Category: Australian News

The Albanese Labor Government is building Australia’s future, locking in our nation as a green iron manufacturing powerhouse through the new Green Iron Investment Fund.

The $1 billion Green Iron Fund will boost green iron manufacturing and supply chains by supporting early mover green iron projects and unlocking private investment at scale.

Up to $500 million has been earmarked to support the Whyalla steelworks transformation, shoring up local jobs and helping with the energy transition.

At least $500 million will be open to applicants right around Australia, and accessible for both existing facilities and greenfield projects that can supercharge Australia’s world-leading iron ore industry by adding more value right here.

This will create extraordinary opportunities for Australian industry where there are a range of green iron and steel ventures underway.

The competitive Fund has been designed in close consultation with industry through our Green Metals Expert Panel.

Australia is the world’s largest producer of iron ore, earning more than $100 billion in export income in 2023-24, with the wider iron and steel sectors supporting over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.

As well as providing more jobs and value-adding onshore, investment in green iron and steel will secure future demand for Australia’s iron ore as the world moves toward lower-emissions iron and steel – and support global emissions reduction at a massive scale in the process.

Green metals are pivotal for global decarbonisation, with iron and steel production responsible for 8% of global emissions, with iron accounting for up to 90% of these emissions.

The Minerals Institute of Western Australia has found that a single green iron plant could add a cumulative $85 billion to gross domestic product, add $2.4 billion in real income per annum, and create 1,540 full time equivalent jobs.

A 2023 Accenture report suggests a green metals industry could deliver up to $122 billion a year in export revenue to Australia’s economy by 2040.

The Albanese Labor government is delivering a strong future for Australian made metals and the thousands of workers and families who depend on them.

This comes on top of the Albanese Labor Government’s existing measures to back in Australia’s thriving energy and mining sectors:

• $2 billion investment in Australian made aluminium
• Passing legislation to deliver Production Tax Credits for hydrogen and critical minerals, which was opposed by the Liberals and Nationals
• Investment in major critical minerals and rare earths projects through the Critical Minerals Facility including Iluka and Arafura
• a $3.4 billion investment in Geoscience Australia to accelerate the discovery of resources
• Funding Hydrogen Headstart to catalyse Australia’s hydrogen and clean energy industries

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

““Labor’s plan for a Future Made in Australia is very clear: we want Australia to make more things here.

“That’s why my Government is delivering $1 billion for our Green Iron Investment Fund.

“We’ve got the resources, the workers, and the know-how – the only thing we don’t have is time to waste.

“This investment is good for Australian workers and good for Australian business.”

Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic:

“The Australian Government is backing in our green metals producers as the world moves towards net zero.

“The Green Iron Investment Fund will enable Australia to take advantage of our existing iron ore supply chain, renewable energy potential, world class research and high-skilled workforce.

“Through this $1 billion Fund we’re supporting industrial diversification, productivity and economic growth, for a Future Made in Australia.”

This week, I will attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As a middle power and trading nation, cooperation with other countries ensures our nation’s success and keeps Australians safe.

The G20 is an opportunity for Australia to engage with some of the world’s largest economies on shared challenges, delivering strong and sustainable growth, and advancing peace and security.

I look forward to discussing our progress in the fight against global inflation and to continue the Albanese Government’s work to ease cost of living pressures.

The Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will mark the first ministerial meeting for South Africa’s host year.

The Australian Government supports South Africa’s G20 Presidency and its focus on building partnerships.

While in Johannesburg, I will also undertake other ministerial meetings with G20 members, including MIKTA ministers from Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Türkiye.

The Australian Greens have launched the first part of a comprehensive plan to deliver cheaper insurance during a climate crisis, in a bid to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and shift the costs of the climate crisis to those responsible for it. 

Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, will announce the first steps today alongside Greens’ candidate Mandy Nolan in the Greens’ winnable seat of Richmond, which is Australia’s second most at risk electorate to climate disasters. The Greens only need a 1.8% swing to win Richmond this election, and Mandy Nolan has been running a strong grassroots campaign in Richmond for over a year.

As at March 2024, more than 1.6 million households were experiencing home insurance affordability stress, with the climate crisis driving an increase in insurance premiums which significantly outpaced price rises for nearly all other goods and services. Meanwhile, insurance companies have been raking in record profits. 

The Greens’ plan for cheaper insurance includes the following elements:

• ENDING STAMP DUTY- Incentivising state governments to abolish stamp duty on house and car insurance.
• EXPANDED REINSURANCE POOL- Expanding the coverage of the Cyclone Reinsurance Pool to include all natural disasters.
• POLLUTER PAYS- Requiring coal, gas and oil companies to contribute to the reinsurance pool and Disaster Ready Fund.
• CONSUMER PROTECTIONS- More ACCC powers and stronger disclosure obligations on insurance companies to explain premium pricing. 
• RISK MAP- Establishing a public national disaster risk map and database.

