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This Good Friday, the Australian Government is pleased to announce $6 million to support the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Good Friday Appeal.

The funding, to be delivered over the next three years, will help continue the hospital’s important work to ensure children and their families can access healthcare of the highest quality.  

It will help fund life-changing treatment, world-class research, leadership and training, to attract the brightest minds to help care for kids from Melbourne, Victoria and across Australia.

It will ensure the continued supportive care underpinning integrated multidisciplinary teams of specialist medical, nursing, allied health, and research staff to utilise the latest learnings and best practice in the Hospital, which includes the Children’s Cancer Centre.

The Good Friday Appeal has been fundraising for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne since 1931, raising a total of $421 million over the past 92 years.

Every year, thousands of people volunteer their time, expertise and creativity to organise fundraising events and activities to support the hospital, culminating in the telethon on Good Friday.

Anyone wishing to make a contribution or learn more about the patients, volunteers and staff at the hospital can visit www.goodfridayappeal.com.au.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:

“There is no greater obligation on a government than ensuring the health and wellbeing of our kids, and I am pleased to be able to announce this funding on Good Friday.

“Many Australian families owe so much to the dedicated staff at the Royal Children’s Hospital and those who work so hard to raise additional funds to support their work.

“I would encourage all Australians to get behind the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Good Friday appeal.”

Minister for Health Mark Butler said:

“The Royal Children’s Hospital is one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals.

“The Good Friday Appeal’s ongoing fundraising over almost 100 years has been invaluable in supporting the hospital’s life-saving work.

“I’m proud to support this fantastic initiative, to ensure Australian children and their families can continue to access world-class health care right here in Australia.”

Greens Leader Adam Bandt has backed today’s call by former defence and security chiefs for the government to release a recent review of the security implications of the climate crisis.

The Office of National Intelligence climate risk assessment report, commissioned by the government after taking office, has not been made public despite similar assessments being declassified and released in the past.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:

“The Government wants to believe that the climate wars are over, but as the climate crisis gets worse, defence chiefs are warning that conflict from global heating is just warming up,” Mr Bandt said.

“Australia’s safety is under threat from coal and gas. 

“Labor is refusing to confront the scale of the climate crisis, keeping secret a report that would likely deliver a body blow to new coal and gas mines.

“The climate crisis is the biggest threat to our nation, yet the government is keeping people in the dark.

With yet another damning report confirming widespread cultural problems at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), the Greens are calling for The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the AAD to act immediately to comply with Respect at Work reforms.

Senator Larissa Waters has today written to Minister Plibersek to request a briefing about the proposed workplan for responding to the Russell review.

Senator Larissa Waters, Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson on women said:

“The Russell review has confirmed Professor Nash’s report that revealed appalling sexism, discrimination and harassment at Antarctic stations. Women working in Antarctica need an assurance that the Department is taking this issue seriously.

“Antarctica is the ultimate “fly in fly out” workplace, and its remoteness has allowed an unacceptable culture to develop. I have written to the Minister to request a briefing from the Department about a proposed workplan for responding to the Russell recommendations.

“The Respect at Work reforms were the centrepiece of the government’s response to workplace harassment, and the AAD cannot continue to operate without regard to the new legal framework.

“The AAD must act immediately to comply with its positive duty and ensure base stations are not hostile work environments. If additional funding is required to support changed work practices, that should be allocated in the upcoming Budget.

“It is critical that we encourage and facilitate women working in STEM and in places like Antarctica. But that comes with an onus on the Department to make those work environments safe and respectful.”

There has been an 11% increase in the number of Aussies being forced to sell their homes since Labor took office (Courier-Mail 04/04/2023). While the Australian treasurer Jim Chalmers spent yesterday begging for pats on the back over the announcement from the RBA that interest rates didn’t jump again, the forced sale statistic should have been his focus.

Jim Chalmers was called a ‘factional hack’, ‘backstabber’ and described as a weak crybaby by former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in his book ‘The PM Years’. In that same book, Rudd reports Chalmers admitted to him that the now former PM wouldn’t have wanted him in parliament (pages 586,587).

Families are crying right now as their homes are being stripped from underneath them by a callous and mean-spirited Labor government. Children are being thrown out on the street into a market that has no rental availability by a grossly incompetent Labor government and Treasurer.

Labor has splashed cash since taking office on vanity projects like a referendum, and this spending has contributed to the Reserve Bank’s decision to increase interest rates.

