Australian Greens: Green New Deal - video

The Greens are launching our COVID-19 economic recovery plan. Now is the time for bold government investment to set us up for a fairer, more sustainable future. If we make the right decisions, we can create hundreds of thousands of good jobs, ensure everyone has an income they can live on, set young people up for the future and transition to a clean energy economy. A plan to do this isn’t just possible, it’s essential. 💪 https://greens.org.au/recovery

 

Nats koala ‘compromise’ a massive overreach opening up more land to clearing

 

The NSW Government’s Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020 is not only a massive step backwards for koala protection in NSW, but also removes many other critical environmental protections on private land, according to Greens MP and Chair of the Inquiry into Koala Populations and their Habitat, Cate Faehrmann.

The bill winds back existing environmental protections and expressly prohibits the protection of any further core koala habitat from threats such as logging and land clearing on private land.

Attached are Dailan Pugh’s slides. The Environmental Defenders Office Brief on the changes can be found here.  Download the MPs and journalist’s briefing here.

Greens MP and Environment spokesperson and Chair of the NSW Parliamentary Koala Inquiry Cate Faehrmann said:

 “This bill isn’t a ‘compromise’ on the new koala policy. It takes koala protections back 25 years at a time when we need to be strengthening laws to protect koala habitat. We lost maybe 10,000 koalas in NSW in the black summer fires. If this bill passes, the Government may as well sign be signing their death warrant.”

“The updated Koala SEPP has been years in the making but now all that hard work has been scrapped to appease the National Party and the powerful timber and farming lobbies.

“We know the Koala is on track for extinction before 2050, we know that existing protections are not enough. How on earth can the Premier wind back koala protections and insist she wants to be the ‘Premier that saves the Koala’. With the introduction of this bill, she is about to become the Premier that kills the Koala.

“The bill ignores the recommendations of several inquiries and pre-empts the reviews into the land management framework and private native forestry. Part of me wonders if Gladys and Stokes even comprehend just how devastating these changes are, it’s that hard to fathom how they could have accepted this ‘compromise’, said Ms Faehrmann.

Dailan Pugh, President of the North East Forest Alliance, said:

"At a time when Koala populations are crashing, with climate change induced droughts and fires decimating survivors, and predictions of extinction in the wild by 2050, it is reprehensible that the Berejiklian Government is changing the rules to remove protection for core Koala habitat so as to allow it to be logged and cleared indiscriminately.”

"To appease the loggers these changes are designed to wind back 25 years of protection for Koalas and other threatened species on private lands, in their hour of greatest need,” he said 

Bellingen Shire Greens Mayor Dominic King said:

“This is the final nail for Koalas in our region. After the extreme five year drought, the catastrophic fires that destroyed vast areas of Koala habitat, the increase in post fire logging, the findings of the Parliamentary Inquiry 2020 which predicted that Koalas would be extinct by 2050, we now have a proposal that will allow the logging of core koala habitat in our shire. This effectively removes any protection afforded to core koala habitat in Bellingen despite the fact that has been endorsed by both Council and the NSW government, and baffling has not been referred in the amending bill.”

Contact: Jacob Miller - 0428 837 292 

Environmental Defenders Office: Rachel Walmsley - 0415 508 251 

North East Forest Alliance: Dailan Pugh - 0400 711 054

Mayor of Bellingen Shire: Dominic King - 0499 984 164

 

 

Clarence Valley Council highlights hypocrisy of the Nationals

Tamara Smith, Ballina MP

Tamara Smith MP, Member for Ballina and NSW Greens spokesperson for the North Coast, and Greens Clarence Valley Councillor Greg Clancy, today revealed just how out of touch the Nationals Member for Clarence and his party are.

Ms Smith said, “Clarence Valley Council’s submission on the Draft NSW Koala Habitat Protection SEPP on 30 March this year said that the Planning Instrument did not go far enough to protect koalas on the North Coast.”

