Category: Australian News

Our Government will ensure Australia’s Paralympic athletes receive payments for winning medals at the Tokyo Games in line with the payments to our Tokyo Olympic medallists.
The decision ensures Paralympics Australia can recognise our champion Paralympic athletes in line with payments made by the Australian Olympic Committee to medal-winning athletes in Tokyo.
Australia’s para-athletes have represented our nation with great distinction and pride in Tokyo, delivering performances that have buoyed millions during what is a difficult time for the nation.
Australia is eighth on the overall medal tally with 60 medals and four days of competition still to come.
Like their Olympic counterparts, Paralympians often have to make major sacrifices in their lives foregoing family and work to train and compete nationally and internationally.
The Morrison Government is committed to working with Paralympics Australia and other national sporting bodies to grow corporate sponsorship for para-sports.
This additional commercial revenue could ensure Paralympics Australia can sustainably make medal bonus payments to athletes at future Paralympics.
The Morrison Government is proud to support our athletes in achieving their Paralympic dreams and was already delivering record levels of Government support for our Paralympic high-performance athletes.
The Government is the major funding source for para-sports and in the five years leading up to the Tokyo Paralympics, the Government has provided $88.8 million for para-athlete high performance programs.
Commonwealth Government Paralympic high performance funding has in fact increased by 40 per cent since 2012.
The Government has also provided significant funding for para-sport infrastructure and in the 2021/22 Budget we provided Paralympics Australia with $3.5 million to cover extra Paralympic travel costs associated with the Tokyo Games caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The Greens say that the Government’s approach to vaccinating First Nations people, disabled people and aged care residents, has been unacceptable and once again led to a tragic death that could have been prevented if adequate planning and support for experts was given when it was asked for.
Communities should not have to be begging for support, Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said.
We are more than a year into this pandemic, the Government cannot say they weren’t warned about how devastating a COVID outbreak would be in First Nations communities.
Why didn’t Ministers do more to prevent COVID outbreaks in First Nations communities?
Priority groups were meant to be vaccinated first, but the Government’s approach to vaccinating those groups has been haphazard at best, bordering on just plain negligence.
We cannot be talking about ‘opening up’ or easing restrictions when this Government cannot even ensure the safety of First Nations people, despite very clear warnings.
DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara Senator for the Greens Lidia Thorpe said: 
The Morrison government is putting First Nations peoples lives at risk by failing to listen to us. Overcrowded housing, food insecurity and an under-resourced healthcare sector in regional areas hurt us before the pandemic.
This pandemic has put a spotlight on government neglect, that has existed for decades.
The Maari Ma Aboriginal Health Corporation gave the Morrison government warnings and strategies for managing COVID-19 in western New South Wales 18 months ago. This was ignored, and now Wilcannia has the highest transmission rate in NSW.
Just last month, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation was excluded from a national COVID-19 vaccine task force meeting, despite Aboriginal health services being primarily responsible for delivering vaccines to First Nations people.
How much proof do you need that this top-down approach isn’t working?
Non-Indigenous peoples vaccination rates are double ours in most states and territories. This shows First Nations people that we are not a priority for this government.
The Australian government hasn’t looked after First Nations people since colonisation, so this government needs to hand over control of our affairs back to the people.
People on the ground know what’s best for their communities.

On Equal Pay Day the Greens have called on the PM to act immediately to close the gender pay gap, with the gulf between men’s and women’s earnings increasing during the pandemic.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said:
“Today is Equal Pay Day, representing the 61 extra days that women have to work to earn the same average income as men in the last financial year.
“Workplace Gender Equality Agency data shows the gender pay gap has worsened by 0.8% in the last six months. There is now a national gender pay gap of 14.2% – and it’s even wider for First Nations women, women with a disability and women of colour.
“And yet we have not heard a peep from the PM or the relevant Minister in response to new data from its own agency. Usually it’s nothing but spin from this government. Now, silence.
“Six months ago the PM announced a confetti of new women’s Ministries and a Ministerial Women’s Taskforce. But when are we going to see some policies to actually close the gender pay gap, rather than treating this and other women’s issues as political problems to be managed?
“PBO costings show the stage 3 tax cuts rammed through by the Morrison Government – with support from Labor – will deliver twice the income benefits to men as to women, further worsening the gender pay gap. Why is Morrison still ignoring impacts on women and entrenching sexism in our tax system?
“Morrison’s pandemic recovery policy has favoured male-dominated industries, with uncapped support programs for construction, while female-dominated industries like childcare got only temporary support, and industries like the arts were entirely left out.
“Women have borne the brunt of COVID through work in the home and in health and aged care, retail and sanitation services. Why are women still an afterthought to the PM?”

