Category: Australian News

The Opposition, with support from the crossbench, successfully suspended standing orders in the Legislative Council today to secure the passage of the Workers Compensation Amendment (Firefighters’ Diseases) Bill 2025 through that House. The Bill will now proceed to the Legislative Assembly.
 
The Bill adds an additional nine cancers, including three cancers of the female reproductive system, to the list of presumptive firefighters’ diseases in Schedule 4 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987. This means firefighters who have served for the relevant qualifying period of five to fifteen years do not have to prove that they contracted the cancer as a result of their employment or volunteer service as a firefighter.
 
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Damien Tudehope said the Minns Labor Government made an election commitment to address this issue as a priority.
 
“Instead, it has delayed any action while pretending to be working on it, but the Opposition and the crossbench united to support our firefighters by passing this legislation as a priority,” Mr Tudehope said.
 
Shadow Minister for Emergency Services Gurmesh Singh said Parliament must back in our firefighters ahead of the upcoming fire season.
 
“Firefighters need the presumptive cancer legislation to protect them against the added stress of having to prove their cancer is work related,” Mr Singh said.
 
“I urge all members of the Legislative Assembly to support the speedy passage of this legislation.”

The Australian Government is lowering the Russian Oil Price Cap and imposing targeted sanctions on a further 95 Russian ‘shadow fleet’ vessels.

The action to lower the Oil Price Cap, from USD60 a barrel to USD47.60, will drive down the market value of Russian crude oil and help starve the Russian war economy of oil revenue.

Australia has taken this action alongside our international partners, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Japan. Australia maintains its total ban on imports from Russia of oil and refined petroleum.

Australia will also impose targeted sanctions on a further 95 Russian ‘shadow fleet’ vessels. With these additional listings, the Albanese Government has now sanctioned more than 150 shadow fleet vessels since doing so for the first time in June 2025.

Shadow fleet vessels are used to circumvent international sanctions and support Russia’s war economy. They also pose serious environmental and maritime safety risks by operating under deceptive practices, including flag-hopping, disabling tracking systems, and operating with inadequate insurance, to enable the illicit trade of Russian oil and other sanctioned goods.

Australia has imposed over 1,600 sanctions in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which support Ukraine in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will continue to take coordinated and decisive action to disrupt Russia’s ability to fund its invasion, including through constraining its oil revenues.

Australia renews its calls on Russia to immediately end this war and withdraw from Ukrainian territory. We remain steadfast in our support for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine.

Labor’s home guarantee scheme won’t ease the housing crisis. It will pour fuel on the fire. The experts are clear: it won’t work for single and low-income first home buyers. Labor needs to stop tinkering in ways that make the housing crisis worse, and do things that actually work. 

From October, under the scheme, borrowing limits will be increased and income caps lifted, which Treasury’s own modelling says will cause house prices to rise. 

The Greens say the scheme, while out of reach for many, will leave more people in higher levels of debt and drive up property prices, further fueling the housing crisis.

Greens housing spokesperson Senator Barbara Pocock:

“It’s reckless for the government to encourage first home buyers to spend more than they can realistically afford – repayments of over $1,000 a week are just not doable for most.

“Borrowing 95% of a mortgage when homes are eight times the average household income are a recipe for financial stress, not stability.

“This isn’t help — it’s hype. Even Treasury’s own numbers say it’ll push prices up. First-home buyers will be left paying more.

“Without additional housing supply, without addressing the root causes of our housing crisis, this scheme will just hike property prices. This will lock out even more first home buyers, especially single and low income earners, like teachers and nurses, unable to live close to where they work.

“This scheme is just smoke and mirrors — all it does is supercharge house prices and dump even more debt onto first-home buyers. It does nothing to tackle intergenerational housing inequality in Australia and it does nothing for tackling our housing crisis. 

“Experts agree these demand-side schemes drive prices up, with house prices forecast to increase by 9 percent next year. We need real change. That means cutting back tax perks for rich investors and building affordable homes where people live and work.

