Category Archives: Australian Greens

Controversial bill to protect Tasmanian salmon industry passes despite environmental concerns

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Critics say industry threatens the endangered Maugean skate and laws were rushed through with ’no proper process’

Controversial legislation to protect the Tasmanian salmon industry has passed parliament after the government guillotined debate to bring on a vote in the Senate on Wednesday night.

Government and Coalition senators voted in favour of the bill, which was designed to bring an end to a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie harbour in 2012 was properly approved.

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Bob Brown urges Greens to punish Labor at election if Albanese amends law to protect salmon farming

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PM’s pledge to protect Tasmanian industry will weaken laws already failing to protect natural sites and at-risk species, environmentalists say

Former Greens leader Bob Brown has urged the minor party not to preference Labor ahead of the Liberal party in Tasmanian seats at the upcoming election if the Albanese government legislates to effectively exempt salmon farming from national environment laws.

Conservationists have sharply criticised Anthony Albanese’s pledge that he will rush through legislation next week to protect the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour, on the state’s west coast, from the potential results of a long-running legal review.

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Premier claims WA a ‘renewable energy powerhouse’ but leaked document shows wind and solar projects have ‘stalled’

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Exclusive: Government document confirms electricity from large-scale renewables has flatlined, with one campaigner saying pipeline has ‘little sign of life’

Officials have warned the Western Australian Labor government that work to build wind and solar farms for the state’s main electricity grid has stalled under its leadership, a leaked document shows.

A confidential state government document reveals state bureaucrats advised the government that the “decarbonisation work program” in Perth’s electricity grid had “stalled to date”. It said there were “few new wind developments” advanced enough to be added to the grid before the promised closure of a coal power station in 2027.

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The 50 public schools in Australia where parents pay the highest voluntary fees

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At all of these schools, parents paid on average $1,800 a student, according to data from the national education and curriculum authority

Many parents with children in public school are paying thousands of dollars a year in fees and contributions at levels rivalling the compulsory fees paid to attend some private schools, leading to concerns the principle of a free, government-funded education is being undermined.

At the 50 public schools where parents paid the most in fees and contributions, parents paid an average of more than $1,800 a student, an analysis of the latest funding data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, provided to Guardian Australia by the Greens, reveals.

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Australia news live: Woodside doubles profits thanks to record production of oil; funnel-web spider shortage threatens antivenom program

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Australia’s largest oil and gas producer has doubled its profits to $5.6bn. Follow today’s news live

Senate estimates will be back under way today, and AAP has flagged a little of what we can expect:

Creative Australia bosses, including the chief executive, Adrian Collette, will front an estimates hearing and it’s expected they’ll be questioned about the selection body’s shock decision to ditch the Venice Biennale team.

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Australian public school voluntary fees surge almost 40% in two years

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Greens vow to abolish public school fees and accuse major parties of shifting costs on to families struggling with cost of living

The average amount paid in voluntary fees and contributions by parents with children at public schools has surged by almost 40% in two years, new data shows.

While government schools in Australia are free, they can request parents pay voluntary contributions or donate funding towards the curriculum or extracurricular activities.

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NSW Labor accused of trying to ‘redesign’ a mental health system with no psychiatrists

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Patient care compromised by closing beds and shifting workload to less qualified staff, motion claims

The New South Wales Labor government is seeking to “redesign” the state’s mental health system without psychiatrists, despite the risks to patient care, its political rivals claim.

In a NSW legislative council meeting on Wednesday, the shadow assistant minister Susan Carter and the Greens’ health spokesperson, Dr Amanda Cohn, lambasted the Minns government’s handling of psychiatrists’ mass resignations, with Carter accusing the responsible ministers of having “sought to redesign our mental health system to work without specialist psychiatrists”.

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Jacinta Allan dismisses rail loop concerns as Labor awaits outcome of massive swing in Werribee

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Victorian premier denies any MPs have told her they want SRL money to be spent elsewhere after byelection battering

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has sought to dismiss concerns that the Suburban Rail Loop project should be halted after Labor took a battering in the Werribee byelection.

Counting resumed in the outer western Melbourne seat on Monday and both major parties expect – if postal votes follow the pattern of those already counted – Labor’s candidate, John Lister, will retain his narrow lead over the Liberal party’s Steve Murphy.

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The weekend byelection results were close to Labor and the Greens’ worst case scenario – but it’s not all good news for the Liberals

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One federal Labor MP said his party’s brand has ‘taken a dive’ in Victoria – but others at the state level believe time is on their side

Counting in the Werribee byelection is still under way. But even if Labor manages to scrape through, the Victorian government is just a few hundred disgruntled votes away from losing its grip on this heartland seat.

That is a problem Jacinta Allan knows cannot be ignored.

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Victoria byelections: Liberals claim Greens seat as Allan pledges to ‘do more’ after vote dives in Labor heartland

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Greens concede loss to Liberals in Prahran and ALP on a knife-edge in Werribee

The Greens have conceded the loss of the Victorian state seat of Prahran to the Liberals, while the result in the once-Labor stronghold of Werribee remains too close to call.

The Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, said on Sunday the result in the inner-Melbourne seat was close but that it was clear the minor party will “fall just short” when counting resumes on Monday.

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Australia news live: delays up to 70 minutes on Sydney trains as industrial action begins; Hume says Coalition would cut ‘bloated bureaucracy’

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‘Passengers should expect delays, service cancellations and large service gaps’ across Sydney today, NSW TrainLink warns. Follow today’s news live

Wong ‘absolutely confident’ government can work with Trump as US president

Moving to another topic, Penny Wong was asked about her invite to Donald Trump’s inauguration in the US, and responded:

Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, and I’m honoured, on behalf of the country, to have been invited to his inauguration.

This includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial. So that is their obligation, [and] we will look at the facts when they have been ascertained.

But I want to be clear, all options are on the table. Those options include expelling the ambassador and recalling Australia’s ambassador in Russia … I need, as the foreign minister, to identify and ascertain the facts beforehand.

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Australia news live: SpaceX debris disrupts Qantas flights from Sydney to South Africa

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Rowland reacts to number of women preselected by Liberal party to replace retiring MPs

Michelle Rowland was also asked about the fact just one woman has been preselected to replace eight Liberal MPs who are retiring at the next election. Is she disappointed by this?

Clearly, Peter Dutton talks a big game when it comes to these issues, but the reality is borne out by the fact that they continue to overlook women for public office … For my mind, that says everything about Peter Dutton being stuck in the past, just as he’s stuck in the past around the national broadband network, his response to this announcement is to call it a joke, which is an insult to regional communities.

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Average renter would take 8.3 years to save enough for a house deposit, new Victorian analysis shows

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Exclusive: PBO report based on wage growth, house prices and rent rises says nearly a decade needed if 20% of gross income is put aside

It could take almost a decade for the average Victorian renter who puts aside 20% of their gross income to save enough money for a home deposit, according to analysis from the state’s independent Parliamentary Budget Office.

But if rents were to increase in line at the historically high rate seen in 2022 and 2023, the time needed to save for a deposit could blow out to more than 65 years.

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Australia news live: Gallagher says she expects Pocock to trump her in ACT Senate race; more ball-shaped ‘debris’ on Sydney beach

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Detectives investigating four separate incidents of children being approached by drivers in white vans in Melbourne

Victoria police detectives are investigating four separate incidents in Melbourne in the last month of children being approached by drivers in white vans.

People like Mr Rogan prey on people’s vulnerabilities: they prey on fear, they prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society.

They entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative – I personally find it deeply repulsive.

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Senator calls social media ban a ‘sham’ – as it happened

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Canavan says under-16 social media ban has caused new generation to become passionate about democracy

Nationals senator Matt Canavan was loudly outspoken against the under-16 social media ban bill and voted against it – but as we know, the bill ultimately passed.

It has been great seeing people learn how the parliament works. And with that in mind, note that the social media bill is not yet law. Tomorrow morning it heads back to the House of Representatives because there were amendments passed in the Senate tonight. It then has to go to the governor general. But both these steps are almost certain to happen.

Thanks again for all of your help and support. We got some amendments on digital ID so it was not for nothing and the fight continues.

As it currently stands, underlying inflation is still too high to be considering lowering the cash rate target in the near term.

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After a year of fighting, the Greens grant most of PM’s Christmas wishes in late bill flurry

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This week, and particularly the passing of 31 bills on a frenetic final day, has done a lot to cement Labor’s first term agenda

On Thursday after question time, Anthony Albanese gave an end-of-year speech thanking his colleagues and opponents, although at times it was difficult to tell which was which.

Turning to the crossbench, the prime minister spoke about the importance of respect in politics but couldn’t help himself when it came to an obligatory reference to the “Greens political party”.

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Paul Karp is Guardian Australia’s chief political correspondent

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Labor to sit out Prahran byelection as ex-Greens MP Sam Hibbins departs amid controversy

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Exclusive: Victorian Greens confident of retaining inner Melbourne seat as former MP ‘absolutely disputes’ claims by intern

The Victorian Greens are confident they can hold on to the inner-Melbourne seat of Prahran despite new allegations against their former MP, Sam Hibbins, as Labor opts to sit out the byelection.

Guardian Australia understands Labor’s administrative committee will meet on Tuesday evening, where it is expected they will decide not to field a candidate in the byelection, which was triggered by Hibbins’ resignation at the weekend.

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Musk argues social media bill may not be lawful – as it happened

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Does the delay on gambling ad restrictions have anything to do with the demands of lobbyists?

Clare O’Neil said it wasn’t about lobbying, but “about making sure that we get this right”.

And the minister has pointed to previous attempts to scale back gambling advertising that have actually resulted in more gambling advertising. This is a delicate area, and we’ve got to get the balance right, and that’s what the minister is seeking to do.

These complicated matters, they just are. You know, if this was a really simple problem to fix, then it would have been fixed a long time ago.

I would say our government deserves credit for stepping up and saying we’re going to take action on this, and the minister [Michelle Rowland] is doing what is appropriate, which is diligently working through what the proposals will look like.

The minister is working with people, experts, stakeholders, others who will be affected by this legislation, and the government has said will come forward with … proposals early next year.

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Thorpe and Faruqi to ask Senate to investigate alleged racism and sexism in parliament

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Exclusive: Two senators sponsor motion calling for a review of rules covering discriminatory language and behaviour

Lidia Thorpe and Mehreen Faruqi will ask the Senate’s procedure committee to investigate racism and sexism in federal parliament, raising concerns about “white privilege” and how women of colour are treated in politics.

The two senators, former colleagues in the Greens before Thorpe quit the party for the crossbench, have co-sponsored a Senate motion calling for investigation into whether the chamber’s rules should be updated to “eliminate language, behaviour, decision-making, and practices that are sexist, racist or otherwise exclusionary and discriminatory”.

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Greens and some independents are biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap, data shows

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Labor and Coalition would have missed out on $4.1m and $4.7m in donations after public funding boost, while the Greens would have been $2.9m better off

The Greens and independent MPs who ran low-cost campaigns have emerged as the biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap and increased public funding of elections, data shows.

According to a Guardian Australia analysis of 2021-22 data, the Greens would have lost just $2.7m in donations if Labor’s proposed $20,000 cap had been law at the time, a sum more than made up for by a $5.6m increase in public funding. In net terms, the Greens would have been $2.9m better off.

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