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With the passing of Queen Elizabeth the Second, an historic reign and a long life devoted to duty, family, faith and service has come to an end.

The Government and the people of Australia offer our deepest condolences to the Royal Family, who are grieving for a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother—the person whom for so long was their greatest inner strength.

Australian hearts go out to the people of the United Kingdom who mourn today, knowing they will feel they have lost part of what makes their nation whole.

There is comfort to be found in Her Majesty’s own words: “Grief is the price we pay for love.”

This is a loss we all feel, for few have known a world without Queen Elizabeth II. In her seven remarkable decades on the throne, Her Majesty was a rare and reassuring constant amidst rapid change. Through the noise and tumult of the years, she embodied and exhibited a timeless decency and an enduring calm.  

From the moment the young princess became Queen, shouldering the mighty weight of the institution into which she was born, Her Majesty made dedication to duty and service above self the hallmark of her reign.

She celebrated our good times, she stood with us in the bad. Happy and glorious but steadfast too. In particular, we recall the sympathy and personal kindness she extended to Australians afflicted by tragedy and disaster.

Throughout it all, she was a monarch who let her humanity show, performing her duty with fidelity, integrity and humour. In this, she was supported so long and so lovingly by the late Prince Philip, her “strength and stay” for 73 years.

From her famous first trip to Australia, the only reigning sovereign to ever visit, it was clear Her Majesty held a special place in her heart for Australia.

Fifteen more tours before cheering crowds in every part of our country confirmed the special place she held in ours.

As monarch for more than half the life of our Federation, the relationship between Australia and Britain matured and evolved throughout Her Majesty’s reign.

The Queen greeted each and every change with understanding, good grace and an abiding faith in the Australian people’s good judgment.

This was the deft and diplomatic way she bound the diversity of the modern Commonwealth, nations around the world who will mourn her passing.

Today marks the end of an era, the close of the second Elizabethan age. This time of mourning will pass but the deep respect and warm regard in which Australians always held Her Majesty will never fade.

May she rest in eternal peace.

The cost of living for Australian families is being driven up by climate damage as the Australian Insurance Council reveals households across Australia paid a higher cost of living because of flooding in NSW and Queensland earlier this year.

Farmers for Climate Action CEO Dr Fiona Davis said neither working families nor Australian farmers could afford increases in cost of living due to climate damage.

“The McKell Institute confirms what we knew: Climate change is driving up the cost of living,” Dr Davis said.

“The McKell Institute report finds each Australian family has paid $525 in the increased cost of food and other farm products because of the huge floods in NSW and Queensland earlier this year – floods made far worse by climate change. 

Those floods came just two years after the deadly Black Summer Fires and extreme weather events driven by climate change are becoming more and more frequent.

“The report says the hit to Australian households from floods, fires, drought and other climate-driven events this financial year was almost double the decade average of $888 at $1532.

“Australian families can’t afford the huge hit to their hip pocket climate damage is causing.

“Insurance Council of Australia figures reveal losses from the floods were $5.28 billion, while losses in the Black Summer fires were $2.32 billion. This does not take into account the massive health impacts from these climate events.”

Dr Davis said farmers were worried about the cost of insurance premiums, which are rising steeply because of climate damage.

“Huge hikes in insurance premiums following climate damage are coming as farmers continue to count the cost of floods six months ago. Some of our farmer members have reported losses of more than $100 000.

“We need deep emissions reductions in this, the decisive decade, to protect our farming families and our food supply.”

A recent report by GHD saw GHD Australian Water Market Leader Lindsay Brown noted climate damage to the agriculture sector was not limited to on-farm damage, but also to “ability to transport and equipment losses, and all the things that actually make that part of our economy viable”.

Dr Davis said Farmers for Climate Action’s Fork in the Road report had identified exactly the same thing and showed consumers were already paying more for food because of climate damage.

Farmers for Climate Action is a movement of 7000 farmers calling for strong economy-wide climate policies.Key facts:

Cost of living takes massive hit from climate-driven floods earlier this year

Report by the McKell Institute reveals a hit to each Australian household of $525 due to higher prices paid for food and farm products, plus extra government spending

We need deep emissions reductions this decade to protect our farmers and our food supply

Geoff Parkes, a Vietnam-era national servicemen who was conscripted into the Australian armed forces is taking his #NashoFairGo petition representing other service personnel like him to Australian Parliament House tomorrow. So far, the petition has been signed by 25,000 Australians.

The campaign is seeking recognition and additional health support from the Labor government on behalf of 48,000 Nashos (of which only 35,000 are expected to be alive).  

