Category: Australian News

The Greens will stop big polluters corrupting democracy by banning donations from the fossil fuel sector to political parties, candidates, and associated entities.
Since 2012, the fossil fuel sector has donated over $9 million to the major parties. It’s no coincidence that successive governments have refused to take strong action on climate, while letting coal and gas corporations pollute our air and water, destroy farmland and culturally significant sites, and release billions of tons of carbon emissions.
The Greens’ plan will free our politics from the grip of the fossil fuel industry by banning all political donations from the sector, closing the revolving door between politics and the coal and gas industry, and establishing a strong, independent National Integrity Commission to crack down on corruption.
The Greens’ plan will:

• Ban all political donations from the mining and resources sector (and other dirty industries) and cap all other donations at $1000 per year
• Stop resource ministers and advisers from working for the fossil fuel industry within five years of leaving parliament
• Publish a register of meetings between ministers and mining lobbyists (including in-house lobbyists currently excluded from the Lobbying Code of Conduct)
• Deliver a strong, independent national corruption watchdog
• Deliver a Code of Conduct for all politicians and senior staff

This policy is a key component of the Greens’ comprehensive plan to clean up politics and revitalise our democracy. Our full democracy plan can be found here: Reform the whole system to end political corruption, and in addition to the above includes election spending caps, strengthening the Register of Interests and FOI laws, preventing disinformation from undermining public debate, and increasing the diversity of political representation so that parliament better reflects our community.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“Coal, gas and oil corporations don’t donate millions every year to the Liberals, Nationals and Labor because they’re huge fans of democracy – they do it because it gets results. Let’s call this what it is: legalised bribery.
“Big polluters should not be able to buy policy outcomes and corrupt democracy with legalised bribery. In balance of power after the next election the Greens will push to ban all political donations from the fossil fuel sector.
“Dirty donations from the fossil fuel sector plus post-politics job offers are why there are 114 coal and gas projects in the federal pipeline nationally despite being in the middle of a climate crisis, where the science clearly says we need rapid emissions reductions and a phase out of fossil fuels.
“In the past we’ve seen Big Mining spend $24 million on an ad campaign to topple a Prime Minister over a proposed super profits tax.
“We’ve seen the Morrison Government give $21 million of public money to a company chaired by a major Liberal Party donor to frack for gas in the NT’s Beetaloo Basin, in the middle of a climate crisis and against the wishes of Traditional Owners.
“The disproportionate influence of dirty donations on government decisions is why Australia has pathetic climate policies, weak environmental protections, and no action on social, economic and racial justice.
“Elected representatives should be working for the people, not the highest bidder. That’s why the Greens will ban all political donations from the mining and resources sector and all industries with a track record of seeking to influence political decisions, and prevent ministers and advisers from taking cushy post-politics industry gigs for five years.
“We’ll also shine a light on who’s meeting with who by publishing a register of ministers’ meetings, and we’ll hold politicians to account by introducing an enforceable Code of Conduct and a strong, independent national corruption watchdog.
“Federal politics stopped putting people first long ago, and sold our democracy to corporate donors. Fixing that begins with kicking the corporations out of Canberra and creating a system we can trust to work for all of us.
“Only the Greens have a clear plan to restore faith in our democracy, and in balance of power after the next election we’ll push the next government to make it happen.”

Australian Greens International Aid and Development spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi and Foreign Affairs spokesperson Senator Janet Rice have today written to the Foreign Affairs Minister urging Australia to boost aid to Afghanistan as a matter of urgency.
Senator Faruqi said:
“There is a grave humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, with the country on the brink of famine and near-universal poverty, the scale of which has not been seen in recent times.
“This crisis is a direct result of the war waged on the people of Afghanistan by Western nations, including Australia. For decades the people of Afghanistan were caught between the violence of the Taliban on one hand and that of the allied forces on the other.
“The least we can do now is increase Australian aid to prevent millions of people from starvation and death.
“While Australia’s funding commitment last year was certainly welcome, we can and must do more. All of the funding committed should be immediately disbursed to aid organisations working on the ground in Afghanistan and who have strong connections with local communities and civil society.
“Australia should also commit significant additional aid funding to Afghanistan as a matter of urgency. This should be in the order of at least $100 million per year.”

