Category: Australian News

It is very disappointing, but hardly surprising, to hear yet again that Coalition Ministers are more interested in profits for themselves and their mates than the people they are elected to represent, Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale said.
“It is appalling to consider that Angus Taylor would use his privileged position to approach Departmental staff and Government Ministers about an issue that directly affects his business interests,” Di Natale said.
“These new reports highlight that Coalitions MPs think it’s ok to change the rules when they don’t suit them and to put their business interests ahead of the community they were elected to work for. The Greens will not let them get away with it.
“We will be ensuring that Angus Taylor and Josh Frydenberg explain their actions to the Parliament when it resumes next month.
“This whole episode demonstrates again how urgently we need a federal ICAC that can investigate these sorts of behaviours that undermine faith in democracy,” he said.
“This Government is selling out the environment for the sake of their mates’ profits. These latest allegations are exactly why we need a federal ICAC,” Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“This isn’t the first time Angus Taylor’s business affairs and political links have been called into question. This latest scandal involving Angus Taylor and Josh Frydenberg smells fishy and must be probed. The full, unredacted documents and correspondence must be released.”
“We are in the midst of an extinction crisis and a climate catastrophe with a government that has tried to change the rules and cover up their self-dealing. This is a government that sees the environment as something to be exploited for the profit of a few, rather than taken care of for the benefit of all Australians.”
“Scott Morrison has shown contempt for the Australian people by promoting politicians who appear more interested in helping out their mates than doing their jobs. The Greens will continue to fight this government and hold these dodgy ministers to account.”

Australian Greens Spokesperson for Animal Welfare, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has today announced that she will introduce a Greens bill to ban all live export for slaughter, including sheep and cows, when Parliament resumes. Footage has been released by animal welfare activists in Israel showing cruelty towards cattle being unloaded in hot and crowded conditions with electric shock prodders. Dozens of calves died on board the ship and after unloading.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Live export cannot be made be made safe for sheep, cattle or any animal. It is a business model built on cruelty and is simply incompatible with animal welfare.
“These episodes of animal cruelty are just the latest in more than thirty years of scandal, suffering and brutality in the live export industry. This is just business as usual for live exporters, especially now that they have a Minister who dismisses animal welfare.
“The Greens have long argued that we should be banning all live export for slaughter and introducing this bill is part of the campaign to make that a reality.
“The recent deaths of hundreds of Australian dairy cows in Sri Lanka has highlighted big problems with the live export of animals for breeding. This requires far more stringent safeguards, and perhaps even a ban as our New Zealand neighbours are considering.
“We make no apologies for standing up for the welfare of animals. We need a phased ban with a structural adjustment assistance fund which can transition the industry to the chilled meat trade,” she concluded.

Peter Dutton’s plan to allow the Australian Signals Directorate to spy on Australians is a dangerous and unjustified attack on fundamental rights, Greens Justice Spokesperson Nick McKim says.
“For the Liberals to try to push this through just days after raids on journalists shows how little they respect basic rights and freedom of the press,” Senator McKim said.
“For two decades the major parties have endorsed wave after wave of increased surveillance powers for security agencies which have undermined Australians’ privacy and civil liberties.”
“This has been done without a case being made for the loss of rights, and we are risking the same if Mr Dutton proceeds with his new plans.”
“No further powers should be granted to security agencies without a thorough review of existing laws, and until our rights are properly enshrined and protected in a Charter of Rights.”

Following the final count of the SA Senate vote by the AEC today, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has been returned to the Senate with the largest swing to the Greens across the country.
“I want to thank South Australian voters for their overwhelming support this election. South Australians have put their faith in me to stand up and protect our state’s jobs and environment. I will work bloody hard to make sure our state is not undermined by the anti-renewables, water-greedy agenda of the eastern states,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“Protecting the environment and making sure there is a safe and healthy planet for our children and grandchildren is my priority.  South Australians love our beaches and ocean and together we will protect the Great Australian Bight from the exploitation of big oil.
“I will stand up to the Government to ensure they don’t drag our progressive state backward. I will fight to protect our renewable energy industry and the thousands of jobs in tourism and fishing at risk if drilling in the Bight goes ahead.
“South Australians voted for me to represent them and I will not take my foot off the pedal. In the first week back, I will be introducing a Bill to ban drilling in the Great Australian Bight. I invite my fellow South Australians MPs work together to protect the Bight by adding their names to the Bill.
“I will not let this Government wind back the progress our state has made. In the Senate, I’ll work my hardest to keep our state on-track and stand up for all South Australians.”

Indonesian-speaking Darwin MP Luke Gosling will lead a special Regional Trade Taskforce of the Caucus to assist in the development of trade policies that will boost economic growth and create jobs for Australians.
The Taskforce will focus on trade links with the Asia-Pacific Region. It will consult with businesses, hold industry forums and report to me and Shadow Trade Minister Madeleine King on what our nation needs to do to increase our trade engagement right across the region.
My appointment of Mr Gosling to lead this Taskforce recognises the particular importance of boosting trade between businesses in Northern Australia and the nations to our immediate north, including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Timor-Leste.
Despite their proximity to Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia sit outside the list of our top ten trading partners at numbers 13 and 11 respectively.
There is great scope to build our trade engagement across the region, and Mr Gosling’s capacity for hard work makes him the perfect choice to advise Labor on how our nation can capitalise on these opportunities.
This is about jobs for Australians.
Mr Gosling, the Member for Solomon, had a distinguished military career and has worked in Timor-Leste as a Presidential adviser and also established a not-for-profit charity to benefit the fledgling nation.
Since becoming Leader of the Australian Labor Party I have emphasised my intention to consult widely so our Party can develop a set of policies worthy of support at the 2022 election.

