Category Archives: Australian Greens

Coalition senators split in voting on Ralph Babet motion on abortion – as it happened

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Murray Watt on visas: ‘We are using exactly the same processes as were used by the Coalition’

The opposition has continued its political attacks against visas being given to Palestinians from Gaza (before Israel seized and completely closed the Rafah border in May).

We are using exactly the same processes as were used by the Coalition when they were in power and when Peter Dutton was the minister. Mike Burgess, the director general of Asio, has confirmed that himself.

Peter Dutton was quite prepared to use certain processes when he was the minister. Now we’re in power, he wants to criticise that. He wants to find division, to find reasons for criticism and be negative of the government.

I think this is just a ridiculous example he’s [Adam Bandt] giving, to disguise the fact yesterday the Greens were the only party in the parliament who decided to side with John Setka … rather than taking the side of the Australian people.

We had a vote in the Parliament yesterday, in the Senate, that called on the Greens to say they wouldn’t take political donations from the CFMEU construction division, they refused to vote for that. So I think it’s pretty clear what the motivation here is in voting against this legislation.

We haven’t received a dollar from the CFMEU for a decade, the Coalition received $175,000 in the last two years, Labor has received millions of dollars and what we say is we have not received the money, it is not why we are engaged in the debate.

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Australians in most common jobs can’t afford to save for deposit without housing stress, report finds

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Childcare workers, aged carers, teachers and retail assistants are among those priced out of the market, analysis suggests

Australians working in the country’s most common jobs cannot comfortably own their own home, new analysis shows, as the Greens double down on stalling the Albanese government’s housing bills.

Childcare workers, aged carers and teachers are among those priced out of the market, a parliamentary library analysis requested by the Greens shows.

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Australia news live: Palaszczuk appointed to Australia Post board; Shorten says Dutton ‘implying all Gazans are terrorists’

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Palaszczuk, who retired from politics in December after almost nine years as QLD premier, will serve a three-year term as a non-executive director. Follow today’s news headlines live

‘We have to have a constant reminder’

The committee also called for a culturally appropriate and nationally significant recognition and remembrance of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children. Dorinda Cox said this would be “significant” if the government accepted the recommendation:

It would … have some permanent features to remind us the role that history has played for missing and murdered or disappeared women and children and First Nations women and children in this country, because there’s a story there that needs to be told, and we have to have a constant reminder.

Like we do … with the Australian war memorial of the safety that we have as a country, but also that this part of our history – this is now ingrained in and sketched into. And if we want to continue to work on this and continue to maintain safety for women and children and the most vulnerable, which is First Nations – as we know, we’re in an emergency for all women, but First Nations women and children are at the front of that – we have to have some permanent features, otherwise we become invisible.

What we hear too often is that this is a state and territory problem. States are responsible for their police forces, in particular … We have to centre our approaches and our outcomes in [addressing these issues] and we have to look at the culture of the organisations, such as police.

There’s lots of reporting on the media in relation to the attitudes of police across Australia, and that has to get better, but we have to have a measure against that – we can’t just put in the attorney general [to] have a chat to the police ministers, and nothing changes … Because if we don’t look at this in a way of wanting change, nothing ever changes.

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Australian government scrambles to clarify stance on Golan Heights after Wong references ‘Israeli town’

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Foreign minister’s ‘alarming’ phrasing echoes sovereignty recognised only by Israel and the US under the Trump administration, Palestine advocates say

The Australian government has insisted it still regards the Golan Heights as occupied territory after Penny Wong described the site of a weekend attack as a “northern Israeli town”.

The foreign minister’s statement was met with a flood of comments online asking why she had effectively recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – which Israel seized from Syria in the six-day war in 1967 – and not described it as occupied.

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NSW Greens office targeted with Islamophobic and white supremacist graffiti

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Police say they are searching for a male who allegedly vandalised the inner-west Sydney office in what is the latest political graffiti attack

Police are investigating after the New South Wales Greens’ office was graffitied with Islamophobic and white supremacist messages.

The graffiti, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning at the office in inner west Sydney, called an Islamic prophet a white supremacist.

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Australia’s $50,000 arts degree is here – putting university fees on par with the UK and US

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The Hecs/Help scheme was not designed so people making a regular wage remained in debt until death, expert says

There was a time when would-be poets, historians and writers could expect to pay off an arts degree at an Australian university within the decade, if they were able to find stable employment. Fast forward to now and they may die with their debt.