From 1 February, thousands of Australians with a relapsed and/or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma will have access to a new treatment through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Lymphomas refer to types of cancer that begin in the lymphatic system and is the sixth most common cancer diagnosed in adults in Australia. In Australia, more than 6,000 people are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma each year.
Mantle cell lymphoma is an aggressive, relatively rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Calquence® blocks a protein in the body that helps cancer cells to grow, and may help reduce the number of cancer cells and slow the spread of the cancer.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said more than 350 Australians with MCL accessed a similar treatment through the PBS in 2020.
“The listing of Calquence® will provide Australians with an alternate treatment option for this condition,” Minister Hunt said.
“Without PBS subsidy, Australians could pay more than $8,200 per script, instead, they can access it for $42.50 per script or just $6.80 for people with a concession card.”
Since 2013, the Coalition Government had approved more than 2,800 new or amended listings on the PBS. This represents an average of around 30 listings or amendments per month – or one each day – at an overall investment by the Government of $14 billion.
The Morrison Government’s commitment to ensuring Australians can access affordable medicines, when they need them, remains rock solid.
This PBS listing has been recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

Regional Health Minister and Minister responsible for the Organ and Tissue Authority (OTA), Dr David Gillespie today announced $14.9 million for OrganMatch, a world-class software system helping to save the lives of more Australians waiting for an organ transplant.
“While Australia is a leader in successful donation and transplant outcomes, this funding boost allows for continued improvements and efficiencies to be made to the bespoke OrganMatch system over the next four years,” Dr Gillespie said.
“Our aim is to increase access for more people and deliver better outcomes for those 1,850 Australians on the waitlist in need of a life-saving transplant.”
OrganMatch is Australia’s organ waitlisting and matching system, providing real time access for clinicians to share time critical information across tissue-typing labs, DonateLife agencies and transplant units.
Dr Gillespie said OrganMatch has changed the way organs are allocated to donors, enabling clinicians to achieve the best possible matching outcomes and prioritising patients who are highly sensitised – and hard to match for medical reasons – as well as young recipients and people who urgently need a transplant.
“Since the system went live in 2019, 31 highly sensitised patients have received a kidney transplant who otherwise would have been unlikely to find a suitable match without OrganMatch,” Dr Gillespie said.
“One of these recipients had been waiting for a kidney transplant for 17 years, while 12 had been waiting more than five years, and it’s heart-warming to know they now have a better-quality life.
“The system has also matched 29 young transplant recipients with high quality donor kidneys, giving them more years of life with their transplant.”
Dr Gillespie said the ability to save more lives through OrganMatch wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of donors and their families.
“Donor families benefit from this streamlined system too, with reduced timeframes between time of their loved one’s death and organ retrieval surgery, meaning they spend less time waiting in a hospital, and more time with family and friends when they most need that support,” Dr Gillespie said.
Dr Gillespie said this funding boost builds on the 2015-16 Budget measure ‘Accelerating growth in organ and tissue donation for transplantation’ in which the Coalition Government invested one-off funding of $4 million for the development of an Australian organ matching system to replace the outdated National Organ Matching System established in 1999.
OrganMatch is delivered through contractual arrangements between the OTA and Australian Red Cross LifeBlood.
Show your support for organ and tissue donation by signing up to be a donor and telling your family you want to be a donor. Register at: donatelife.gov.au, or through your myGov account, or in the Express Plus Medicare app when downloading your COVID-19 digital certificate.