The Greens have today introduced legislation to establish a Federal Environment Watchdog to enforce Australia’s environment laws.
Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“Australia’s environment laws are failing to protect our wildlife and natural places. Our environment laws not only need strengthening they need to be enforced.
“Time and time again we’ve seen governments fail in their duty to protect the environment. It’s clear for all to see that the the Morrison Government can’t be trusted to do the right thing to protect our environment and wildlife.
“The Greens bill introduced today for the establishment of a Federal Environment Watchdog would deliver a much-needed independent cop on the beat to deliver accountability, compliance and enforcement of our laws.
“A Commonwealth Environment Protection Authority is long overdue. It defies logic that 20 years after the establishment of the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act there is still no independent enforcement of those laws.
“The once-in-ten-year review of our environment laws by Professor Graeme Samuel was clear that our natural environment and iconic places are in an overall state of decline and are under increasing threat. Professor Samuel said the current environmental trajectory is unsustainable and one of the ways he recommended the failings be addressed was with a strong, independent cop on the beat.
“The recommendation came after a scathing Auditor-General report which found the Environment Department was failing to properly administer the EPBC Act including an absence of effective monitoring, reporting and evaluation arrangements for controlled actions.
“Yet all the Morrison Government has delivered in the last year is a reincarnation of Tony Abbott’s environmentally destructive reforms from 2014, completely ignoring Professor Samuel’s review.
“The Morrison Government wants to make it even easier for mining companies and big developers to get approval for projects that will destroy the environment and harm our native animals.
“Without independence from the Minister and the political party they belong to, which is beholden to their political donors in the mining, development and logging industries our laws will never be upheld in the way they should.
“Failure to enforce the laws is a death sentence for Australia’s koalas and wildlife.
“I urge the parliament to support the Greens bill and back the future of our environment and wildlife.”
Information on the bill can be found here.

The government and One Nation have blocked crucial amendments from the Greens and Labor that would have implemented the centrepiece of the Respect@Work recommendations – a positive duty on employers to make workplaces safe.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said:
“The PM, as always, is missing in action. It took more than a year for the government to respond to the Respect@Work report and the Bill they came up with fell woefully short – not only of the aims of the report, but also of the expectations of Australian women.
“Respect@Work report set out a clear, holistic set of actions to address workplace sexual harassment. Central to that was a positive duty that would shift the onus away from individual workers who fear losing their job if they complain and instead require employers to make their workplaces safe.
“The government says existing workplace laws already do the job. The 40% of women who are sexually harassed at work say otherwise. All the young workers harassed in their first jobs say otherwise.
“The Greens and Labor put forward a joint amendment to do what the government failed to do and introduce a positive duty. The government joined with One Nation to block them.
“The PM says he’s listening to women, and he says his government accepts all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report. Yet today the government again ignored women and blocked a key recommendation from the report.
“With the willing help of his One Nation lackeys, the PM has once again failed women.
“It proves yet again that the PM views women as nothing more than a political problem to be managed, through spin and rhetoric.
“The government and One Nation had an opportunity today to show that they’re not reactionary troglodytes, but they only served to remind Australian women just how important it is to boot them out at the next election.”

Companies claiming a bigger share of profits at the direct expense of workers shows the need to properly tax big corporations and the super wealthy, the Greens say.
National accounts figures released today show that the wage share of total income has fallen to just 50.6 per cent, the second lowest on record and lowest in 61 years.
The figures also show that profits share of income has hit 30.3 per cent, the highest on record.
“Despite the pandemic, corporations and billionaires continue to make out like bandits while workers, and those without jobs, get less of the spoils,” Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.
“Workers are getting a smaller slice of the pie, while corporations continue to get more. This is not an accident – these are deliberate policy choices by the Liberals.”
“One in three big corporations pays no tax at all, and billionaires are accumulating obscene levels of wealth.”
“We need to start making corporations and billionaires start paying their fair share of tax, so that we can pay for climate action and services that benefit everyone.”

The Greens have introduced a bill to parliament that would ban the export of greyhounds from Australia for commercial purposes including breeding and racing.
The Customs Legislation Amendment (Commercial Greyhound Export and Import Prohibition) Bill 2021 comes following years of reports of horrific treatment of Australian dogs in greyhound racing across the world. The trade goes on: between 2016 and 2021, 1,313 dogs were exported from Australia.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens spokesperson for Animal Welfare, said:
“A ban on commercial greyhound export is long overdue.
“Greyhounds from Australia are routinely being sent overseas to race, and often end up in countries where there isn’t a semblance of animal welfare protection for these poor dogs.
“Greyhound export might make a buck for the industry in Australia, but the welfare of the dogs is routinely sacrificed at the altar of profitability and gambling revenue.
“This is a simple reform and an important one. It will put a stop to a completely inhumane practice that has caused far too much suffering for far too many dogs. I hope other politicians can support this important step for animal welfare.
“No matter what the industry says, neither the welfare of the dogs, nor where they end up, can be guaranteed after they are exported. The only sensible and appropriate measure is to shut down the trade altogether.
“More and more people in Australia see greyhound racing for what it is: gambling-fuelled animal cruelty. These beautiful dogs should be running for fun, not their lives.”