“Australia’s housing system is rigged for the wealthy. It is working well for them, but it is failing everyone else. Negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts let cashed-up investors outbid everyday Australians — and young people, single people, low income workers are the ones paying the price.

“This government has an opportunity to fix the housing crisis — but if they keep dodging real reform, they’ll lock a whole generation out of ever owning a home.”

Greens Deputy Leader and spokesperson for Higher Education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has responded to UTS’ decision to proceed with their proposal to close the School of Education & International Studies and School of Public Health, cutting hundreds of jobs and leaving students in the lurch. 

Senator Faruqi wrote to the Education Minister in August requesting that the Minister refer UTS to TEQSA to investigate any breaches of the higher education threshold standards.

Senator Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and spokesperson for Higher Education:

“It is a disgrace that UTS management don’t have a problem with forking out millions of dollars on private consultants and hundreds of thousands to attend extravagant alumni events abroad, yet have no qualms about slashing disciplines like education, international relations, and public health. 

“This decision flies in the face of all that universities should stand for – public institutions for public good. UTS management should hang their heads in shame for moving ahead with this disastrous plan.

“As per usual, it is the staff, students, and the wider community that will bear the brunt of terrible management decisions, while those making them continue to be rewarded with exorbitant salaries and lavish benefits. 

“Overhauling university governance is absolutely urgent. Staff and students deserve to be key decision-makers at their universities, not overpaid executives or corporate appointees.” 

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Sen Faruqi Letter to Minister Clare re UTS_0.pdf

The NSW Government have announced further planning reforms claimed to fast-track, streamline and see more houses built. The changes will include a one stop shop through a Development Coordination Authority, a climate resilience objective and make changes to community consultation and expand the category of smaller developments that slip through the system.

Greens MP and spokesperson for Planning Sue Higginson said:

“The Minns Labor Government has made it their clear mission to see developers build more new housing and development in NSW. In what certainly looks like a gift to developers, following the mantra of cutting proverbial ‘red tape’, the Minns Government will now establish the Development Coordination Authority which will cut out the advice of independent expert agencies. Limiting and filtering expert independent advice is never a good plan,”

“It’s telling that in their announcement, the Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Planning, didn’t mention this week’s Climate Risk Report that identified one million homes are at ‘very high risk’ and will be effectively uninsurable by 2050. Fast tracking houses is no solution as long as people are still moving onto floodplains, biodiversity is being trashed, climate resilience is merely an objective, and public and affordable housing is an after-thought,”

“We need certainty that new developments will not occur on flood or bushfire prone land, that development will not destroy more biodiversity and mature trees and that new homes are being built to the highest thermal standards. Under this Government we have already seen thermal standards reduced for some of their accelerated up-zonings,”

“While coordination is always a welcomed feature of any system, the establishment of the Development Coordination Authority seriously threatens the integrity of our planning system and decisions made. This new super-office will be responsible for every single development application or planning proposal – it’s a Trojan Horse that will remove the critical independent expert voices in Government agencies that raise serious and legitimate concerns. This has been on the wishlist for developers for a long time, and it looks like this bill will deliver,”

“We need firm and clear requirements that all new builds will have a best standard proportion of in-perpetuity affordable homes, and a minimum requirement for social housing. The Government needs to make sure that 30% of new builds are affordable homes, and 10% public homes,”

“Setting up the planning system to reward developers, so they can profit from building houses, won’t fix the housing affordability crisis which is where real housing pain is being felt – and it will do nothing for the 66 thousand households on the wait list for social housing,”

“We support appropriate and well planned new housing, that’s not in question. Where we disagree with the Government is how the community and expert advice should be involved in decisions, and making sure that we are taking on board the existential threat of the climate and biodiversity crises,” Ms Higginson said.

This afternoon, the ACT Legislative Assembly is set to pass legislation which will enshrine housing as a human right following the introduction of the legislation by the Greens in November of last year, their first parliamentary action of the term.

