Category Archives: Australian Greens

Chris Bowen shares draft climate bill as independents and Greens turn up heat for more ambitious action

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Greens call for moratorium on new oil and gas projects as some independents urge Labor not to rush major policy for political reasons

The minister for climate change, Chris Bowen, is under intensifying pressure to beef up the government’s proposed legislation enshrining emissions reduction targets, with the Greens and some independents declaring the current commitments inadequate.

Bowen met on Thursday with climate focused independent MPs and representatives from the Greens to share a draft of the bill he will introduce during the first sitting week of the new parliament. He has invited MPs and senators to suggest amendments or ideas over the coming days.

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Labor backing fossil fuel projects could scupper Greens support for 43% target

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Adam Bandt vows to push Albanese government ‘further and faster’ on emissions reduction

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says the party’s support for the government’s climate legislation may hinge on whether it continues to back new fossil fuel projects, vowing to push Labor to go “further and faster” on its emission reduction goals.

Hitting back at the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, after he suggested the government would not negotiate with the Greens to pass the legislation through the Senate, Bandt accused Labor of being the “only obstacle” to greater climate ambition in the new parliament.

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Greens to seek changes to Labor’s integrity commission legislation to protect whistleblowers

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David Shoebridge reveals suite of amendments including budgetary independence and lowering bar to investigations

The Greens will seek to amend Labor’s integrity commission legislation to protect whistleblowers and lower the bar for investigations, in a test for government cooperation with the crossbench.

On Sunday the Greens justice spokesperson, David Shoebridge, revealed the party in the Senate would adopt a suite of amendments requested by transparency experts to align the Labor proposal with the crossbench bill championed by independent MP Helen Haines in the last parliament.

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‘Slap in the face’: independents furious at PM’s decision to cut advisory staff from four to one

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Anthony Albanese’s move to reduce crossbench staffers to pre-Coalition levels met with outrage

Furious independent MPs and senators have accused the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, of an “attack on democracy” after he decided to slash their staff allocation in one of his first dealings with the newly expanded crossbench.

One Nation has threatened to reject all government legislation as their “default position”, while crucial Senate vote David Pocock called the decision “extremely damaging” to the relationship with the crossbench. The Greens also claimed they have been given an effective staff cut, allocated the same number of staff as the last parliament despite their representatives growing from 10 to 16.

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Queenslanders embraced Greens because they saw politics was broken, says Adam Bandt

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Flush from winning three seats in Brisbane, Bandt debunked the myth that sunshine state residents are conservative

Far from being “inherently conservative”, as the political class assumed them to be, Queenslanders in fact went into the federal election with a “better understanding that politics was broken”, according to Greens leader Adam Bandt.

Bandt made the comments on Friday as he became the first Australian Green to address the Queensland Media Club in its 17-year history, but not before he had to deal with an elephant in the room when thanking the event’s sponsors, among whom was the Brisbane Airport Corporation.

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NSW police overreached in treatment of protesters after botched raid, civil groups say

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Human rights and environment organisations call for police to act ‘responsibly, with integrity’ ahead of planned climate action in Sydney

Unions, human rights groups and environmental organisations say police overreached in their treatment of protesters arrested after a bungled raid on the weekend, and have urged officers to act responsibly amid plans for climate action across Sydney in coming days.

The police operation targeting Blockade Australia protesters in the Colo Valley, in Sydney’s north-west, unravelled on Sunday when an activist at the remote property noticed two people wearing camouflage gear in bushland to the rear of the camp.

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Queensland budget’s record health spending meaningless without wages boost, unions say

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Pressure grows on state government to increase public sector salaries to meet cost of living

Record health funding promised in the Queensland budget is meaningless without a wages policy that attracts essential workers and keeps pace with cost of living increases, unions say.

Michael Clifford, the general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, said the 2022 budget surplus should be channelled into a fair pay increase for public sector workers after years of stagnant wages.

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Victorian Greens leader ousts party’s state convener over past comments about trans people

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Parliamentary leader Samantha Ratnam says she acted under party rules to overturn the recent election of Linda Gale

The leader of the Victorian Greens has ousted the party’s controversial state convener after successfully applying to have recent election results set aside.

Linda Gale, a senior industrial officer at the National Tertiary Education Union, was elected last Saturday to fill a casual vacancy as state convener of the Victorian Greens, despite co-authoring a 2019 paper that had been labelled “transphobic”.

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‘No alternative’: Greens MPs call for the party’s Victorian convener to resign

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Newly elected convener Linda Gale co-authored a 2019 document described as ‘inconsistent with Greens values’

Two Victorian Greens MPs say there is “no alternative” but for the party’s recently elected state convener to resign after she refused to disavow past comments that have been labelled “transphobic”.

Linda Gale, a senior industrial officer at the National Tertiary Education Union, was elected on Saturday to fill a casual vacancy of state convener of the Victorian Greens.

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Greens senator questions viability of new party convener over past comments about trans people

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Newly elected Victorian convener Linda Gale co-authored a 2019 document described as ‘inconsistent with Greens values’

Greens senator Janet Rice says the position of the party’s recently elected Victorian convener is “untenable” unless she distances herself from previous comments that have been labelled transphobic.

Linda Gale, a senior industrial officer at the National Tertiary Education Union, was elected on Saturday to fill a casual vacancy of state convener of the Victorian Greens.

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PM says ministry has more women than any other in history – as it happened

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Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Karen Hayes resigns; at least 56 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Quotas ‘might be’ something for Liberals to consider, Sussan Ley says

Deputy leader of the Liberal party Sussan Ley followed David Littleproud.