And more to be announced.

An independent costing by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) shows that the stamp duty changes alone will put more than $4 billion back in people’s pockets across Australia in the first year. 

In NSW, the removal of stamp duty could reduce insurance premiums by around 10% for home insurance. In areas of heightened climate risk, such as the Northern Rivers, testimony to a recent Senate Inquiry suggests this change alone could save households $500-600 each year. In addition, an expanded reinsurance pool, increased transparency, and better risk mapping will lower premiums even further. 

With a minority parliament looming, the announcement is the latest in the series of the Greens’ ‘Robin Hood reforms’ that will be put on the table in any post-election negotiations, and will be funded by making big corporations and billionaires pay their fair share of tax. 

Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Mehreen Faruqi:

“The Greens will make fossil fuel companies pay their fair share to make insurance cheaper for everyday people.

“Families, renters and retirees should not have to pay skyrocketing insurance premiums for a climate crisis they did not cause. Filthy rich coal and gas companies caused the climate crisis and they should pick up the tab.

“During the Greens-led Senate inquiry into the impacts of climate risk on insurance, I heard from witness after witness about how extremely opaque insurance premium pricing is in Australia. There is a real lack of transparency and clarity, which makes it easier for insurance companies to price gouge and exploit the climate crisis to increase profit margins.

“People’s insurance premiums are skyrocketing with no explanation as to why. Consumers have a right to know how their premiums are being priced and deserve a meaningful explanation of why they are doubling and tripling in price.

“Stamp duty on insurance premiums is plainly unfair when people who face higher risks pay higher premiums and then more stamp duty on top. Abolishing these taxes is a no-brainer way to immediately reduce premiums. There also must be stronger oversight, monitoring, and disclosure requirements. 

“A free, accessible and up to date national disaster risk map and database that take into account climate change are crucial for informing communities, councils, insurers and government to prepare for climate-driven disasters like floods, respond to the aftermath, and identify mitigation measures. 

“The Albanese Government’s decision to approve 32 new coal and gas projects since coming to power will make the climate crisis worse and make insurance more expensive.

“The Greens will make corporations pay their fair share of tax to fund the services people need.

“With more Greens in parliament, like Mandy, we will end new coal and gas.”

Greens candidate for Richmond, Mandy Nolan:

“Our region is one of the most climate impacted and has some of the least affordable insurance in the country. The big corporations that caused this climate crisis should be the ones paying for it, not our local families who are already doing it tough.

“We’ve had the same Labor MP for 20 years and despite our region experiencing one of the worst climate fueled disasters in Australian history she has stood by while her government has approved 32 new coal and gas projects.

“We only need a 1.8% swing to win here. This election, you can vote to keep Dutton out, stop new coal and gas and make big fossil fuel companies pay their fair share.”

REFERENCES

https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/uninsurable-nation-australi…

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/insurer-profi…;

https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties/insurance-duty/types-of-insuranc

The NSW Government has rushed through a suite of laws that will significantly restrict the right to protest in NSW. The government suggested these laws were necessary to address the alarming rise in racially charged attacks and hate crimes.

 “We must unequivocally condemn racism, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia. Every person, regardless of their background, has the right to feel safe and to practise their faith freely” said NSW Greens Democracy spokesperson Kobi Shetty.

 “However, this bill does not effectively address those concerns. The bill wrongly conflates hate crimes with peaceful protest and grants sweeping new police powers that threaten our fundamental democratic freedoms.”

 The bill introduces broad new police powers to issue “move on” orders to protestors near places of worship, without requiring intent to obstruct.

 Ms Shetty warned that these vague provisions could be misused to stifle lawful protests, particularly in Sydney’s CBD, where many major places of worship are located.

 “Under these laws, peaceful protests at Town Hall, Hyde Park, or even outside Parliament could be shut down simply for being ‘near’ a place of worship,” Ms Shetty said.

 “There is no clear definition of what ‘near’ means, leaving it up to police discretion—a power that has repeatedly been used to disproportionately target First Nations people and other marginalised groups.”

 Legal and human rights organisations, including the Human Rights Law Centre, have raised the alarm about the bill’s overreach. They argue that it lacks clear legal thresholds, fails to meet human rights standards, and is likely to face constitutional challenges.