Over four million additional Australians are now eligible for their COVID-19 booster dose from today, with the Australian Government shortening the interval for when a person becomes eligible for their booster from four months to three months.
This follows the recommendation from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) to provide booster doses at a minimum of three months after a person has completed their two-dose primary course of vaccination.
This will allow 4.2 million more Australians to come forward and get a booster dose sooner, providing peace of mind and further protection against serious illness.
Australia is one of the world’s first countries to be rolling out a whole-of-population COVID-19 booster program.
Almost four in five Australians (16 million people) are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, and approximately 7.7 million Australians have received a booster in recent weeks.
The move in early January to shorten the interval from five months to four months resulted in an increase in uptake, with almost 5.3 million people having received their booster dose in the period since.
There are over 18 million vaccine doses currently in fridges ready to be used or in warehouses ready to be deployed across more than 10,000 vaccination sites including GPs, pharmacies, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and state and territory clinics.
ATAGI made its recommendation to reduce the interval after closely monitoring the epidemiology and characteristics of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant. It also considered the emerging data on the need, potential benefits, and optimal timing of a vaccine booster dose to prevent COVID-19 due to this variant.
Immunocompromised people who have received three primary doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be able to receive a booster dose in line with the timing for the general population. ATAGI has also highlighted the importance of boosters for pregnant women.
The Australian Government has secured more than 151 million booster doses for delivery over the coming year and is well placed to continue to achieve world leading vaccination rates against COVID-19.

Defence can confirm that HMAS Adelaide has experienced a power outage. Back-up power has been activated to restore essential systems. The situation is being closely monitored and the safety of the ship and the embarked personnel remains our highest priority.
Following a number of incorrect reports today regarding HMAS Adelaide, Defence can confirm the following:
1. Essential functions such as refrigeration and sanitation systems are up and running;
2. Food supplies have not been adversely affected as a result of the power outage;
3. HMAS Adelaide is not under tow, nor has it been under tow while in or near Tonga; and
4. Air conditioning is operational in most areas of the ship.
The power outage has not affected Australia’s ability to support requests from the Government of Tonga to assist their recovery efforts.
Civilian specialists are on route to conduct an assessment of the affected systems.

Critical medical supplies should be made in Australia – and the Australian Government should be buying Australian-made medical supplies.
A Labor Government will increase Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capacity in medical essentials, like testing equipment, masks, PPE and ventilators.
We will achieve this in two ways:

• We will give first priority to Australian made medical technology for Government purchases in consumables and equipment.
• We will instruct the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to make medical technology a top priority and work with the Future Made in Australia Office to develop a national investment plan for health care essentials, which will identify what needs to be made in Australia and how to make that happen.

The fact that we are three years into the pandemic and still face shortages on critical needs like Rapid Antigen Tests is an indictment of a government that has failed Australians.
At every stage of this pandemic, experts warned Mr Morrison of what was on the horizon, and every time he failed to listen and failed to act.
Mr Morrison makes the same mistakes over and over, but he is too arrogant to learn from them – and it’s Australians who wear the consequences.
His insistence on letting the market decide means Australians are forced to count on overseas producers and unreliable supply chains for basic medical equipment – and are still facing shortages as a result.
We need to re-build our medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in this country – but the government that drove out car manufacturing will never be a government that delivers on domestic medical supply manufacturing.
Labor’s approach will give homegrown industry the certainty to invest and grow, meaning more jobs, more exports, better health and greater self-reliance.
Australia has innovative businesses and some of the world’s best scientists. When government backs them and gives our workforce a chance to shine, we know they’ll deliver.
If we don’t invest in making things here, we will always rely on others in a crisis.
While this is about shoring up our long-term self-reliance, we also call on the Morrison-Joyce Government to act now to help Australian companies access the resources they need to gain approvals for Australian made tests.
It just doesn’t make sense that our manufacturers are exporting tests that have been approved in the United States, while we struggle to secure imports for ourselves.

Anthony Albanese’s promise to support the Health Services Union Fair Work Commission case for a 25 per cent wage increase for aged care would provide a massive boost to the workforce, support attraction and retention of staff and improve quality of care.
HSU National President, Gerard Hayes said:
“The great unresolved crisis in aged care is wages. Until the Commonwealth Government commits to pay aged care workers a decent wage this crisis will only get worse.
“Today we see a clear difference emerge between the major parties. Mr Albanese’s declaration of support for the HSU case to lift aged care wages is hugely significant.
“In the short term it will lift the spirits of aged care workers. But in the longer term we need to lift wages to allow more workers to stay in the industry and stem the short staffing crisis.
“We’re into our third year of this pandemic and an exhausted aged care workforce who can earn more stacking shelves in a supermarket are barely holding on.
“Scott Morrison and Richard Colbeck have been warned that staff shortages are at catastrophic levels but it seems the cricket takes precedence.”

