Category Archives: Australian Greens

Labor’s climate bill set to pass with support from Greens and Bridget Archer

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Adam Bandt says Greens will back legislation but signals further fight on new fossil fuel projects, while the Liberal MP says she’ll cross the floor

The House of Representatives is moving towards passage of Labor’s bill enshrining emissions reductions targets for 2030 and 2050 after the Greens signalled they would support the legislation and Liberal MP Bridget Archer confirmed she would cross the floor.

After weeks of negotiations, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, confirmed on Wednesday his party would back the Albanese government’s legislation in both chambers, and king-making Senate independent, David Pocock, confirmed his priority was “getting a target locked in and legislated”.

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Liberal MP Bridget Archer to cross the floor on climate bill – as it happened

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Defence review to be announced

The government is announcing a defence force review today, which it wants completed in about six months. Is this in response to China?

It’s because we need an ADF that is well-positioned to meet our security challenges over the next decade and beyond.

And we have inherited, as you all know, some real capability issues, some of which have been well publicised in the media. It is important that we look at how we ensure the Australian defence force can meet our security challenges, not just now, but in the years ahead. So, you know, I welcomed this and the prime minister and the defence minister will be having – we’ll have more details about this later today.

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Politics live: ‘difficult day for Australians with a mortgage’, Chalmers says; east coast gas shortages in spotlight

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The resources minister, Madeleine King, has taken the first step in reining in the big three LNG exporters by ‘triggering the trigger’

Labor unlikely to extend the fuel excise cut

Asked about the fuel excise in that same interview, Jim Chalmers said:

I’ve been really upfront with people, Charles, for some time now – before the election, during the election and after the election – and pointed out that extending that would cost some billions of dollars and the budget can’t afford that. We’ve inherited a budget which is absolutely heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal party debt. And when interest rates are rising, it actually costs more and more to service that debt.

The fastest-growing area of government spending in the budget is actually servicing the debt that we’ve inherited because, as interest rates rise, it becomes more expensive to pay that back. So every dollar borrowed, whether it’s by our predecessors or by the new government costs more to pay back and we need to be conscious about that. We need to be responsible about that and upfront about that. And that’s what we’re being.

This isn’t about any one individual. This is about a difficult day for Australians with a mortgage, another difficult day I think everybody is bracing for the interest rate rise that the governor and the Reserve Bank board has flagged.

These decisions are taken independently by the Reserve Bank, by its board and by its governor. People are expecting this outcome today. But it won’t make it any easier.

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Australia politics live: Monique Ryan tells Coalition ‘put your masks on’ in question time; Greens say RBA interest rate hikes won’t solve inflation

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The housing minister, Julie Collins, says Australia’s rate of homelessness is “unacceptable”, as she promises a greater leadership role from the federal government in the sector.

Australia today marks the beginning of Homelessness Week, with social agencies calling on governments nationwide to do more to address housing and rental affordability, as well as the underlying factors contributing to homelessness.

Our reforms aim to ensure every Australian has access to safe and affordable housing to improve social and economic outcomes for all Australians, including those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness,” she said on Monday.

According to the 2016 Census, in Australia there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness, and this figure is unacceptable.”

We all need to be heading in the same direction.

We need to be ambitious ... we all need to be working together to solve the housing affordability issues we have.

What’s happened is the states and territories have been doing their own thing and I don’t think there’s been enough national leadership.

In its gas inquiry 2017-2025 interim report released on Monday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the east coast gas market is facing a gas shortfall of 56 petajoules in 2023.

This gap is about 10% of annual domestic demand, ‘signifying a substantial risk to Australia’s energy security’, the report says.

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Indigenous voice campaigners say ample detail already available in wake of PM’s stirring speech

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Uluru Statement from the Heart advocates praise Anthony Albanese’s Garma festival speech but Coalition wants more details

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, acknowledged we have been here before as a nation: at a crossroads, about to decide a path that will affect the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people for generations to come.

But for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, this time the stakes are so much higher, because the past is littered with the broken promises of politicians.

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Independents, diversity and climate: highlights of new MPs’ first speeches to Australian parliament

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As Australia’s most diverse federal parliament opened, new members introduced themselves and set out priorities

The 47th parliament is the most diverse ever, including a record number of women, 11 First Nations representatives and a lower house crossbench of 16 independent or minor party MPs.

But before any of the new MPs can speak on important bills or other parliamentary business, the first order of business is a speech to introduce yourself and set out priorities.

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Australia politics live: Pauline Hanson under fire for welcome to country walkout; Kylea Tink and Stephen Bates make first speeches to parliament

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AAP has a preview of today’s inflation figures, which are going to be horrible:

Australia could be about to record its worst inflation outcome in more than 31 years, paving the way for higher mortgage and lending rates.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the consumer price index data for the June quarter – when the price of a supermarket iceberg lettuce hit $10 – on Wednesday.

The financial market consensus is for a headline annual inflation rate of 6.2% – the highest since the December quarter of 1990.

That would be more than the 5.1% rate logged in the March quarter, which was the fastest pace of annual price growth in 21 years.

“Since then, inflation has likely broadened and deepened,” St George chief economist Besa Deda said.

The quarterly outcome is forecast at 1.8%, which would be slightly lower than the 2.1% recorded in the previous quarter.

But the range of economists’ forecasts for the quarterly number is wide – between 1.6% and 2.8% – signalling uncertainty about how deeply entrenched price pressures have become since March.

While the main drivers of inflation in the June quarter will again be fuel and food costs, housing and building costs are also likely to be strong – perhaps as high as 20% year-on-year, according to JP Morgan economists.

Other factors are adding to the pressure, particularly in the housing sector, where rents are rising and demand for new homes and related construction services and products remains strong.

It is the first question time today. In case you missed it, here is Murph’s analysis on the plan so far:

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Zoe Daniel and Sally Sitou call for climate action in first speeches to parliament – as it happened

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Cash: No way the Coalition will support a lower emissions target

The next interview on ABC radio RN is with the shadow employment minister, Michaelia Cash, who has a lot to say about the scrapping of the ABCC. Cash, you may remember, was one of its biggest supporters while in government.

The Coalition won more votes than the Australian Labor party.

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Government establishes new measures at airports to stop FMD; 63 Covid deaths – as it happened

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US ambassador arrives in Australia

The new US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, has arrived this morning and told the media she feels “lucky … to serve here and to live here.”

There’s a big agenda and I can’t wait to get started. Personally this means a great deal to me. My my husband is here with me. We first came to Australia on our honeymoon 36 years ago, almost exactly, because three days ago was our anniversary. Then we are were fortunate to come back with our children when we were in Japan. So we met so many wonderful people and I can’t believe that I’m lucky enough to get a chance to serve here and to live here and get to know even more people.

The weather and staff shortages were all worse than expected.

We are doing the best we can – the show will go on rain, hail or shine.

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Australia news live updates: Greens aim to ‘improve and pass’ Labor climate bill; Andrews rules out mask mandates as nation records 90 Covid deaths;

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No change in Operation Sovereign Borders policy

Clare O’Neil is asked about the desperate situation in Sri Lanka, where many people are trying to find a way out.

Operation Sovereign Borders is Australian government policy.

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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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