“Five months later the Member for Clarence sent the Nationals into a death spiral because he claimed people in his community were outraged by the new Koala laws”, said Ms Smith.

“Clarence Valley Council not only supported the new SEPP but they proposed broadening the number of tree species that are considered core koala habitat”, said Ms Smith.
Mr Clancy said, “Clarence Valley Council made detailed submissions on the Draft SEPP because the consensus amongst councillors was that the laws were not strong enough to reverse the path of extinction for koalas in our area.”

“We called for a broadening of the definition of the types of areas that should come under protection because the government’s maps did not fully address the scientific evidence around core koala habitat in our region”, said Mr Clancy.

“We are in total disbelief that the Member for Clarence falsely presented our community’s concerns about koalas and it’s as if he didn’t even read or know about the views of most people in his electorate”, said Mr Clancy.

Ms Smith said, “After the devastating bushfires, people across the regions want the government to be doing more to protect koalas, not less.”

“The Member for Clarence’s crusade against koalas isn’t supported by the evidence, the community or even his local Clarence Valley Council!”, said Ms Smith.

“Normal farming won’t be affected by this SEPP. The Nationals threats are about their developer mates who want to re-zone farmland for huge residential developments and their big agri-business mates who don’t want to have to stop clearing millions of hectares of land with dynamite” said Ms Smith.

Ms Smith said, “The fact that the Nationals are backing developers and huge corporations over the community and local councils shows just how out of touch they have become.”

The Carbon Club/Book 'You bastards sacked me.' (excerpt): SMH

 

How did environmental issues become so politicised? The people purge early in the Abbott government – beginning in 2013 with the "night of the short knives" – gives some clues.

By Marian Wilkinson

August 29, 2020

 .................................

 

 

"What surprised the scientists most was not their hasty sacking but how quickly the government obliterated their work. “The website that we’d spent a lot of time building was taken down with absolutely no justification as far as I could see,” says Flannery, the one-time principal research scientist at the Australian Museum and internationally renowned scientific author. “It was giving basic information that was being used by many, many people – teachers and others – just to gain a better understanding of what climate science was actually about.”

The Climate Commission had been set up in 2011 by Julia Gillard’s Labor government as an independent source of information for the public to understand climate change and its impacts on Australia. But the commission and its members had been pilloried as “alarmist” by sceptical columnists in the Murdoch media and by radio shock jocks from the beginning. Flannery was expecting the commission to be disbanded, but the decision to kill its website hurt."

..............................

"Not long before this, the Liberal Party’s donor cash cow, the Cormack Foundation, which Morgan chaired, had stumped up another $300,000 for the Institute of Public Affairs. The conservative think tank’s latest publication, Climate Change: The Facts 2014, was soon in the works with essays from Australia’s best known climate sceptics, News Corp’s Andrew Bolt and former James Cook University professor Bob Carter, along with their international cohorts by now so familiar here: MIT’s Professor Richard Lindzen, Dr Pat Michaels from the US Cato Institute – a think tank co-founded by American billionaire Charles Koch – and the former UK chancellor Nigel Lawson.

At the same time as Morgan’s attack, Lawson’s UK think tank, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, welcomed Abbott’s old mentor, John Howard, to deliver its annual lecture in London. The former Liberal prime minister used the opportunity to enthusiastically back Abbott’s plan to dismantle Labor’s climate policies in a speech he called “One Religion is Enough”."

..............................

"By the end of Abbott’s first year in office, the PM had made it clear he didn’t believe most climate scientists, even those who worked for his government. But while his climate scepticism could shape policy in Canberra, it would soon put him in conflict with the most powerful leader in the world, US president Barack Obama.

This is an edited extract from Marian Wilkinson’s The Carbon Club (Allen & Unwin, $33), out Monday."