Arts degrees in Australia are poised to cost more than $50,000 for the first time, with experts warning some students will never be able to pay off their debts.

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Queensland Greens unveil plan to cap grocery prices and ‘smash up’ Coles and Woolworths duopoly’

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Party’s new policy includes limiting cost increases on 30 essential items, with the shopping list to be determined by a ‘Fair Prices Authority’

The price of 30 basic essentials such as bread, milk and nappies would be capped, with increases tied to wages, under a new policy to be announced by the Queensland Greens on Wednesday.

The party will also lay out a plan to break up the Coles and Woolworths “duopoly” by requiring the companies to sell supermarkets if they own more than 20% of the market.

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Australia news live: Albanese calls Starmer to congratulate UK’s new PM on ‘emphatic victory’; de Minaur celebrates ‘lucky’ Wimbledon ride

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Mehreen Faruqi to appear on Insiders

Deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi will be speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers this morning.

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Fatima Payman suspended from Labor caucus over vow to cross the floor again on Palestine

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Party spokesperson says WA senator ‘placed herself outside the privilege’ of participation in caucus after defiant TV interview

WA Labor senator Fatima Payman has been indefinitely suspended from the Labor party’s parliamentary caucus after she was summoned to a meeting with the prime minister at the Lodge on Sunday.

Payman’s previous one-week caucus suspension was upgraded after a Sunday morning television interview in which she vowed she was prepared to repeat her rebellion of last week and cross the floor in the Senate to support recognition of a Palestinian state.

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Labor-led committee raises human rights concerns over NDIS bill as Shorten blasts delays

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Minister says more consultation with states would be a ‘circle-jerk’ after Coalition and Greens team up to delay vote on NDIS reforms until late August

A Labor-chaired parliamentary committee has flagged human rights concerns with the Albanese government’s proposed changes to the national disability insurance scheme, warning some aspects may not be “sufficiently flexible” and others not in line with international human rights law.

The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, used a press conference on Thursday evening to attack the opposition and the Greens after the unlikely alliance teamed up to send the NDIS reform bill back to a committee until early August.

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Australia politics live: Julian Assange leaves Belmarsh prison after plea deal and will return to Australia, WikiLeaks says

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WikiLeaks X account has tweeted that ‘Julian Assange is free’. Follow today’s news headlines live

‘It’s just a lazy delay’

Bill Shorten says a further delay of the Senate vote on the NDIS bill won’t actually lead to any changes:

There’s no good reason on God’s green earth to have another eight weeks of review, which isn’t actually eight weeks.

There won’t be a whole lot of new submissions come in, there won’t be some brand new arguments not considered.

I’m horrified after 12 months of reviewing the NDIS and then another six months of discussing the review including [in] the last three a Senate committee having public hearings calling for submissions.

The opposition has used words never ever said before by them.

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Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

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Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

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Australia news live: Minns ‘really sorry’ final Vivid drone show cancelled with 20 minutes notice; Malinauskas welcomes ‘exciting’ panda news

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The current pair, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, will return to China this year. Follow the day’s news headlines

Labor ‘continuing to consult’ on Makarrata commission, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

Treaty process is undergoing at the various states and that’s appropriate. With regard to Makarrata, we’re continuing to consult on those issues. said.

Indigenous leaders, of course, were very disappointed by the referendum result. I’ll attend Garma once again this year and sit down with people and talk about a way forward.

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Anthony Albanese open to Makarrata commission for truth and treaty for Indigenous Australians

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But the government is being urged to move more quickly in outlining policy after failure of voice referendum

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

But key advocates for the referendum have urged the government to move more quickly in outlining its new agenda, including honouring the prime minister’s election night pledge to implement the Uluru statement from the heart “in full”.

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Queensland premier says ‘no update’ on anti-discrimination reforms – as it happened

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Brisbane Christian school issues apology two years after gender contracts

A Pentecostal Christian school has expressed regret for introducing a controversial student gender and sexuality contract two years ago.

We regret any distress or concern which was caused to students, parents and guardians of students or prospective students of the college.

We are working closely with all of our suppliers to ensure eggs remain available for our customers and we are providing support to the industry in responding to the Avian Flu cases in Victoria.