 “Religious vilification and intimidation are already criminal offences,” Ms Shetty said. “The violent incidents we’ve seen in recent months have been dealt with under existing laws. This bill is not about safety—it’s about suppressing dissent and expanding police powers to crackdown on protests.”

 The Greens sought to amend the legislation last night to address ambiguity and to reduce the impact these laws would have on human rights. This included a move to ensure that these new laws would not override the common law right to protest.

 “I’m incredibly disappointed that the NSW Labor Government did not support our sensible amendments to remove vague provisions and ensure the common law right to protest is protected.

 “Instead, we have another anti-protest bill on the books. One that will not meaningfully protect faith-based communities, but that will have a chilling effect on our democracy,” Ms Shetty said.

The Greens (WA) will push for Satterley’s North Stoneville development to be permanently scrapped, citing bushfire concerns and the impact on important habitat for threatened native species including the Chuditch, Phascogale and all three species of Black Cockatoo.

The North Stoneville development proposal remains a dangerous and destructive plan from more than three decades ago that fails to acknowledge climate risk and is totally inappropriate for Perth’s future. 

the Greens (WA) Kalamunda candidate Janelle Sewell:

“I will stand alongside the community to ensure dangerous and environmentally destructive developments in the highly vulnerable and increasingly volatile Perth Hills – such as the despised Satterley North Stoneville development – will never proceed.

“I’ve rallied with Save Perth Hills against the Satterley Hills development from the beginning of the campaign and will continue to fight to protect our environmentally vulnerable region.

“It’s a fundamental duty of care for the Greens – and for me – to ensure that any development in our region, safeguards, not endangers our bushfire-risk communities; recent fires in California have only fortified this position.

“In the last 20 years the Liberals have accepted almost $300,000 in donations from Nigel Satterley and Satterley Property Group while Labor have accepted just under $240,000 in the same period, including more than $36,000 in the last 18 months.

“Only the Greens can be trusted to protect and preserve Perth Hills because we are the only party that does not take corporate donations from property developers, like Nigel Satterley, and we have a proud history of supporting this community campaign from the beginning, through consecutive Liberal and Labor governments that had ample opportunity to stop it.”

WA Greens Environment spokesperson and Legislative Council candidate, Jess Beckerling:

“The impacts of back-to-back record dry summers remain for all to see throughout the Perth Hills, from Pickering Brook to Worooloo and across to Darlington; it is unthinkable that Satterley would be allowed to clear 60,000 native trees across 200 hectares of bush at a time when our natural environment is under so much pressure.

“Endangered Black Cockatoos are already starving and this project will further reduce their crucial habitat, as well as impact on other endangered wildlife including Chuditches and Phascogales.

“The offsets proposed for this disastrous project will do nothing to protect these species because offsets are notoriously problematic and Satterley has 110 years to implement them!

“This project has been knocked back multiple times because of environmental impact and bushfire risk; It is a testament to the influence of property developers in this state that this project is still on the table after more than thirty years of community opposition.”

WA Greens MLC Dr Brad Pettitt:

“Nothing about this development makes sense and the Perth Hills community will be rightly disappointed in the federal Labor government for granting this approval to offset the destruction of critical habitat for endangered black cockatoos and chuditches.

“Perth desperately needs to stop the urban sprawl, which means not clearing important bush habitat to build these kinds of car-dependent developments in bushfire prone areas that have limited access to essential services and employment opportunities.

“When this project was first conceptualised way back in 1991 there was less of an understanding of the impacts of climate change; now there is no excuse. This development no longer makes sense and to build it would put future residents at serious risk of climate-related impacts, especially bushfires.

“Perth needs smarter and more sustainable infill, not dangerous fringe development. Let’s preserve Perth Hills’ environmental biodiversity and create a more liveable Perth by rethinking how we build houses and communities for our growing population.”

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The Minns Labor Government is continuing work to create a safer New South Wales by taking a whole of community approach to addressing domestic and family violence, with Men’s Behaviour Change Programs (MBCPs) rolled out across an additional seven locations.

$10 million is being invested to increase the availability of these programs across the state as part of the Minns Labor Government’s $245.6 million package to address domestic and family violence in New South Wales, which has included:

• Implementing the state’s first ever Primary Prevention Strategy
• Working to expand the Staying Home Leaving Violence program state wide
• Introducing new offences for repeated and serious breaches of Apprehended Domesticc Violence Orders
• Making it harder than ever for alleged domestic violence offenders to get bail
• Introducing Serious Domestic Abuse Prevention Orders
• Modernising the definition of ‘stalking’ to include technology based harassment.