Go to the original SMH article

 Related: MAJOR PARTIES LEAVE BACKDOOR OPEN FOR DIRTY DONATIONS

GREENS CALL ON PM TO STAND DOWN SUKKAR

end the corruption in politics

The Greens are calling on the Prime Minister to stand down Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar while the Department of Finance investigates the misuse of taxpayer-funded positions, and to consider whether Sukkar’s actions are in breach of the Ministerial Standards.

“The Prime Minister has asked Australians for their trust over the past few months. But Morrison continues to throw integrity overboard with his failure to act on the ongoing, multiple scandals involving his ministers,” Greens co-Deputy leader, Senator Larissa Waters, said.

Add caption

“It’s a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’, with Morrison. He jumped on the chance to smear Labor during its branch stacking scandal a few months ago, but deflects all responsibility when its his own frontbenchers making headlines.
Senator Waters, Greens spokesperson for Democracy, said the latest branch stacking scandal was further proof of why the Greens’ National Integrity Commission Bill is needed, which passed the Senate almost a year ago.
 
“The public generally thinks politicians are all corrupt, in it for themselves, and behave like pork chops in parliament, and I don’t blame them," Senator Waters said.
“We are still waiting for the Prime Minister to call my federal watchdog with teeth on for a vote in the House of Representatives, almost a year after the Senate passed it. The government hasn’t introduced its own legislation.  And it has rejected the Greens’ calls for a code of conduct for all politicians and senior staff to prevent exactly the sort of behaviour we’ve seen reported this week.
“To Morrison, I say: tick tock. I’m not the only one getting fed up with your delaying tactics.”

Sen. Larissa Waters
25.08.2020

Where does the buck stop with aged care failures?

Government received aged care workforce warning months ago: The Age

Exemptions for essential frontline workers is a matter of life and death.

Tamara Smith Greens MP

Tamara Smith MP Member for Ballina is calling for border exemptions for essential frontline workers traveling between NSW and the QLD border.

"The health implications of the border closure as it stands for our Northern Rivers communities is potentially fatal because hundreds of doctors are unable to staff our emergency departments, our medical centres and assist emergency services like the Westpac helicopter rescue service." Ms Smith said.

"As of tomorrow more than 60 police who serve in the Tweed Byron area command are unable to go to work without quarantining for 14 days after their shift. This is unacceptable for the safety of our communities." Ms Smith said.

"Emergency service personnel, inducing paramedics are unable to cross the border to assist our community. This is completely unacceptable." Ms Smith said.

"We know that there are a raft of other severe consequences for workers on either side of the border as a result of the closure. But let's start with doctors, nurses, police and emergency services and let common sense prevail. We cannot be expected to exist during a pandemic without frontline workers." Ms Smith said.

"If this works then of course we need to look at all workers travelling back and forth across the border being categorised as essential frontline workers."

Of Interest:

A Timely Greeting from Australian Greens Website

AUSTRALIA NEEDS TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE FOR WOMEN'S ECONOMIC SECURITY

05.08.2020

The Greens have welcomed the updated Economic Security for Women’s White Paper, and called on the government raise the minimum wage to address women’s financial inequality.

Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on Women, Senator Larissa Waters, said:

“It’s 2020: women want fair pay, not granite bench tops.

“Raising the minimum wage will help those working some of the lowest paid professions, such as health care, childcare, and aged care.

“Not only have these professions been at the forefront of our COVID-19 response, but have a high proportion of female workers.

“Today’s report confirms that the women of Australia don’t want a ‘snap back’ to the status quo – they want a comprehensive plan to fix the structural inequalities that have been compounded by COVID-19.

“But to a government that just cancelled free childcare, and failed to acknowledge let alone rectify the disproportionate impact of COVID on women, I say: the 1950s called and they want their attitudes back.”

Senator Waters also called on the government to reinstate the Women’s Federal Budget Impact Statement.

