Category Archives: Australian Greens

Grace Tame says ‘spare me the condescension, old man’ after Albanese defends ‘difficult’ comment

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PM clarifies remark but says he disagrees with some language the 2021 Australian of the Year has used

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has said “we all know what you meant” after the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, claimed he meant to describe her “difficult life” when he labelled her “difficult”.

Speaking in Melbourne on Thursday morning, the prime minister said he had not meant to describe Tame as “difficult” at a News Corp event on Wednesday, when he was asked to describe public figures in one word. Instead he meant that her life had been “difficult”, he said.

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All-male lineup take top slots at ABC Sydney after Chris Bath’s shock departure

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Director of audio concedes ‘there is always more to do’ on diversity as station staff express dismay at dearth of female presenters

ABC radio’s chief, Ben Latimer, says “there is always more to do” on diversity after Chris Bath was replaced with a male presenter on ABC Sydney, leaving the station with an all-male lineup from Breakfast through to Drive in 2026.

Bath, who announced her resignation after only one year on Monday, will be replaced by Thomas Oriti in the key Drive slot, which was vacated by the veteran broadcaster Richard Glover after 26 years.

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Survey finds 40% of Australian women without kids hesitant to have children because of climate change

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Research which polled a representative sample of 2,000 people also found over a third of Coalition voters believed the climate would not change at all

About 40% of Australian women without kids say they are hesitant to have children because of climate change, a new survey suggests.

The survey, on attitudes about the impacts of global heating, also found that half of Australians were very or extremely concerned about climate change and two in five believed the climate would be “much hotter” in 2050.

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Greens and Australian Christian Lobby form ‘unholy alliance’ to shut down late-night pokies in NSW

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Exclusive: The political foes have set aside decades of animosity to ‘work constructively on gambling reform’ after both describing the NSW government’s actions as insufficient

Limited action on gambling reform and record levels of harm have prompted “an unholy alliance” between the Greens and the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), which has pledged to rally support for the progressive party’s legislation.

The offer of support came shortly after NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann announced a bill to force the closure of all poker machine venues from 2am to 10am and remove exemptions for more than 650 pubs and clubs that can operate within this period.

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Millions of Australians eligible for 5% first home buyers scheme may be unable to afford repayment

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Greens and experts argue policies that let first home buyers spend more than usual only creates more expensive housing – without lifting the proportion of homeowners

Millions of Australians eligible to take up the federal government’s new 5% deposit scheme could be unable to afford mortgage repayments, new analysis has shown.

Data compiled by the Parliamentary Library and commissioned by the Greens shows of the 3.8 million Australians in the top 10 most common professions in Australia, the vast majority would be unable to afford mortgage repayments on the median Australian home without falling into housing stress.

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NSW urged to stop strip-searches of young people after court ruling spotlights police conduct

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Supreme court rules police suspicion that a person is in possession of a prohibited drug ‘is not sufficient to conduct a strip-search’

Advocates are calling on the New South Wales government to scrap strip-searches of young people altogether, saying a landmark court ruling found “systemic” issues with the way police have been using their powers.

Justice Dina Yehia handed down her findings in the NSW supreme court on Tuesday in a class action brought by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and the Redfern Legal Centre against the state of NSW.

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Bob Katter distances himself from neo-Nazi group associated with megaphone at anti-immigration protest

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Separately, Greens call on Queensland MP to ‘apologise or resign’ for verbal altercation with Channel Nine reporter last week

The federal MP Bob Katter has distanced himself from a neo-Nazi group that claimed ownership of a megaphone he used at a Townsville rally against mass immigration, with the veteran politician claiming he has been the victim of “bullying” in the media.

The Greens have separately called on Katter, the member for Kennedy, to “apologise or resign” over his verbal altercation with a Channel Nine reporter last week, asking the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission to investigate his conduct.

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WA Museum partnership with Woodside criticised as record-breaking marine heatwave decimates coral reefs

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A report finding 75% of coral is bleached or dead along a 1,500km stretch of WA coastline is released as fossil fuel giant inks partnership extension

The WA Greens and the state’s peak conservation body have condemned the extension of a research partnership between the Western Australian Museum and Woodside, as the state reels from a record-breaking marine heatwave that has killed corals over a 1,500km stretch of ocean.

