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I am pleased to announce the Governor-General has accepted my recommendation to appoint Adam Fennessy PSM as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Mr Fennessy is an accomplished public sector leader including as the Secretary of the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries and then the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning between 2013 and 2017. Mr Fennessy was the Victorian Public Service Commissioner between 2020 and 2022. He was awarded a Public Service Medal in 2018 in recognition of his outstanding public service to government departments in Victoria.

Mr Fennessy is currently the Dean and CEO of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.

With his strong subject matter knowledge in primary industries, including well-established relationships with industry, and significant experience in organisational transformation, Mr Fennessy will be able to make an immediate contribution to the strategic leadership of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the broader Australian Public Service.

The five year appointment begins on 18 September 2023.

The office of the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry was vacated on the retirement of Mr Andrew Metcalfe AO, on 4 August 2023. On behalf of my government I thank Mr Metcalfe for his dedicated service and leadership, including as Secretary of three Departments of State since 2005.

The Greens have condemned the Forestry Corporation of NSW for threatening endangered species by logging the habitat of the great glider in Tallaganda state forest.

They are calling on state and federal governments to urgently act to scrap the Regional Forest Agreements to end native forest logging and protect endangered species.

Australian Greens’ spokesperson for forests Janet Rice said: 

“This forest and these gliders are national heritage – the Commonwealth has a responsibility to protect them, particularly in light of how much forest burnt in 2019 in NSW and Victoria. 

“It shouldn’t be up to the vandals of the NSW forestry commission to send greater gliders closer and closer to extinction. 

“If we want zero extinctions as Tanya Plibersek has promised then we need to end native forest logging across the country immediately.

“Forests are going to be under even greater threat from fire in the future with more extreme conditions due to global heating.

“The Regional Forest Agreements have allowed for decades of reckless destruction of native forests across Australia, pushed native wildlife to the brink of extinction, endangered our water supplies, heightened bushfire risk, and made the climate crisis worse.

“Native forest logging is a dying industry and there’s no way around it. 

“We need a permanent, national ban on native forest logging and a just transition plan for forestry workers.” 

NSW Greens’ spokesperson for forests Sue Higginson said:

“The NSW Government must immediately pause all plans to log Tallaganda Forest. We can not allow Greater Glider extinction logging and make no mistake, that’s what this is. 

“There are dozens of Greater Glider den trees in Tallaganda that are proposed to be logged, but Forestry Corporation have only mapped a single tree for habitat protection across the 5,000 hectares that they want to destroy.

“Forestry Corporation are legally required to conduct pre-logging fauna and flora surveys but they can not have done this adequately as their report has drastically under-assessed the Greater Glider habitat and population in this area that is critical for the survival of the Greater Glider.

“I’ve called on the NSW Minister for Environment and the Environment Protection Authority to use their powers and issue an immediate stop work order for logging operations in Tallaganda State Forest until an independent review of the Greater Glider habitat can be undertaken.

“The NSW Government has committed to zero extinctions in NSW but the continued logging of critical Greater Glider Habitat, one of only two remaining in the state, is a blatant failure to take the necessary actions to prevent the extinction of Greater Gliders.”

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is urging all South Australians to support the YES campaign as it kicks off in Adelaide today.

“Today’s YES campaign launch is a historic moment for our country, and it’s taking place in Adelaide because South Australia is a crucial state in this referendum.

“SA is the make or break state in this referendum. The positive polling results we have seen today show the Yes vote leading narrowly, but that it can’t be taken for granted.

“There will be no “maybe” box on the ballot paper. It is either Yes or No. Yes for doing what is right, or No for continuing the wrongs of the past.”

“SA was the first State to give women the vote and now we can take Australia forward again. 

“Now that the official YES campaign has kicked off, I urge all South Australians to get involved and help us get this really important reform across the line.

“Over the coming weeks, we will be out and about around the state campaigning to make sure South Australia returns a strong YES vote.”

Senator Hanson-Young will be attending the announcement of the date event in Adelaide this morning.

The Albanese Labor Government is presiding over a staffing crisis at Services Australia, with a top agency official conceding that understaffing is drastically impacting the delivery of vital government services and payments during the cost of living crisis.