“During the pandemic women have lost more jobs (6% vs 5.4% per ATO), lost more hours (7.3% vs 6.5% per ATO), are over-represented in the hardest-hit industries, and are more likely to be ineligible for JobKeeper (53% of short-term casuals are women),” she said.

“Tony Abbott removed the gender lens on the federal budget by axing the Women’s Budget Impact Statement in 2014. Without that gender analysis, the government will continue to overlook the structural inequalities facing women.”

To deliver economic security for women, the report says women’s workplace participation, the gender pay gap, and unpaid care work must be addressed, including by making childcare more affordable, paying super on paid parental leave, and financially supporting carers.

A Timely Greeting from Australian Greens Website

What we do next matters

Welcome to the Greens! For 28 years, protecting the environment, putting people first and planning for the future have been at the very heart of our movement. But right now, things are getting serious.

This wasn't the 2020 most of us had imagined. First we endured the devastating climate-bushfires and now COVID-19 has knocked us sideways and shut down the global economy. But for many people, things haven’t been easy for a very long time.

Before the pandemic, we were staring down the climate crisis and supercharged economic inequality. The fact is, the major parties’ don’t have a plan that addresses these crises – they support ongoing fossil fuel projects and continue to put their corporate donors before the rest of us.

Now more than ever, politics needs a shake-up. We need a plan that will get us out of the COVID-19 jobs and economic crisis while addressing the climate emergency at the same time. It’s not just possible, it’s essential.

The Greens have a plan for bold investment, creating hundreds or thousands of jobs, building a fairer, more sustainable future and leaving no one behind.

Unlike the Coalition and Labor, we don’t take donations from corporations looking to buy influence. We have something far more powerful: a huge movement of people just like you. Together, we’re fighting for a better future for all of us.

Check out the Australian Greens Website to learn more. 

Nambucca Macleay Greens Facebook

#jailclimatecriminals   #bushfire  #greennewdeal

$250 million pork-barrel scheme for coalition councils reaches all the way to the Premier

Corruption in NSW

Analysis by the Greens from freshly obtained documents shows that the NSW Premier personally approved $141.8 million under the Stronger Communities Fund to councils in coalition-held seats in the run up to the March 2019 State Election.
This information was forced from the government by an order of the Upper House that required the production of key emails, approvals and documents relating to the Stronger Communities Fund. The motion was moved by Greens MP David Shoebridge.
The documents also reveal that the Deputy Premier approved $61.3 million in funds from June 2018 to June 2019 (with 2 small grants after the elections). There is no evidence of any merits based assessment of the various projects, with funding announcements being kept secret from councils and managed entirely by Coalition MPs.
The fund was originally limited to assisting newly merged councils following the Coalition’s disastrous forced amalgamation policy. However the guidelines were amended in June 2018 to allow money to be handed to any council that had been the subject of a successful or unsuccessful merger proposal. This opened the floodgates to allow payments up to $90 million to be made to councils in blue-ribbon electorates that were never even merged.
A staggering 80% of the funds were handed out to councils wholly in Coalition held electorates with only 2% of the money being provided to councils in electorates with non-government MPs.
The Upper Houses’ Public Accountability Committee has now launched an urgent inquiry into government grants schemes, to test their integrity and value for money with the Stronger Communities Fund squarely in its terms of reference.
Greens MP David Shoebridge said:
“We had to chase these details for months with the government refusing to tell the public who made the key decisions.
“We now know they fought so hard to hide the truth because it was the Premier that delivered the biggest part of the pork barrel.
“The fact that the guidelines were changed to let the Premier give $90 million to a council in the blue-ribbon seat of Hornsby is an insight into how loosely public money is being handled by this government.
“This is one of the largest grants schemes being abused for political outcomes, but it is far from alone. This is why we have commenced a comprehensive Parliamentary inquiry into grants rorts.
“It’s well past time that these secretive and unprincipled grants schemes were brought to an end.
“This is public money and it needs to be allocated based on quality assessment and need, not which government MP wants to deliver a local cash hand out,” Mr Shoebridge said.