It doesn’t need to be legislated, however those policy discussions will happen through our party room and our shadow cabinet ... Demonstrating you’re serious about climate change doesn’t just include a conversation about targets.

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Labor secures majority government despite record non-major party vote and crossbench

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Melbourne seat of Macnamara called for ALP guaranteeing it at least 76 seats in the House of Representatives

Labor under Anthony Albanese will govern in majority with at least 76 seats in the House of Representatives despite a record non-major party vote and crossbench.

The ABC’s election analyst Antony Green on Monday night called the south Melbourne seat of Macnamara for Labor, with the returning MP, Josh Burns, guaranteeing an ALP majority in the 151-member lower house.

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Australia news live updates: Pacific countries reject China’s proposed security deal; vote counting continues with Labor one seat from majority

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China confirms Pacific-wide deal with 10 nations shelved; David Littleproud elected new National party leader with Peter Dutton to lead Liberals; seats of Gilmore, Deakin and Macnamara remain in the balance; Covid booster eligibility expanded as nation records 10 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s developments

Anthony Albanese has wasted no time attending the theatre as prime minister.

He’s also been taking the C1 plated car for a spin through Sydney’s inner west.

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Anthony Albanese vows to ‘keep it real’ as he seeks good rapport with crossbench

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Prime minister says he will treat Peter Dutton with respect: ‘I never underestimate my opponents’

Anthony Albanese has vowed to form a constructive relationship with parliament’s expanded crossbench and has warned against underestimating Peter Dutton as opposition leader.

In a wide-ranging interview on Sky News, Albanese reflected on the “great responsibility” of serving as prime minister but said he would try to “keep it real”.

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Queensland Labor turning green at the prospect of losing city stronghold

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Analysis: Implications of Greens wins could be decades-long – for both Labor and the LNP

A few days before the 2019 federal election, a group of regional Queensland state MPs held crisis talks with the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, and her then deputy, Jackie Trad.

They brought advance news of the thrashing that Labor was about to receive in the state’s regional areas. Some had copped abuse from voters at polling stations. They said delays approving the Adani Carmichael coalmine would ultimately cost them their seats.

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Pollsters breathe sigh of relief after accurately predicting Labor’s election victory

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Major polling companies changed methods after 2019 failure but two-party preferred measure misses Greens and independents

Australia’s major opinion polls all accurately predicted Saturday’s Labor election victory, in a boost to pollsters’ reputations after the industry-wide failure at the 2019 election.

Surveys measuring voter sentiment throughout the campaign pointed to a Labor win, with the polls tightening in the final week before Saturday’s election.

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PM has ‘frank and very positive’ call with Johnson – as it happend

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Anthony Albanese has spoken to the British prime minister on his flight to the Quad meeting in Tokyo after being sworn in, along with four senior ministers; Monique Ryan says ‘work begins anew’ after Josh Frydenberg concedes; Dave Sharma concedes Wentworth; nation records at least 11 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

And lastly, Ryan is asked what her view will be if Peter Dutton wins leadership of the Liberal party:

From my point of view, I’m a sort of centrist politician and I have been elected in that way by the people of Kooyong.

Taking the Liberal party further to the right I don’t think would resonate well in Kooyong. And I think members of other electorates around Australia would have that concern as well.

I think that the population of Australia expects better from its government.

This is a government that hasn’t held women safe in its own workplace. It’s a government that has seen an increase in homelessness from women over 50.

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Senate may have a progressive majority as Greens and David Pocock make election gains

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If Saturday’s count points to the final result, Anthony Albanese’s government will not face a hostile upper house

While election night coverage was mostly focused on the House of Representatives, there has been a significant shift to the left, potentially setting up a progressive Senate majority, unlike the deadlock experienced by the first Rudd government.

Labor and the Greens hold only 35 seats in the outgoing Senate, meaning they need to win four more for the Greens to hold the sole balance of power. Labor will want to avoid the deadlock experience from 2008 to 2011, when Labor needed the Greens, Nick Xenophon and Family First senator Steve Fielding to pass legislation. This deadlock led the Rudd government to instead work with the opposition on climate legislation, among other issues, and thus opened up the space for Tony Abbott to wreck the government’s agenda.

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Anthony Albanese claims election victory over Scott Morrison in 2022 federal election – as it happened

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Anthony Albanese arrives for speech; Scott Morrison to step down as leader after conceding defeat; ‘Liberal family suffered a terrible day,’ Peter Dutton says; Labor claims Reid; Zoe Daniel claims victory in Goldstein; Allegra Spender wins Wentworth from Dave Sharma. This blog is now closed

I’m a fairly big footy fan, but not sure how much all these analogies mean to the rest of voters (and I believe kicking into the wind can actually be an advantage in rugby union sometimes?)

On Weekend Today, Scott Morrison managed to turn a question about whether he has BBQ sauce on his democracy sausage into a stump speech about jobkeeper and co-funding the hospital system during the pandemic. We can’t fault him - those are more important issues than what he was asked.

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Federal court orders removal of anti-Labor signs in three Victorian electorates

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Labor sought urgent injunction to remove misleading campaign material in Higgins, McEwen and Hawke that used Greens colours and read ‘For our future, put Labor last’

The federal court has ordered the removal of anti-Labor campaign material appearing across three electorates in Victoria, including the ultra marginal seat of Higgins.

Labor on Saturday sought an urgent injunction to remove campaign material appearing in Higgins, McEwen and Hawke, which used the Greens’ party colours and read “For our future, put Labor last”.

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