“The passage of this legislation is a landmark moment for social justice in Australia, with Canberra yet again leading the nation by enshrining the right to a safe home as the foundation for a fair and decent life,” said author of the Bill and Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury.

“This legislation introduced by the Greens will start the process of reshaping the way we think about housing is this city. It will create a new requirement, by law, for the government to treat housing not as a private asset for wealth creation, but as a foundational social good—just as we already treat education and healthcare.

“This will mean the government has a legal responsibility, as part of building a just society, to facilitate the fair provision of housing in either the private or public market.

“And if anyone in this city believes the government is not living up to this responsibility, they now have a legal mechanism to challenge decision making or change unfair laws so that the government works for the interests of the people, not the housing market.

“For too long, governments have been walking away from their responsibility to ensure and affordable and decent home for all. But today marks the beginning of an acknowledgement: housing is not a commodity; it is a human right.

“From now on, when new laws are introduced in the Assembly, the government will have to consider Canberrans’ fundamental right to housing. That means weighing how policies impact home security, affordability, access to essential services like water and electricity, and whether homes are well-located and accessible to shops and services.

“Across the country, Labor and Liberal governments have backed a cooked housing system that has eroded trust in democracy and public institutions. There was once no such thing as a ‘housing crisis.’ But years of privatisation, deregulation and distorting tax incentives have made it clear we need change.

“Here in Canberra, rents are at record highs, public housing is at record lows, and waiting lists grow longer every year. With mortgages and interest rates also soaring, the housing system is breaking—and when it breaks, it’s our political system that will fracture first, not the market.

“Enshrining the right to housing is a crucial step in trying to turn the tide and restoring trust in government as an institution that has a responsibility to make real people’s lives better.      

Angela Cartwright, CEO of Better Renting:

“Recognising housing as a human right under ACT law has the potential to deliver tangible, positive outcomes for renters. Despite important steps towards improving renting in the ACT, too many renters continue to live in unhealthy, energy inefficient homes while facing housing stress and instability.

“Inadequate rental protections particularly harm renters on low incomes, renters with disabilities, older renters, and people living in marginal or precarious tenancies, entrenching inequities and demonstrating the need for a major shift in how we view housing.

Craig Wallace, Head of Policy at Advocacy for Inclusion:

“We support the Human Rights (Housing) Amendment Bill 2025. People with disability face a two-pronged housing crisis in Canberra due to a lack of appropriate built form at a price point which is available to people who are often on lower incomes due to exclusion from the labour market, costs of disability and inadequate rates of income support.

“Enshrining the right to adequate housing will provide accountability mechanisms to protect our community members and provide a prompt for action. Too many people with disability are trapped in hospitals, group homes, nursing homes or unsafe circumstances due to a lack of accessible and affordable housing. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disability recognises the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others.

“This Bill will require government to consider housing as a human right, hopefully driving concrete action toward better housing outcomes for people with disability who too often face discrimination and inadequate support in housing”

Kym Duggan, Chair of the Social Justice Committee, St Vincent de Paul Society Canberra/Goulburn:

“The St Vincent de Paul Society Canberra/Goulburn believes enshrining the right to housing in the ACT’s Human Rights Act will strengthen protections for vulnerable people, improve government accountability, and lay a foundation for fairer, more inclusive housing policies and outcomes in our community. We encourage the ACT Government and all parties to demonstrate leadership and to support this amendment.

Rebecca Zappelli, Executive Director of Families ACT:

“Families ACT strongly supports the inclusion of the right to adequate housing. In 2021-22, 1889 families in the ACT were without a home, the second highest cohort being families with one parent and children.

“All children and families in the ACT should have access to safe and stable housing as a basic human right, creating the foundation for better developmental, economic, social and emotional outcomes for children and families to reach their full potential.