2020-06-26 Newsletter Australian Greens

Much of this year has felt like being in a washing machine: hard to know which way is up. But more recently, things are starting to come together – and our party is ready and energised for a huge finish to 2020.

By Adam Bandt

It’s been a huge month for the Australian Greens and first and foremost, I’m thrilled to welcome activist, former Victorian Greens MP, Aboriginal leader and Gunnai-Kurnai/Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe to the Greens team in Parliament. Lidia will be sworn into Parliament in the coming months to fill the casual vacancy soon to be left by Senator Richard Di Natale.

In stark contrast to the kind of shenanigans we saw in other parties in Victoria, Victorian Greens Co-convenors Effy Elden and Ella Webb reported that thousands of members took part in the vote over two weeks, with 65 percent of members participating in the state-wide preselection. What a wonderful display of the Greens culture and commitment to grassroots democracy. We are proud to be the only progressive party in Victoria whose members currently have a genuine say in their parliamentary representation.

From being the first Aboriginal woman elected to Victorian

parliament, to winning renters rights, forestry protections and LGBTIQ support, Lidia has a strong track record of fighting for the environment and social justice. Parliament is overdue for a shake up, and Lidia’s fearless advocacy for economic and social justice will strengthen the case for a Green New Deal and provide a voice for so many people that have been let down by politics.

What a coincidence

Our Prime Minister believes in an amazing set of coincidences. Apparently, the perfect response to a once in a century pandemic just happens to be all the Liberal Party’s favorite policies. Gut unis, defund the ABC, strip workers rights and trash environmental protections. We stand for the exact opposite:

Looking for a new level to set uni fees, Scott Morrison? How about $0. If our unis are going to recover, they need more support, not cuts, and tuition must be made free, not a 100% fee increase as the government is proposing for many subjects. The Greens will fight the government’s plans to lift uni fees.

The ABC has just proven through the bushfires and the pandemic that it’s a vital public resource that should be strengthened and politicians must stop cutting jobs and making threats designed to lessen editorial independence.

The long-term erosion of workers’ rights has been a critical part of the economic hit that COVID triggered. Just look at the US. We need a whole new deal for workers, starting with fundamental rights like sick leave. These protections aren’t just fairer, they also make the whole community safer.

Removing environmental protections after fires killed a billion native animals is terrifying.

A generation being robbed of their future

Young people have been hit hardest by the economic impact of neoliberalism, compounded by the pandemic. The numbers are coming through now and they should be a cause for alarm and action. Unemployment is up, but so too is underemployment, together with a huge drop in participation.

Are we going to let a whole generation go without the things that should be basic rights: free education, income security, affordable housing and a livable planet? We can solve these problems if we want to. The good news is that Australia is a very rich nation with the choice to solve these problems. The bad news is this government appears to have no interest in doing so.

This is why we are calling for a Next Gen Guarantee - our plan that responds to the crises we face and sets young people up for the future.

Universities

The Morrison Government is displaying a Trump-like disdain for intellectualism as they attack humanities subjects in their latest terrible attempt at University reform. To try to create divisions between students and fields of learning in order to justify more cuts and corporatisation of our unis is as ugly as it gets. We’re not going to stand for it. We beat the Christopher Pyne attack on higher education, and we can beat this one too. To do so we need to keep winning over the public and, in turn, crucial crossbenchers to make sure this bad idea is also defeated.

Beyond that, we remain the only party committed to free education. It’s a core principle and one that has been a success in many countries around the world (including Australia).

Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter movement shows the power of organising. While it is making history on the streets around the world, it is also shining a light on history itself, exposing the dreadful legacies and unaddressed grievances of the past in the US, and also Australia. We’ve all been confronted with some history we didn’t know, and should have known much more about. This is an opportunity to listen, to learn and to grow.