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More transparency needed on exports to Israel after Greens ‘exploited’ information vacuum, Labor says

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Defence industry minister says ‘social division and damage’ led government to rethink position on releasing information

The Albanese government has conceded it was forced to release more details about defence exports to Israel by a growing awareness that an information vacuum was being “exploited” and allowing misinformation to spread.

The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, said the “level of social division and damage to our community has caused us to rethink the level of transparency needed”.

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The winners and losers of Australia’s proposed electoral redistribution explained

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Labor has lost a key seat in Victoria but could replace it by picking up a newly created electorate in Western Australia

The Australian Electoral Commission has announced proposed new boundaries for federal electorates in Victoria and Western Australia to be used at the next election.

A number of seats have been changed dramatically, with one seat abolished – the electorate of Higgins in Victoria – and a new one created.

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Labor takes aim at Adam Bandt’s refusal to support two-state solution in Middle East – as it happened

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Bandt condemns antisemitic graffiti on school, calls for end to Gaza invasion

Adam Bandt was also asked about the threatening graffiti discovered at Mount Scopus Jewish day school in Melbourne on Saturday, where the words “Jew die” were painted on the school’s front fence.

I condemn those words. There’s of course no place for that and we’ve said from the very beginning, from the first moment this got debated in parliament, no to antisemitism, no to Islamophobia, no to the invasion.

I think what you are seeing across the country is a very strong push for peace. People are fighting not only against antisemitism, but fighting to end the invasion of Gaza as well.

It’s up to Palestinians and Israelis to equally enjoy those rights. And if that’s what they choose to self-determine, then that’s what they choose to self-determine. Our point is that the international community can no longer pretend that the slaughter and the invasion is not happening.

Well, support for Israelis as well as Palestinians, as I’ve said, both having their rights to self-determination under international law. Now, at the moment, what is happening at the moment is that we are seeing over 34,000 people killed. A region brought to the brink of starvation and this is a manmade famine.

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Dutton won’t rule out a Coalition government quitting ICC – as it happened

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Chris Bowen says nuclear energy is ‘slow, expensive and risky’

Chris Bowen is also asked about the latest CSIRO report released today, showing electricity from nuclear power in Australia would be at least 50% more expensive than solar and wind.

CSIRO and Aemo have looked at large-scale nuclear for the first time. It finds that that would be far more expensive than renewables, despite claims from the opposition – quite inappropriate attacks on CSIRO and Aemo from the opposition, that they hadn’t counted the cost of transmission. The cost of transmission and storage is counted, and still renewables comes out as the cheapest.

And of course, CSIRO points out that nuclear will be … very slow to build. So nuclear is slow and expensive and is risky when it comes to the reliability of Australia’s energy system.

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Australia news live: high court rules in favour of indefinite immigration detention; publisher of banned book to offer free download

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High court delivers judgment in the case of ASF1. Follow the day’s news live

Penny Wong is speaking on RN Breakfast now. Right off the bat she was asked by Patricia Karvelas if the Australian government will support admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN at a vote later today.

Wong begins with a preamble about Australia’s support for a two-state solution, then says:

We will consider the final resolution that comes before the General Assembly. Obviously, countries are still negotiating texts.

I don’t want to speculate about our vote … I think an abstention generally means you can agree in part with the resolution but not with sufficient, not with all of it, or not with a sufficient extent of the resolution for you to vote for it, so it can send a message that whilst you don’t agree with it in full, you’re not going to stand in the way.

I understand that question … I understand questions from those who don’t want us to deal with it at this time. I think one of the things we are aware of, and thinking about, is the timing of the situation on the ground. We know Hamas is still holding hostages. We want to look at the wording of the resolution to make sure we are being responsible, that what we commit to we are obliged to and look to the UN Charter and the resolution would have to be consistent with the charter. And of course it was with our partners, but your listeners, what I would say to them is Australia does support a two-state solution.

You’ve spoken to me many times over the years, Patricia, and you know I always try and bring a more nuanced discussion about what is really happening rather than getting drawn into the end the hard edges of the debate. Unfortunately, in this country, we seem, we see too much of this discussion, which is looked at by those who basically say you’re either with us or against us. And everything is black and white and simple. Regrettably, that is not what is happening in the Middle East. And regrettably, that is not how we should be looking at this.

The board finds that both posts violated the Coordinating Harms and Promoting Crime rule that prohibits content “advocating, providing instructions for, or demonstrating explicit intent to illegally participate in a voting or census process.

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