The five-year continuation of the “longstanding collaboration”, in which the gas giant supports the museum’s biodiversity research along the WA coastline, would allow for further targeted research along the Gascoyne coast, according to announcements.

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Sea of people march across Sydney Harbour Bridge calling for an end to killing in Gaza

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NSW police estimate 90,000 walked despite force and premier opposing rally, while Palestine Action Group claims up to 300,000 peacefully protested

At least 100,000 pro-Palestine marchers, including Julian Assange, the former foreign minister Bob Carr and the government MP Ed Husic, have marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge in the rain to protest against Israel’s conduct in Gaza and to speak out about the children starving there.

The world-famous landmark was closed to traffic at 11.30am on Sunday, with protesters gathering in Lang Park in the city centre before enduring heavy rain as they walked across the bridge.

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Labor and Greens unite to condemn One Nation senators for snubbing acknowledgment of country

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Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy says stunt by Pauline Hanson’s party was ‘incredibly childish’ and disrespectful

Labor and the Greens have united to condemn One Nation senators for turning their back on parliament’s acknowledgement of country statements, describing them as “incredibly childish” and “hurtful” stunts.

One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, stood in the chamber as the Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, government Senate leader, Penny Wong, and Greens leader, Larissa Waters, all made statements criticising the rightwing minor party’s “deliberate acts of disrespect”.

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Australian Greens leader says she has not read reasons for party’s expelling of co-founder

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Larissa Waters dismisses responsibility for party’s decision to expel Drew Hutton

Greens leader Larissa Waters says she has not read documentation outlining why the party’s co-founder, Drew Hutton, was expelled because she has been busy preparing for parliament.

The decision to terminate Hutton’s life membership of the Greens was upheld by delegates of the state branches on Sunday, over what the party considers his pursuit of debate harmful to trans people but that he has framed as an issue of free speech.

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Drew Hutton helped found the Australian Greens. So why has the troubled party booted him from its ranks?

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The former life member says his support of those voicing ‘trans-critical’ views is a matter of free speech – but others say it’s a question of what values the party supports

Drew Hutton had assumed he would live out his life a card-carrying Green. The 78-year-old retiree turned up to local branch meetings, staked party corflutes into the lawn of his home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and handed out how-to-vote cards long after stepping down from active duty in the party.

Given Hutton had been awarded life membership and his friend – and the Green’s first national leader – Bob Brown had lauded him a “towering figure in Australian environmental and social politics” who, “more than anybody” (including Brown himself) was “responsible for the formation of the Australian Greens”, it must have seemed a safe bet.

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Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly to be made permanent and granted decision-making powers under treaty bill

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Body will be able to advise ministers on issues directly affecting Aboriginal people in the state

Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly will manage the rollout of community infrastructure grants and have a direct line to ministers and the power to make appointments to government boards under legislation to be introduced to parliament this year.

As first reported by Guardian Australia this week, the Victorian government and the First Peoples’ Assembly have confirmed that the statewide treaty bill will establish the assembly as a representative body to provide advice to government.

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Australia news live: some Central Coast residents told ‘evacuate now’ amid coastal erosion threat; children’s commissioner says child safety ‘not a priority in this country’

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NSW braces for damaging winds and heavy rain from coastal low. Follow the latest updates live

Gas market review will ‘drive efficiencies in the system’, King says

The resources minister, Madeleine King, says a review into gas market regulations will drive efficiencies into the system.

Our existing policy has made sure that that gas is available. So that’s that combination of existing policies brings in that extra 600 petajoules. So indeed, that work is already happening.

What we’re trying to do and will endeavour to do, and the industry is very supportive of, is to make that more coherent, and how we can make sure we learn from the whole system, reduce duplication in some of the regulation, some of the reporting factors, simply how we can make it work better for consumers, for industrial users, and for the Gas industry itself. And that drives efficiencies in the system, which we expect will help with pricing.

We were honest with the public from day one: the toll situation would get worse before it got better. That’s the reality of the infrastructure pipeline locked in by our predecessors.