MBCPs are evidence-based group programs and services that focus on working with perpetrators of domestic and family violence to reduce or prevent the recurrence of abusive behaviour by a perpetrator towards a partner or family member. Between 2022 and 2024, 1,800 men participated in MBCPs in NSW.

The Minns Labor Government’s priority remains the safety of victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and ensuring they have access to support when they need it.

Following this expansion, the programs will now be available across 35 locations through 15 providers. The new locations are:

• Nowra, Shoalhaven LGA – Anglicare
• Ulladulla, Shoalhaven LGA – Anglicare
• Forster, Mid-Coast LGA – Manning Support Services
• Gloucester, Mid-Coast LGA – Manning Support Services
• Lithgow, Lithgow LGA – Plus Community
• Blacktown, Blacktown LGA – Relationships Australia
• Maitland, Maitland LGA – Relationships Australia

Providers must be registered as compliant with the Practice Standards for Men’s Domestic Violence Behaviour Change Programs and deliver evidence-based interventions, as well as additional one-on-one supports.

Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison said:

“The NSW Government is working hard to build a safer New South Wales.

“These programs are about taking accountability, about breaking the cycle of violence by working with perpetrators to understand their behaviour is never acceptable.

“The fact is to build a safer New South Wales, free from domestic and family violence, we need men who use violence to take responsibility for their actions and change their behaviour.”

NSW Women’s Safety Commissioner Dr Hannah Tonkin said:

“Addressing domestic and family violence is a priority in our state and nation.

“The expansion of the Men’s Behaviour Change Program will promote the safety of women and children by holding men accountable for their violent and abusive behaviour and supporting them to change.

“Programs like this can encourage participants to take responsibility for their behaviour and provide them with the skills and tools necessary to stop using violence and maintain respectful relationships.”

MBCP provider Relationships Australia NSW CEO Elisabeth Shaw said:

“Promoting the safety of women and children is essential to preventing domestic and family violence in our communities.

“Our Men’s Behaviour Change Program works with men who use violence to take responsibility, guiding them to be accountable for their actions and stop abusive behaviours in their family relationships.

“These men have recognised the need to change and have sought support to become safer partners and fathers. Through the program, they reflect on their behaviour, understand the underlying drivers of violence, and learn practical tools and strategies to manage themselves and de-escalate potentially aggressive situations.

“We also work with the men’s current or former partners and their children to ensure their safety and support recovery. Many have shared with us that they are now living in safe and respectful homes, free from violence.”

Support services:

For information on Men’s Behaviour Change Programs operating in your local area, contact the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.

If you or someone you know are in immediate danger, call the Police on Triple Zero / 000.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic and family violence, call the NSW Domestic Violence Line on 1800 65 64 63 for free counselling and referrals, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For confidential advice, support, and referrals, contact 1800 RESPECT or 13 YARN on 13 92 76.

Today I announce the appointment of Ms Lydia Santoso as Chair of the Australia-Indonesia Institute.

The Australia-Indonesia Institute has long championed initiatives that strengthen personal, institutional and cultural ties between Australia and Indonesia. Our relationship with Indonesia is grounded in a history of friendship and cooperation between our people and governments.

The Board sets the strategic direction for the Institute’s programs and activities, which support partnerships in business, the arts, education, health, science, technology and sport.

Ms Santoso has been a Board Member since 2015 and long been an advocate for forging cultural connections and deepening Australia’s economic engagement with Indonesia. She is currently Chair of the Australia Indonesia Business Council (NSW) and serves on the board of the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies.

I am also pleased to announce the appointment of three new board members, who each bring a wealth of experience to support the goals of the Institute, including the broadening and deepening of Australian-Indonesian relations:

• Dr Jemma Purdey is an Adjunct Fellow at the Australia Indonesia Centre, Monash University, the editor of Inside Indonesia magazine and a founding Director of the ReelOzInd! Australia Indonesia Short Film Festival.
• Mr Robert Law is a Director at Asialink Business, advising businesses on engagement with Asia.
• Mr Robbie Gaspar was the first Australian to play professional soccer in Indonesia and is President of the Indonesia Institute.

Ms Amanda Hodge, Southeast Asia correspondent for The Australian newspaper, and Ms Armina Rosenberg, portfolio manager at Minotour, an AI-powered hedge fund, have also been reappointed for a second three-year term.

I would like to thank outgoing Chair, Emeritus Professor Greg Fealy AM, and fellow Board Member, Franchesca Cubillo, for their contributions to the work of the Institute.

To find out more, see Australia-Indonesia Institute.

Dutton clueless on APS cuts

Peter Dutton’s determination to undo efforts to rebuild the Australian Public Service (APS) by slashing jobs will end up costing the nation more according to the Greens spokesperson on Finance and the Public Service, Senator Barbara Pocock.