In an interview on 3AW radio yesterday, Services Australia’s long-time agency spokesperson, Mr Hank Jongen PSM, admitted that widespread delays to the processing of Paid Parental Leave was a result of understaffing, saying “in reality, we are understaffed in our service delivery,” adding that “we are currently actively trying to recruit staff to help us address call centre and processing delays.”

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy Paul Fletcher said Government Services Minister Bill Shorten must urgently order a review into Services Australia’s workforce arrangements.

“Labor has unleashed waves of job cuts at Services Australia without doing any proper planning which is clearly affecting service delivery,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Labor cut average staffing levels for this financial year, going from 36,685 in 2022-23 to 35,956 in 2023-24.

“In June, 600 call centre jobs were axed after a multi-million contract with Serco was scrapped, with no public explanation offered.

“It’s no wonder that Mr Shorten has repeatedly refused to release data about how long Australians are having to receive a Centrelink or Medicare payment.

“Across the country, major businesses are deploying smart technologies to improve how they engage with customers without increasing the headcount.

“Learning from the positive digital transformation journeys of the private sector and translating those lessons into the public sector should be on Mr Shorten’s to do list.”

Mr Fletcher said digital technology could help address many of the government’s service delivery challenges, but just isn’t being prioritised.

“Australians going online to access services via MyGov are also being let down by this government, which puts digital transformation in the too hard basket,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Over 1000 specialist ICT jobs were abolished in December last year and, more than six months on, Mr Shorten still hasn’t responded to the MyGov User Audit.

“The government needs to urgently review the viability of Services Australia’s current workforce arrangements which includes an examination of the impact of its contractor cuts and the health of its digital service delivery channels.”

The Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is flying around Australia campaigning for the Yes vote as the number of failed asylum seekers in Australia passes 75,000 and a Labor-commissioned report that recommends action gathers dust.

According to the latest Home Affairs data, under the Anthony Albanese Labor Government:1940 people made an asylum claim in July — which is a record number of asylum seekers under this Labor Government.21,718 asylum seekers have now arrived under Labor.There are now a record 75,017 fake asylum seekers in Australia awaiting deportation.Just 12 fake asylum seekers were deported in July.

The Immigration Minister Andrew Giles should be taking action to deal with the growing asylum seeker problem, instead he is flying around the country campaigning for the Yes vote. Giles has attended Yes campaign events in Perth, Darwin, Melbourne, and Canberra.

In March, the Government was handed a report by former chief commissioner of Victoria Police Christine Nixon that contained recommendations to stem the growing problem of asylum seekers arriving by plane. That report is gathering dust.

Since Labor were handed the Nixon report an additional 7,073 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia.

Labor would rather do nothing than try something. Labor has put the Nixon report and the problem of fake asylum seekers in the too hard basket, alongside addressing the housing crisis and cost of living pressures.

Anthony Albanese and Andrew Giles would rather fly around the country promoting the Voice than roll up their sleeves and deal with the problems hurting Australians.

Fake asylum seekers are choking our courts and visa system, denying genuine asylum seekers and Australians access to justice.

The Coalition wants a better Australia, not Labor’s big Australia.

The Coalition is demanding the Albanese Labor Government be transparent and reveal how long Australians are having to wait to receive government payments, including Centrelink and Medicare claims, with recent attempts to do so stonewalled.

In June, Coalition MPs asked Government Services Minister Bill Shorten how long Australians were having to wait to receive these government payments.

Mr Shorten responded to the questions by saying, “Services Australia does not collate or record data by electorate.”

However, Questions in Writing obtained by the Opposition for the previous Parliament, reveal that Services Australia does in fact use electorate-level data and that this data was provided to Labor MPs when the Coalition was in government.

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy Paul Fletcher said the move to block the release of the data didn’t pass the pub test, especially amid a cost of living crisis.

“The Opposition is calling on Mr Shorten to urgently release the requested data to better inform policymaking and empower citizens,” Mr Fletcher said.

“Every community is different and Labor must come clean on how claims processing is going on an electorate level so we can work together to implement targeted solutions to areas most in need.”

Mr Fletcher said Mr Shorten is a serial offender when it comes to trying to avoid accountability.

“Under Mr Shorten, every question ever asked of him during Senate Estimates has been answered past the due date,” Mr Fletcher said.

“In May this year, the Speaker had to formally write to the Minister because formal Questions in Writing were left unanswered for more than 60 days.

“It has also been revealed that Centrelink call wait times have skyrocketed under his watch.”