A Labor Government will invest $150 million to build the Camerons Lane Interchange at Beveridge, helping create thousands of jobs and unlocking the potential of Melbourne’s North.
Under Labor’s plan, the full diamond interchange with the Hume Highway will transform Melbourne’s North – with the potential for more than 30,000 homes and up to 20,000 jobs across the region, according to estimates from the Mitchell Shire Council.
During construction alone, this project will create up to 2,000 direct and indirect jobs and support significant growth in housing, health and education opportunities right across Beveridge and surrounds.
For too long, the Morrison-Joyce Government has neglected Melbourne’s North – failing to deliver a single commitment for the people of McEwen despite multiple promises over nine years.
Of the $150 million committed by Labor, we will reserve $10 million to commence the detailed planning work for this project before construction gets underway- planning ahead to ensure we’re building a better future.

Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Australian Labor Party said:

“This interchange is essential to the future of this region: without it, future economic and residential growth at Beveridge will be left at a standstill and the future of the region will be held back.
When complete, this project will help locals across Melbourne’s North spend less time on the road and more time at home, as well as opening the door to the job opportunities of the future.
This is all part of Labor’s plan to deliver a better life to working families across Australia and ensuring we can have a future made in Australia.
The Camerons Lane Interchange will create local jobs, create homes and create new opportunities in the region supporting significant growth, and greater opportunities for local health and education.
Labor is committed to supporting the future of this region, to provide key opportunities to those areas which have been impacted by COVID-19 and this $150 million investment is a part of that commitment.”

Catherine King, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development said:

“Labor’s infrastructure investments are about creating jobs and allowing locals to spend more time at home and less on the road. 
“This investment will help unlock the next generation of jobs across Melbourne’s North, creating a better life for locals.”

Rob Mitchell, Member for McEwen said:

“Today’s announcement removes the roadblock for the development of jobs, education and community development in our region.
Delivering this vital project will unlock jobs and housing opportunities in our region for the following decades. This interchange is the key piece needed to open a new chapter of development and prosperity for Melbourne’s North.
Labor is committed to investing in projects that support communities through the recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 and provide substantial economic, social and environmental benefits in the long term.”

Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said:
“A belated cash splash on the Great Barrier Reef is a joke from a government that has turbo charged the climate crisis imperilling the Reef by giving billions to fossil fuels and backing new coal and gas.
“Climate policy is the most important factor in saving the Reef and the government’s policy is crap.
“Under Scott Morrison’s leadership, Australia played a spoiler role at the climate summit in Glasgow, holding the entire world back from achieving the emissions reduction we need to slow global heating.
“This is a pathetic attempt to shore up Queensland regional seats but if this is to save tourism it’s too late. Cairns tourism operators needed JobKeeper for much longer.
“Everyone in Queensland knows Scott Morrison has been wrecking the reef for years. This cash splash is a distraction from his myriad failures on the climate crisis.
“We need to phase out coal by 2030, and the only chance we have at that is by kicking out this appalling government and putting the Greens in balance of power.”
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for Environment and Water said:
“No matter how hard Scott Morrison wants to spin this, he can’t save the Reef while making climate change worse.
“Pollution from coal, oil and gas needs to be cut if the  Reef is to have any chance of survival.
“Our environment is in crisis and the Great Barrier Reef is at top of the list of casualties. We need genuine action not just lip service. Spending $1 billion of the reef over the next decade, while handing out over $220 million to open new gas wells in the Beetaloo Basin makes no sense!”
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans said:
“The science is simple: burning fossil fuels leads directly to warming oceans which are destroying coral reefs and other marine ecosystems.
“Giving a billion dollars to ‘save the reef’ while approving new coal mines and gas projects that are killing the reef is simply a sick joke.
“The Reef is on life support and Sussan Ley is offering a cup of herbal tea. She is doing nothing to address the root cause of the sickness and expects Australians and the international community to fall for this tragic deception.”