New analysis commissioned by the Greens suggests that money spent on outsourcing work to the private sector costs more than three times as much as having the work done in-house.

Senator Barbara Pocock:

“Our analysis shows the government could have hired 179,832 public servants with the $20.8 billion that was spent on external labour in the last year of the Morrison Government. That massive spend only created 54,000 jobs in the private sector. You don’t need an economics degree to work out where to get the best value for money. It’s clearly in the public sector.

“These figures demonstrate that outsourcing public sector work has cost Australian taxpayers more than three times as much doing that work in-house. If Dutton is on an efficiency drive, he should be hiring more public servants.

“Peter Dutton is peddling a myth about a bloated public service. If you look at the APS headcount as a percentage of the labour force it has actually gone down over the past decade from 1.53% in 2012 to 1.36% in June last year.

“The public service has been hollowed out over the Coalition years. What we need now is not further denigration of the APS by a Musk-like razor gang, but to rebuild capacity to allow all of that core work, outsourced at great expense under Morrison, to be done more cheaply, more reliably and with more accountability by a well-resourced public service.

“Dutton has gone out of his way to characterise commonwealth public servants as Canberra-based and also claimed all of the positions added in the past 3 years have been in Canberra. This defies reality as only a third of the current headcount are in the ACT. There are over 60,000 federal public servants in NSW and Victoria alone; 24,000 in Queensland; nearly 13,000 in South Australia and more than 22,000 in regional Australia.

“The APS is far from Canberra centric. However, the Coalition strategy hinges on casting a well-staffed Canberra based bureaucracy as somehow being bad for the business of government. The opposite is actually true. All those dedicated APS workers in the state and territory capitals and out in the regions, rely on a strong and responsive back-of-house workforce in Canberra.

“This demonisation of the Canberra bureaucrats by Dutton, shows a failure to understand how the public service actually works. This is dangerous stuff coming from an alternative Prime Minister. What’s at stake is the quality of service that all Australians rely on in their dealings with government.

“If the leader of the opposition is not willing to name which jobs will go under a Coalition government, which state capitals will lose their workforce, which regional centres will lose more staff, perhaps it’s because he hasn’t got a clue.”

The Victorian Greens will first read a new Bill that would introduce a 0.05% levy on the big banks to generate $16.5 billion in revenue over the next decade which the Greens say could be invested into direct cost of living measures for Victorians. 

It comes as households anxiously await today’s RBA announcement on interest rates, just days after Commonwealth Bank recorded a mammoth $5.1 billion profit in just six months. 

The policy has been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office to raise $16.5 billion over the next decade, and approximately $4.8 billion over forward estimates, or around $1.5 billion annually. 

The Victorian Greens say the Bill is aimed at putting pressure on the Victorian Labor Government ahead of the fast approaching 2025 Budget, and that this is an opportunity for the new Treasurer to rein in the big banks while generating billions in revenue that could be invested into real cost of living relief for Victorians.  

the Victorian Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson, Aiv Puglielli: 

“Do you think it’s reasonable that the big banks can rake in over $5 billion in profits in just six months while we can’t even properly fund our public schools and hospitals?

“We’re told that Victoria is broke, that we can’t afford to upgrade our schools or build more public housing, or fix our health system, but the big banks are getting away scott free with cashing in on everyday Victorians. 

“Banking lobbyists will come out swinging but the reality is that the banks can afford this when they’re recording multi billion dollar record profits, paying their CEOs millions and we can’t even properly fund our public services. 

“With a budget around the corner, this levy is just one thing that we can do right now at the state level to hand a small amount of the big banks’ super profits back to Victorians.”

A disgusting pollution event at Verona Sands shows how unaccountable Tasmania’s salmon farming corporations have become, the Greens say.

“This is a gross and disgusting mess on a beautiful and much-loved beach,” Greens Senator for Tasmania Nick McKim said.

“This is what happens when salmon farming corporations think they are above the law.”

“The industry should have got on the front foot and been up front with Tasmanians about this event, but instead they’ve ducked for cover. This is appalling corporate behaviour.”

“The Labor and Liberal parties bend over backwards for salmon farms, which leads to complacency from the big multinational corporations who only care about profit.”

“We have a complicit Liberal state government in bed with salmon farming corporations, and a Federal Labor government promising to undermine Australia’s weak environment laws to benefit corporate profits.”

“The environment regulator needs to come down on the responsible company like a tonne of bricks, but more importantly the Labor and Liberal parties need to get out of the pockets of big salmon, and start acting to protect the environment.”