Ravi Krishnamurthy, President of the Australian Multicultural Action Network

“Housing is not just a policy issue – it is a fundamental human right. By enshrining the right to adequate housing, the ACT can ensure dignity, security, and inclusion for all, particularly for those most vulnerable in our community.

Television reports (also attached) have shown shocking scenes at Warwick Farm train station.
 
Commuters are dodging syringes, broken glass and human waste just to get to work or school and it’s been that way for months.

Families, workers, children and small businesses have been abandoned after three months and multiple complaints made while the Minns Labor Government tinkers around the edges and can’t even say when this problem will be fixed.
 
The report has also revealed that nurses have been attacked at this car park.
 
Our police are working around the clock and doing everything they can, but they have been left to carry the burden of a government that refuses to act.
 
Premier Chris Minns, Transport Minister John Graham, Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson have the power to fix this, yet they are nowhere to be seen.
 
Local Labor MP Charishma Kaliyanda, who once sat on Liverpool City Council and knows these problems better than most, only decided to say something after media pointed it out.

Instead of working with her Premier, her Transport Minister, her Police Minister and her Homelessness Minister to sort it out, she has chosen to spin the blame.
 
Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said everyday people should not have to walk past needles and human waste to catch a train.
 
“The government has the power to fix Warwick Farm but they unable to say when. Delays and spin are all they do, but that doesn’t make the problem go away,” Mr Speakman said.
 
Shadow Minister for Transport and Roads Natalie Ward said commuters at Warwick Farm have been let down.
 
“What we’ve seen was confronting and shameful. John Graham cannot hide from the reality that people are scared to use their own station,” Ms Ward said.
 
Shadow Minister for Police Paul Toole said our police are on the ground doing everything they can, but they cannot be left to clean up this mess.
 
“They need a government that backs them, not one that goes missing when the community cries out for help,” Mr Toole said.
 
Shadow Minister for Homelessness Natasha Maclaren-Jones said Rose Jackson talks about tackling homelessness with compassion, yet Warwick Farm shows the truth of her approach.
 
““Enough is enough. The homelessness crisis just keeps getting worse under Labor, with more people left to live on the streets, train stations are becoming unsafe, and families are forced to walk their kids past syringes and human waste,” Ms Maclaren-Jones said.
 
The NSW Minns Labor Government with its local member need to clean up Warwick Farm station, restore safety for residents and commuters, and put an end to Labor’s culture of passing the buck while communities suffer.

The foundations are almost complete and the first structures are beginning to take shape as RAAF Base Townsville forges ahead with infrastructure works, to prepare for the arrival of Australian Army’s AH-64E Apache helicopter fleet. 

The Albanese Government is investing $700 million for critical infrastructure upgrades and facilities works in Townsville. The works support the introduction of the Apache helicopters, including accommodation for the 16th Aviation Brigade Headquarters who recently relocated from Brisbane, and for the 1st Aviation Regiment who have commenced their relocation from Darwin.

The Apache is the most advanced helicopter currently in operation. Its introduction into service will be a step change in Army’s aviation capability.

Basing Apache in Townsville alongside the expanded CH-47F Chinook fleet allows Army to generate, sustain and deploy a stronger and more resilient helicopter capability for Defence.

These critical infrastructure works are part of the Albanese Government’s focus on investing in Australia’s northern bases, in line with the 2024 National Defence Strategy. Works underway include:

• New aircraft hangars, as well as renovations to existing hangars;
• New working accommodation;
• New training and command facilities;
• A simulation hall to accommodate Apache Pilot Simulation Training and the Army Aviation Training Centre Attack Helicopter Wing; and
• Multi-storey car park facilities to support personnel working at the base. 

The construction phase of the project is set to inject $375 million into the North Queensland economy and bring significant investment into local construction trades, industries and suppliers. At the peak of construction, more than 275 jobs will be created within the Townsville region.