And now, the most recent NSW Budget reflects that – with toll revenue projected to rise from $180m to $283m in the 2028–29 financial year.

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Lawyers investigate whether Hannah Thomas could sue police over alleged excessive use of force at Sydney protest

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Critical incident investigation declared into arrest of former Greens candidate who says she could lose sight in right eye

Lawyers are investigating whether protesters could sue New South Wales police over alleged excessive use of force during a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney, after which the former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas said she could lose sight in her right eye.

Thomas, 35, who ran against the prime minister at the federal election, was arrested at the Belmore protest which was attended by about 60 people on Friday. She was subsequently taken to hospital and underwent surgery.

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Confusion and chaos reign in Tasmanian parliament with no endgame in sight

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A vote of no-confidence in Jeremy Rockliff’s government has pushed the state to the brink of an election that all the major players agree is a bad idea

Craig Garland, the fisherman turned maverick independent MP from Tasmania’s north-western corner, summed it up best when he told state parliament on Thursday morning he was “a bit confused”.

Garland wasn’t confused about what he was doing – he calmly backed a no-confidence motion in the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff. But he expressed doubts about how the Tasmanian parliament got here, and what lay ahead.

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Lidia Thorpe urges Albanese to ‘do his homework’ as PM insists Dorinda Cox allegations have been ‘dealt with’

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Independent senator – who made complaint about Cox – says Labor needs to take bullying allegations in the workplace seriously

Lidia Thorpe has urged Anthony Albanese to “do his homework” on bullying allegations against Greens turned Labor senator Dorinda Cox, claiming the prime minister was “wrong” to publicly declare the matters had been dealt with.

The independent Victorian senator – previously a member of the Greens – revealed on Wednesday she had formally filed a bullying complaint against Cox in March 2023, months after she first notified the then Greens leader, Adam Bandt.

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Larissa Waters urges Labor to be bold while Liberals in ‘electoral wilderness’ and says Greens hurt by ‘Trump effect’

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New federal Greens leader says current political climate an opportunity for ‘real reform’ on environmental protections

Larissa Waters has urged Labor to be bold on environmental protections, saying the Liberal party being left in the “electoral wilderness” means now is the time for the Albanese government to go against its “timidity”.

The new federal Greens leader – who was elected unopposed on Thursday – has also acknowledged her party was a casualty of the Trump effect, sending voters “into the arms of Labor”.

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Australia news live: Anthony Albanese says Tanya Plibersek ‘very positive’ about new role after being shifted from environment portfolio

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Follow today’s news live

Labor’s Tanya Plibersek has avoided comment about her ministerial desires or expectations, offering little other than general remarks when pressed this morning on the issue of the forthcoming cabinet announcement from Anthony Albanese.

Plibersek, who previously held the environment portfolio, told Sunrise this morning that cabinet decisions were “completely a matter for the prime minister” and that she was just “very grateful” to be on the front bench, and to have won the election, and to get to do “a good job for the government and for the people of Australia” again … and, well, you get the idea.

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Australia news live: Erin Patterson’s daughter says her mother was a ‘very good cook’; PM’s department boss quits

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Erin Patterson’s daughter’s pre-recorded video evidence is being played to the jury in Patterson’s triple murder trial. Follow today’s news live

‘I want to harness all the talent in my team’

“We do need to reflect a modern Liberal party,” Sussan Ley says. She is speaking on Sunrise before the Liberals’ party room meeting on Tuesday, when they will select a new leader:

It’s about making sure that I am listening to my colleagues and … demonstrate to them we want a strong approach that includes everyone. I want to harness all of the talent in my team, take it forward under my leadership and meet the Australian people where they are because, clearly we didn’t do that at the last election. But we do need to reflect a modern Liberal party, meeting modern Australians in every single walk of life across the country.

On the weekend, we suffered a significant election defeat and since then, I have been having many conversations with my colleagues, members of the community, with members of the party, indeed the Coalition, with everyday Australians. I have listened. We got it wrong. We need to do things differently, going forward, and we do need a fresh approach. So, on Tuesday morning when the Liberal party room meets in Canberra, I will be putting myself forward for the position of leader of the federal party.

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