The first thing we must do is address the national shame that is the world’s worst record for indigenous incarceration. That means asking the hard questions about how our justice system works, from the cop on the street to the judge with the gavel, and being ready to implement really big changes. At a minimum, Scott Morrison should put deaths in custody on the national Cabinet agenda, and make it a standing item until the states change their laws and stop locking up Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in such high numbers. The Greens are committed to making whatever changes are needed for the root and branch eradication of racism in our justice system.

What price democracy?

It’s not unusual today to read about the struggles and threats to democracy. It’s a vicious cycle: corruption scandals break, nothing is done about it, the public loses faith, apathy grows, corruption continues.

You might remember a certain Greens Senator named Bob Brown. He tabled a bill for a national ICAC ten years ago. Bob pointed out then a fact that remains very true today: if every state government needs an anti-corruption watchdog (and it’s very clear they do) then there’s no reason to believe Canberra has some kind of magical corruption-proof fence.

The Greens’ bill to establish a national corruption watchdog with teeth has passed the Senate. It is only a couple of disillusioned government backbenchers away from passing the House too and becoming law. In June, the Senate again called on the House to pass the Greens’ bill, but the Liberals gagged debate and rejected the Senate push. But we’ll keep coming back. This is how we got a banking royal commission and marriage equality, and we’ll get there on a Federal ICAC too.  
A national anti-corruption body should be welcomed by Parliament. It would be good for all parties and politicians, as well as for the public, to restore a bit of faith in our democracy.

Thank you Richard

The other side of a new senator joining us is the departure of my friend and our colleague, Richard Di Natale. Richard and I have done so much together over the past 13 years that it’s almost impossible to imagine him not being around. In fact, he was the one who first asked if I would be interested in running for the seat of Melbourne back in 2007! If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him, he is one of the warmest people you could meet. He has done a massive service to our party and our country. We will all miss him greatly.

Get ready to see a lot more of us

For most of this year it has felt like being in a washing machine, hard to know which way is up. But more recently, things are starting to come together, and our party is ready and energised for a huge finish to 2020.

The Greens are leading the debate on issues that are more relevant and vital than ever. We had legislation for a national anti-corruption body before the ALP branch stacking scandal broke. We have a bill tabled in Parliament for the 3.3 million workers with no sick leave. The Greens have been demanding livable income support for over a decade. We have an ‘Invest to Recover’ plan, backed by a Jobs and Income Guarantee, that will tackle the multiple crises we face while getting the economy back on track and making it work for the people, not the big corporations. And the Green New Deal was on the table before the global economy was hit by the pandemic.  

This is the thought leadership, backed by the gumption to stick to our principles every single vote that makes the Greens, the Greens. Thank you to every member for building this party into the best progressive force in Australian democracy.
Stay safe everybody.
Hero image: Julian Meehan.

BEREJIKLIAN GOVERNMENT CHOOSES TO PROP UP THE GAS INDUSTRY AT THE EXPENSE OF COMMUNITY AND CLIMATE

Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW Spokesperson for Mining, Coal & CSG said:


"The decision today is a slap in the face for the local communities who have opposed this project from the beginning.


"Not wanting to let a good crisis go to waste, the Berejiklian government is doubling down on its obsession with coal and gas at the expense of our climate and future prosperity.

"Minister Stokes must now allow the IPC to respect community opposition and not use COVID-19 as an excuse to restrict public hearings.


"This is a government determined to use the COVID-19 crisis as cover to push through its environmentally-destructive plans for the benefit of its corporate mates.


"It was only six months ago that a parliamentary inquiry delivered an absolutely scathing report into this Liberal-National government's failure to implement the NSW Chief Scientist's recommendations - a failure that leaves the people of NSW without the protections that this government had agreed were a prerequisite to any expansion of the CSG industry in NSW.


"It doesn't take much imagination to come up with a plan for jobs and prosperity that doesn't involve propping up the gas industry which worsens the climate crisis.