An Albanese Labor Government will conduct the first Defence Force Posture Review since 2012 after the Coalition has ignored Defence posture for the last eight years.
After six Defence Ministers in eight long years, the Government has been neglecting planning on posture, despite deteriorating strategic circumstances.
Force posture refers to the future security and strategic environment, the importance of domestic and demographic issues and their impact on Defence facilities, and where the ADF is based.
A Labor Defence Force Posture Review would ensure the Australian Government is considering both long-term strategic posture and whether Australian Defence units, assets, and facilities are prepared for the military to take action in a timely way.
The 2020 Strategic Update warned of the rapidly changing circumstances in our region, and stressed that a ten-year strategic warning time for a major conventional attack against Australia is no longer an appropriate basis for defence planning.
Reduced warning times mean defence plans can no longer assume Australia will have time to gradually adjust military capability and preparedness in response to emerging challenges.
Despite this, the Coalition Government has never conducted a fully-fledged Force Posture Review.
Only two fully-fledged Defence Posture Reviews have occurred in recent times – former Defence Minister Kim Beazley’s mid-1980’s review and former Defence Minister Stephen Smith in 2012.
Labor’s 2012 review process enacted new force posture initiatives with the US that led to the current Marine Rotational Force in Darwin.
The Morrison Government has regularly spoken of – and taken credit for – posture related activities, such as upgrades to Defence assets in Northern Australia, and the presence of US Marines, yet they have largely ignored posture.
Only Labor is committed to a genuine, independent Defence Force Posture Review to ensure our assets and our troops are positioned where we need them to be.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of signing of the ANZUS Treaty – which for seven decades has been the foundation of our unbreakable Alliance with the United States of America.
Our Alliance was forged on the battlefield, reinforced in peacetime and renewed by successive generations. For more than a century, we have fought side-by-side in every major conflict and faced the world’s most pressing challenges together.
We saw the strength of our Alliance in the tragic recent events in Kabul, where the bravery and sacrifice of US military personnel allowed Australian forces to evacuate our people to safety.
President Lyndon Johnson once said that Australia and America would stand together ‘in sunshine and in sorrow’. For the past 70 years, we have sacrificed, lost and triumphed together.
ANZUS now sits at the heart of an enduring partnership that spans deep ties between our peoples and wide-ranging cooperation between our countries, including in security and defence, diplomacy, trade and investment, science and technology, environment and energy, research and education.
Today, we remain steadfast in our common outlook and shared values. Our countries remain committed to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and helping our region to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Alliance supports the Indo-Pacific and makes an essential contribution to regional stability and prosperity.
Australia will continue to ensure the strength and vitality of our Alliance through practical, tangible contributions and cooperation.
As we commemorate the last 70 years, we look to the future with optimism and confidence for what we can achieve, together, in the decades to come.

Australia’s vaccine rollout will be boosted by 500,000 extra Pfizer-BioNTech doses to be distributed next week for immediate use, following a dose swap deal secured between Australia and Singapore.
Australia will gain access to 500,000 Singaporean doses now to boost the vaccine programme in September, while in December, Australia will supply 500,000 Pfizer doses to Singapore.
Prime Minster Scott Morrison said the vaccines would be provided to all states and territories for distribution by primary care and state and territory vaccination sites on an equal population basis, following batch testing by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
“This deal gives us the further supplies we need as we bring new groups into the programme for Pfizer, including 12 to 15 year olds from September 13, and the 16 to 39 year old age group that has already commenced,” the Prime Minister said.
“I said we would leave no stone unturned in bolstering our vaccination programme. This deal comes on top of the Polish agreement that has already boosted our national vaccination rates to exceed those achieved in the United States and United Kingdom at the peak of their programmes.
“I would like to convey my special appreciation to Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, for our direct engagement over this arrangement, and his Government for their support, highlighting how two governments can work together and manage vaccine stocks before they expire.
“I also extend my thanks to Minister Hunt, Minster Payne, Australia’s High Commissioner to Singapore Will Hodgman and his team, and our Health Secretary Professor Murphy for bringing this arrangement together.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women Marise Payne said Australia was working with other countries to manage the global challenge of COVID-19.
“This demonstrates how our diplomatic capability can deliver in ways that protect Australians and strengthen Australia’s security and prosperity,” Minister Payne said.
“Just as Australia and Singapore are working together, Australia is cooperating with partners in the region to save lives, advance economic recovery, and build health systems to protect against future pandemics.”
Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt said the Australian Government is working every day to bring forward vaccine supplies to ensure every Australian will have access to the COVID vaccine this year.
“With increasing supply we encourage all Australians to come forward and be vaccinated at more than 9,300 locations around the country,” Minister Hunt said.
“I particularly want to thank our health officials, both in Singapore and Australia, and our High Commission in Singapore for their work.”
There is no purchase cost associated with the deal to source the vaccine doses, which were manufactured in Belgium.
More than 19.3 million doses have now been delivered across the country, with more than 1.9 million doses delivered over the past week.
Per capita distribution:

New South Wales	159,236
Victoria	131,149
Queensland	99,745
Western Australia	51,294
South Australia	34,934
Tasmania	10,675
Australian Capital Territory	8,344
Northern Territory	4,622

To find your nearest vaccination site please visit https://www.health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/covid-19-vaccine-eligibility-checker.