is a cost of living crisis being driven in large part by big corporations and the super wealthy – they need to pay their fair share of tax so everyone in Australia can benefit.

“The Greens also welcome the ACTU’s call for the introduction of super profits taxes to rein in corporate profiteering and a reform of business tax to encourage productive investment.

“CBA has just reported an obscenely large profit in the face of rising inflation and rising interest rates.

“While the government and the RBA are asking workers to take more pain, big corporations are filling their shareholders’ pockets.

“Super profits taxes are needed to curb corporate profiteering that is exacerbating inflation and to fund cost of living relief for Australians who are struggling to make ends meet.”

The ACTU’s radical plan for higher taxes, higher inflation and heavy-handed Government will send a wrecking ball through the economy.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said with inflation on the rise globally, the ACTU’s reckless demands for Labor’s Jobs and Skills Summit are a recipe for ruin, not recovery.

“Today’s calls from the ACTU show that Labor’s only plan is to make a bad situation worse,” Mr Taylor said.

“The answer to addressing rising inflation isn’t heavy-handed government or eliminating stage three tax cuts – it’s to have sensible fiscal and monetary policy driven by a focused, independent Reserve Bank.

“The comments made by Sally McManus criticising the RBA are completely irresponsible.

“It is critical the RBA’s core mandate is not diluted in any way. Calls for heavy-handed interventions to control inflation like price-fixing, corporate intervention and more taxes will cripple Australian businesses and send the economy further backwards.

“The Treasurer must categorically rule out adopting these proposals.

“It’s become increasingly clear over the past few weeks that the Labor Government will always back their union bosses over hardworking Australian businesses, families and workers.”

Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Michaelia Cash said this is just further proof the so-called Jobs Summit will be nothing more than a union-dominated talkfest.

“It’s a stunt that will no doubt end in the Government rolling over to their union paymasters and delivering whatever they want. Calls for more taxes will be a disaster for the economy as we recover from the pandemic,” Senator Cash said.

“The Treasurer must explain why he has chosen to give voices like the ACTU a disproportionately large voice at his forthcoming Jobs and Skills Summit.”

Aussie dog owners are being urged to grab that lead, put it on their pooches and take their dogs for a walk each day. It’s vital to keep them physically and mentally healthy, says Dogs Australia, a leading peak body that promotes responsible dog ownership.

“Exercise is vital for dogs – and us! And it should be part of every dog’s daily routine,” says Hugh Gent, Dogs Australia President, who is also a dog breeder and dog show judge. “But sadly, some dog owners rarely, if ever, take their dogs for a walk, assuming the dog will be happy just spending time in their yard. 

“During the pandemic, many people purchased puppies – and now that people are back at work and school, a lot of dogs are being left at home alone and are missing out on the exercise and interaction they had previously. Separation anxiety has become a major issue. It must be remembered: dogs are not just cuddly toys; they have their own needs, which dog owners need to take into account.”

Hugh says that most dogs need at least 1-2 walks a day (unless specified by your vet). “A rule of thumb is that they should be exercised for between 30 and 45 minutes daily. Of course, senior dogs won’t need as much but it’s still important to give them gentle daily exercise to keep their joints moving and keep them happy.

“Dogs that don’t get enough exercise get a build-up of energy, and they don’t know how to release it. This brings on bad behaviour such as excessive barking, jumping, destructive chewing or even biting. Science shows that taking your dog for walks is good for them, both in terms of their behaviour and physical exercise.”

Research from Finland shows the importance of exercise for all dogs*. It looked at non-social fears such as fear of objects, surfaces (like hardwood floors), heights and noises such as fireworks and thunder. Dogs who took part in more activities with their owner (including walking) and who received more training had the lowest levels of non-social fears. 

“In Germany, dog owners are required by law to exercise their dog twice a day for a total of at least an hour – and while it’s more likely to be enforced for kennels rather than private individuals, it’s certainly brought the topic to the fore. I understand some people aren’t able to always take their dogs for walks, which is why professional dog walkers can be a great option,” adds Hugh.

10. reasons why your dog needs to be walked daily:

1. It keeps your dog healthy and limber: daily exercise keeps joints limber and strengthens the muscles supporting those joints.
2. Fitness: dogs that are walked daily stay lean and trim. 
3. Weight management: studies have proven that dogs that are walked regularly are less likely to be overweight, and eliminating obesity truly extends their life.
4. Helps reduce undesirable behaviours, such as barking, licking, chewing, digging, and other anxiety-related and attention-seeking behaviours.
5. Promotes physical health: in addition to keeping your dog fit, daily exercise/walking provides exposure to fresh air and Vitamin D from the sunshine. For puppies, Vitamin D is used for proper bone development and growth. Sunshine also speeds up healing, kills bacteria and fungi. 
6. Promotes emotional and good mental health – for both your dog and you! 
7. Helps boost your dog’s confidence: a daily walking routine helps to provide structure and stability to your dog’s life, which helps boost confidence.
8. Provides mental exercise: physical activity is an essential source of mental stimulation, which in turn helps prevent boredom and frustration. 
9. Helps with socialisation: dogs need to be exposed to all kinds of things in order to be well adjusted in new situations and environments. Daily walks and exercise provide a great opportunity for you and your dog to meet new dogs, new people and see new things.
10. Helps build a better relationship between you and your dog.

*Hakanen et al 2020

Dogs Australia is a not-for-profit organisation, promoting responsible dog ownership. It is the consumer face of the Australian National Kennel Council, which was established in 1958. 

More information: 

www.dogsaustralia.org.auKey facts:

– Dogs Australia, a leading peak body that promotes responsible dog ownership, is urging Aussie dog owners to walk their dogs daily

– It’s crucial to keep dogs physically and mentally healthy

– Sadly, some dog owners rarely, if ever, take their dogs for a walk

– Dogs Australia provides 10 reasons why it’s important to walk your dog

Greens spokesperson for housing Max Chandler-Mather has today responded to the Housing Minister’s comments on social housing, calling Labor’s plan to build 20,000 afforable homes over 5 years deeply unambitious and inadequate to address Australia’s social housing crisis.

Max Chandler-Mather MP, Greens spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness said:

“While it’s good to see the Housing Minister talk about social housing today, Labor’s plan doesn’t even come close to touching the surface of Australia’s massive housing crisis, and in fact under their plan things will only get worse.”

“There are 163,500 households sitting on social housing waitlists across Australia and that number grows by 7600 homes a year, which means Labor’s 4000 social homes a year will literally see the waitlist grow every year.”

“We would never accept 163,500 kids sitting on waitlists to access public schools, so why should we accept that number of people waiting for a home?”

“Once you take into account people living in severe housing stress, then the actual need for social and affordable housing is over 600,000 homes.”

“The Federal Labor Government plans on spending $224 billion over 10 years on the Stage 3 tax cuts, but only $10 billion on building social and affordable housing, which is a real kick in the teeth for the hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need of a home.”

“The Greens plan would see at least 250,000 public and affordable homes built over 5 years, and 1 million over 20 years, which is exactly what we need to ensure everyone has a place to call home.”

“ We have the capacity, money and resources to build enough public housing for everyone who needs one, we just need to break the hold banks and property developers have over our political system.”