The Nashos are a cohort of Veterans who had been given an impossible choice by the government. To choose between being conscripted into the armed forces, or going to jail. They put their lives on hold, underwent intensive training but didn’t serve in a war zone. The main aim of the petition is to obtain DVA Gold Health Cards for their service.

Greens Spokesperson for Health and Mental Health Jordon Steele-John, and Veterans’ Spokesperson Senator David Shoebridge will accept Geoff’s petition, and table it in the Senate today. 

“I want to obtain justice for the men Australia forgot,” says Geoff. “We have received no thanks, recognition, benefits or reparation for the two years of their youth that were taken from us.”

Senator Jordon Steele-John is “proud to receive the petition from the Nashos. The Australian Greens are committed to ensuring all Veterans, especially those who were conscripted into the armed forces receive access to the health and mental health supports to maintain their wellbeing. Being provided with the DVA Veteran Gold Card will enable many of these gentlemen to access health services without worrying about the financial cost of doing so.

Senator David Shoebridge said: “The Department of Veterans Affairs is failing in its duty of care to veterans and is in urgent need of reform. Too often it is a barrier to veterans getting the support they need, entitlements are inconsistent and arbitrary, and veterans are forced to struggle against a departmental culture that fails to respect their service.

“We have a new government and a new Parliament and veterans need to hear a loud message from them that they are now on their side.” 

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and spokesperson for education, has backed the early childhood educators action to Shut Down the Sector on Early Childhood Educator’s Day today and urged the Albanese government to act on wages and workforce shortages.

Senator Faruqi said:

“The Greens are right with early childhood educators as they shut down the sector today.

“The low pay and difficult conditions early childhood educators are subjected to are a national shame. Educators deserve professional pay that reflects the skill and responsibility of the work they do every day.

“Parliament needs to hear these workers’ calls for an immediate pay rise. Early childhood educators, who we know are predominantly women, have been taken for granted for far too long. They’ve had enough.

“The Greens call on the government to bring legislation to lift wages, fix conditions and deal with the critical workforce shortage in early learning and care. These steps, hand in hand with the Greens’ plan for free early learning and care for all, are vital to building a better future.”

Today, Liberal Senator Alex Antic used his two minute statement to complain about the “threat” of critical race theory and “victimhood.” Senator Lidia Thorpe called these comments racist. Senator James McGrath called for Senator Thorpe to withdraw her comments. 

Senator Thorpe refused, saying that she was simply stating a fact. Senator Mehreen Faruqi asked why those calling out racism were asked to withdraw, yet there are no consequences for being racist.

TSenator Lidia Thorpe said:

“This parliament punishes Blak women for calling out racism, yet there are no consequences for being racist in the Senate Chamber. I am not safe in this workplace.”

“The Jenkins report talks about the ‘intersection of multiple forms of discrimination and harassment (…) on the basis of gender, age, race, disability and sexual orientation’ as well as the importance of everyone feeling ‘safe and welcome to contribute.’

“If I didn’t withdraw, I could have been kicked out of the Chamber for a day and The Greens would be down a vote. They cut off my microphone and told me to withdraw my comment. How is that creating a workplace where everyone is ‘safe and welcome to contribute’?!

“It’s ‘unparliamentary’ to call out racism, but not unparliamentary to be racist. Racism is a disease in this Country. It’s violent and literally makes people sick. We need an anti-racist code of conduct for MP’s to be accelerated and implemented to stop this from happening in the first place.”

Almost 50 years to the day (29 August, 1972) after the historic Henderson Commission of Inquiry into poverty, and after years of inaction by successive governments, the Greens have today established a Senate Committee inquiry into the nature and extent of poverty and cost of living pressures in Australia.

Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens spokesperson on Social Services and Chair of the Community Affairs References Committee, said: 

“When 5.1 million Australians are barely scraping by on Centrelink payment rates below the poverty line, and millions more are facing cost of living pressures and the crushing stress that goes with it – something is deeply wrong and needs to be fixed. 

“I’ve heard directly from countless people about how poverty has an acute impact on nearly every aspect of their lives: not being able to afford nutritious food, an education, housing, the resources to get a job, and on their physical health and mental wellbeing. 

“This inquiry will hold wide-ranging hearings across the country, enabling people who have been forced to rely on woefully inadequate payments to have their voices heard, and take that evidence into Parliament. 

“With skyrocketing rents, interest rate rises, and months of inflation, it’s urgent that Parliament provide cost-of-living relief to those that need it most, and get out of this decades-long reflex of punishing people on starvation-wages.

“One in six children are living in poverty. No parent should have to wonder how they’re going to feed their kids this week or afford the new school uniform next term. 

“When millions of people in this wealthy country are one car-breakdown or dental emergency away from total financial ruin, surely as elected representatives of the people, it is our moral obligation to do something about it.”