People feel stabbed in the back by Treasurer Jim Chalmers when he gloats about opening the floodgates to hundreds of thousands of immigrants, which the ABC has admitted is the primary cause for the rental crisis and will be for some time (ABC News 03/04/2023).

Rudd’s treasurer Wayne Swan was widely accepted as the most incompetent Treasurer next to the disgraced Jim Cairns of the Whitlam era. Swan employed Jim Chalmers as his chief of staff. Chalmers’ training ground, as documented by Kevin Rudd, was the factional backrooms of the Canberra bubble. It’s no wonder Labor hasn’t got a single policy to help Aussies in financial strife.

One Nation proposes reducing government spending to balance the budget and reduce immigration significantly.

The ABC has published a story (03/042023 ABC news – Why can’t you find a cheap rental anymore?) about the real cause of the rental crisis. It seems that event societies elites are coming around to the reality that the exact reason for the rental crisis is immigration.

Finally, the ABC takes One Nation’s core policy points and delivers the hard cold facts about immigration that must send a shiver down the spines of those elitists in the inner city who just don’t want to hear it.

There are several statistics related to the rental crisis in Australia. The number of long-term rentals available is low, while the number of short-term holiday rentals, mostly on Airbnb, is six times higher.

The median Capital City increase in rent over the past year is triple the high inflation rate, at 20%. The real cause of the rental crisis is immigration, which is running at unprecedented levels, with potentially 400,000 net migrants this year. Most of these migrants are students or people who initially said they were coming for a holiday but then changed their visa status. They mostly arrive in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane and will take up available accommodation in those cities within one month.

Migrants are arriving at the rate of 1000 per day. Increasing the supply of housing is being discussed, but it will take years to result in actual buildings.

Meanwhile, the demand for housing from immigration is immediate due to staff shortages, and the rental crisis is unlikely to end soon because it’s easier and quicker to get people than to build houses.

The Albanese Labor Government will secure the future of Australia’s most cherished cultural and historical institutions in this year’s Federal Budget – restoring them as a source of national pride and reversing a decade of decline under the Liberals and Nationals.

The Government will invest $535.3 million towards the nine National Collecting Institutions over four years – addressing the decade of chronic underfunding inflicted by the former Coalition Government.

This is yet another example of the former Government’s underhanded approach to budgeting that Labor has been left to fix. The Albanese Labor Government is cleaning up the mess left behind by the previous Government and providing the necessary funding for the services that Australians rely on and cherish.

This investment will guarantee ongoing, indexed funding into the future and ensure that vital repairs and urgent safety improvements can finally be made.

It means staff will finally have ongoing certainty about their jobs.

It means our institutions will be able to meet their financial obligations and invest for the future knowing they finally have a Government that values them just as the Australian people do.

The Government will also establish clear line of sight over future capital works and improvements to ensure the institutions never again fall into the state of disrepair they did over the last decade.

This funding will ensure Australia has a strong cultural infrastructure – which is a key pillar of Revive, the Government’s new National Cultural Policy.

The funding will be provided to the Australian National Maritime Museum, Bundanon Trust, Museum of Australian Democracy (Old Parliament House), National Archives of Australia, National Film and Sound Archive, National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia, National Museum of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

The Government is also acting to secure the future of the National Library’s digital archive Trove.

These institutions house a majority of Australia’s most valuable collections. They also play an important role in truth-telling for First Nations people and in fostering international cultural exchange.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:

“I want all Australians to be able to visit, appreciate and learn from these institutions for generations to come.

“These are special places and we should be proud of them. They preserve, protect and celebrate Australia’s stories and history. My Government is committed to preserving, protecting and celebrating them.

“This is yet another example of my Government having to clean up the mess left behind by the former Coalition Government.”

Arts Minister Tony Burke said:

“This gets our institutions back to where they should be – where the Government delivers strong core funding and philanthropists take them to the next level.

“This funding means people will be able to go to places like the National Gallery of Australia and enjoy the exhibits without worrying about the physical integrity of the building that’s housing them.

“It is a disgrace that the former Coalition Government allowed these institutions to fall into such a shocking state of disrepair.”

Minister for Finance and Senator for ACT Katy Gallagher, said:

“Canberra is the proud custodian of some of the most treasured pieces of art, literature and culture from Australia’s national story,” Senator Gallagher said.

“The Albanese Labor Government is committed to maintaining and protecting the invaluable institutions that house them, and reversing the damage and decay that occurred under the previous Government.”

“The Institutions are often the gateway to attracting visitors to the Canberra region and are a key driver of the ACT economy, so this funding will ensure local jobs and the tourism sector are supported into the future.”