I have today appointed a Labor frontbench with the talent and experience to hold the Morrison Government to account and develop a policy platform worthy of the support of Australians at the next election.
My team includes a blend of experienced former Government Ministers, as well as talented newcomers whose enthusiasm and fresh ideas will reinvigorate Labor over the next three years.
My Shadow Ministry includes members from all parts of the nation. It reflects society, with half men and half women including the Shadow Cabinet Secretary.
As I made clear in the days after the May 18 election, I made no deals with colleagues to secure the unanimous support of the Labor Party to become Leader.
I am confident my team will be more than a match for the Morrison Government’s frontbench.
The Shadow Ministry will meet for the first time on Tuesday in Brisbane.
In the days and weeks that follow that meeting, Shadow Ministers will disperse into communities across the nation to listen to Australians about why only one in three voters gave Labor their first preference at the election on May 18.
Labor’s May 18 election result was a wake-up call. The first step to success next time is honest discussion with the Australian people.
 
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The decision by Queensland’s Labor Government to grant approval for the Adani Carmichael coal mine’s groundwater management plan is deeply disappointing to anyone who understands the danger posed by climate change, but the fight to stop this mine being built is far from over, the Australian Greens said.
“This fight is far from over. The Adani mine cannot go ahead if we are going to have any chance of slowing rising global greenhouse gas emissions and preventing the worst impacts of dangerous climate change,” said Leader of the Australian greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
“The Greens stand with communities right across the country against this reckless decision by the Queensland Labor Government, which will contribute to the destruction of thousands more jobs in Queensland and across the country than it will ever create for the people of Central Queensland.”
“It’s time for politicians like Annastacia Palaszczuk to come clean with coal communities, admit that there are no long term jobs in digging up and burning coal and work with the Greens on a plan to support these communities transition away from coal and towards sustainable, long-term jobs in the renewable energy sector,” he said.
Senator for Queensland and Greens spokesperson for mining and resources, Larissa Waters, who looks to have been re-elected to represent Queensland with more than 3% swing, said “Adani still doesn’t have all its legal licences, and it’s never had a social licence.”
“Queenslanders want a safe climate, cheap clean power and real, lasting jobs for coal communities as we transition to a clean economy. People will rally in force to stop Adani – and the Greens will be right there with them,” Senator Waters said.
“The big parties might have caved in to their coal donors, but the Greens stand with the people, demanding a safe future and a clean jobs plan for central Queensland communities.
“Community campaigns have won against big polluters and big corporate interests before, and we will again.
“The Greens will use every lever we have available in our parliament, our courts and on the streets. Our movement for a safe climate and jobs justice for workers will triumph.”
Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said: “From fudging jobs figures and rushing final approvals, and ignoring scientific advice from the CSIRO and Geoscience Australia, this mega coal mine has been given every liberty by Adani’s mates in the Parliament”.
“The Adani cheer squad are trying to revive a dying industry, risking thousands of jobs and our environment in the process by politicising the debate,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“If we had stronger environmental laws that required climate change to be considered, projects like Adani would never get off the ground. That’s why the Greens will continue to push in parliament for a climate trigger in our environmental laws. We have no more time to lose to arrest climate change.”

The competition presents an opportunity for online narrative creators to apply for the chance to pitch their project live on stage to a panel of industry experts at VidCon Australia (19-22 September 2019). The team with the best pitch will be awarded $30,000 in funding for script development and to make a proof of concept.
Applications open today and up to five teams will be selected to pitch their project at VidCon Australia. Teams will need to be able to present an engaging pitch that gets the panel excited about their narrative concept, summarises who the project is for, how an audience will access it, and why that audience will want to watch it.
Successful finalists will participate in a closed workshop on 19 September in Melbourne to help them prepare for the live pitch the next day. Each finalist team will also receive two complimentary Creator Track passes to VidCon Australia.
Online Investment Manager at Screen Australia, Lee Naimo said: “We know that Australia has a huge amount of talent making really engaging and exciting content for online audiences. Pitcher Perfect is an incredible opportunity for those emerging creatives with strong ideas to build their pitching skills, and access funding to start a career in the industry. For the winning team $30,000 is a significant amount of money to develop a proof of concept in the form of a trailer, pilot or episode to bring their idea to life, and I can’t wait to see the range of teams that apply.”
VidCon’s General Manager, Jim Louderback said: “Australia is seeing one of the fastest growth spurts in online video on a global scale – it is one of the many reasons we brought VidCon to Melbourne, and this year’s event is set to become our best yet. It’s crucial we support the incredibly talented emerging creators from Australia, who will undoubtedly play a key role in shaping the future of the market as it continues to grow. We’re really excited to see what the entrants have to offer!”
Applicant teams need to have a minimum of two people covering the roles of producer, writer and director. Larger teams can apply, but only two people from each team will take part in the live pitch at VidCon Australia.
To apply, teams need to submit a video pitch up to three minutes in length. Finalists who are not based in Melbourne will receive flights and accommodation for two team members. For more information on eligibility and application guidelines click here 
Applications close Friday 19 July.