Defence has partnered with CPB Contractors as the managing contractor for the works, who are committed to generating opportunities for local tradies to upskill. This commitment to offer new entry-level pathways to locals, supports the Albanese Government’s aim to build stronger capability within north Queensland’s workforce. 

Construction works are expected to be completed by 2028. 

Assistant Minister for Defence, Peter Khalil:

“By strengthening our northern bases, we’re not just investing in infrastructure —we’re safeguarding our national security and ensuring the ADF can defend Australia’s interests. 

“RAAF Base Townsville is critical to our operations in the North and this $700 million transformation will help ensure Australia’s Defence estate is fit for purpose and ready to support operations in our region. 

“We’re also committed to supporting the local industry and businesses who have been chosen to help deliver the program of works, which will create more than 275 new jobs for North Queenslanders.”

Assistant Minister for Northern Australia, Nita Green:

“RAAF Base Townsville plays an important role in protecting our nation and our communities. There’s no clearer example of that than the role played by the Army’s 5th Aviation Regiment in the response to the most recent North Queensland floods. 

“These upgrades will support the personnel that support the community. That’s why they are so vital for Townsville.”

The Prime Minister has not been briefed by the authors of the doomsday Climate Risk Report, and appears to have pre-determined the upcoming 2035 climate target potentially over six months ago and without having considered the dire warnings for Australian society given by scientists, according to explosive revelations in the Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications on Tuesday.

Representatives of the Australian Climate Service (ACS, the agency responsible for the National Climate Risk Analysis) told the Greens-led hearing that they had been unable to brief the Prime Minister on the report’s diabolical contents (clip available here, 9:23-9:26 from the inquiry).

The inquiry also heard from Treasury officials that they have modelled just one figure for a 2035 emissions reduction target, and that work commenced prior to the last election, suggesting Labor pre-determined a climate target without first evaluating the catastrophic risk to Australians, and kept it hidden at the election. (Climate Risk Inquiry Hearing, 11:10-11:11 & 11:17-11:18)

Greens Leader Senator Larissa Waters:

“Today we found out the Prime Minister hasn’t even met with the scientists who authored the climate doomsday report.

“1.5 million people are at risk of their homes constantly flooding or falling into the sea in the next 25 years, but the Prime Minister doesn’t want to know about it.

“I’m sure it was easier to approve the North West Shelf gas project with your fingers in your ears, ignoring the real-life terrifying trajectory Australia is on towards climate collapse in the next 25 years.

“The Prime Minister will soon announce Australia’s climate target, but was apparently too busy to talk to the researchers about 1.5 million displaced people, a collapsing health system, crop failures creating food insecurity and the national security implications of the target he’s chosen.

“Treasury officials admitted today that they modelled a single climate target months ago. When they inevitably say they got the balance right, the first question should be how do you know, since Treasury never modelled another scenario.

“Anything less than zero emissions by 2035 locks in the worst scenarios contained in this report.

“Leaders in the business community including Fortescue, Volvo and Unilever have called for a target of at least 75% to incentivise the renewable transition.

“The systemic collapse of climate change will be this Prime Minister’s legacy if he doesn’t set a strong climate target this week and stop approving new coal and gas projects.”

Greens respond to Communications Minister Anika Wells’ announcement today of the final rules for social media ban.

Greens Spokesperson for Communication, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young:

“The Government’s newly released rules for the social media ban today show what a farce this ban is.

“Rather than policing the sharks, the government is just hoping kids don’t jump in the water. 

“This is going to leave a lot of parents and a lot of young people in a vulnerable state come December when the ban kicks in.

“If the government was serious about protecting our kids, they would hit the social media companies where it hurts: their business model. 

“We need a ban on social media companies targeting minors with advertising and dangerous algorithms. That is the only reason these companies want young people on their platforms; so they can sell them things, target them with their advertising, and collect their data.

“I challenge the government – work with the Greens to put in place a digital duty of care and prohibit online advertising to minors. The Greens are willing to work together on this important reform to protect our kids and make social media safer for everyone.”