"Last week's Ernst & Young report demonstrates clearly that for each dollar invested, we will see far more jobs in a recovery led by investment in renewable energy infrastructure than if the government continues its obsession with fossil fuels."

As the axe nears on Manyana forest, protectors continue action

The community of Manyana have reported work commencing on the site today, with credible reports of numerous breaches of the proponent’s DA conditions noted already.


Greens MP David Shoebridge will join local activists from Manyana Matters at the site tomorrow at 10am to follow up on the reports of breaches of conditions and support the campaign to protect this precious forest.


Greens MP David Shoebridge said:


“We have today written an urgent letter to the Planning Minister Rob Stokes calling for him to issue a stop work order, consistent with his promise to prevent what appear to be significant environmental breaches at the Manyana Beach Estate.


“Reports on the ground say there are already a significant number of breaches of the approval conditions for this project, and the forest is clearly in danger.


“We’ve heard that the the developer is fencing the entire site and not just stage one, which is contrary to the approval in place and creates a risk to all the animals who cannot escape from the habitat destruction


“The animals in this community are still recovering from the unprecedented summer fire season and they deserve some safety and respite.



“We’re worried that these initial breaches are just the start and that the project will end up being even more damaging than anticipated.



“Following more than a decade of no activity on the site it’s hard to see how suddenly time is of the essence and the developer needs to rush ahead with action even while council and planning are attempting to find a solution.



“If there are reasons why a stop work order can’t be issued then surely now is the time for the Minister to step up and revoke the consent,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Dirty Power: Burnt Country

Member for Ballina calls on State Government to urgently provide funding to safeguard the welfare of older people in New South Wales

Safeguarding the welfare of older people

Safe Visitor Access campaign launched today to help older people in our community throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

Member for Ballina Tamara Smith today announced she is calling on the State government to urgently provide funding to safeguard the welfare of older people in New South Wales throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

"The recent Interim Report by the Royal Commission into Aged Care and Quality found that the system is severely lacking and neglects older people. During this very challenging time, we must find innovative ways we can do better and ensure older people get the help they need and stay connected with loved ones."

Millions of taxpayer dollars being spent propping up damaging and loss-making native forest logging

The NSW Government is handing Forestry Corporation $46 million from its $100 million regional grant scheme and there are fears it will lead to a surge in native forest logging. While some of this expenditure is being spent on repairing and expanding nurseries for the radiata pine plantation industry, the money is also slated for road works and other infrastructure that will facilitate logging native forests.

With native forests so damaged during the summer fires we need a state-wide moratorium on native forest logging, not a state government that is putting millions of dollars into logging roads to increase the devastation.

Greens MP and Forests Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:
“It is disgraceful that at a time when people are still reeling from the loss of native forests in their local area that more money is being given
to Forestry Corporation to build roads and other assets to facilitate
native forest logging.
“Native forest logging is expensive, unsustainable and right now is
completely unjustifiable.

“The $46 million of public money to Forestry Corporation should be clearly
quarantined to ensure it is not used to log any more of our precious native
forests.
“There is plenty of work to be done in the nurseries and replanting
plantation forests which are the economic and jobs backbone of this
industry and this must be the focus for these funds. Some of the money is
going to those purposes and that is positive.
“The loss-making destruction that is native forest logging must now end, we
cannot keep asking the taxpayer to pay to log and then woodchip these
forests at an environmental and economic loss.
“With over 82% of habitat for some endangered species burned, habitat
fragmentation and billions of animals killed in the fires these forests are
essential reservoirs of biodiversity and will be critical tourism assets
after pandemic conditions pass.
“Victorian estimates show that ending native logging there immediately
rather than in 2030 would save $192 million for taxpayers there and a
similar figure would apply here.
“This money would be better spent helping regional communities recover from
the dual hits of the fire season and pandemic conditions and move towards
genuinely sustainable and profitable industries,” Mr Shoebridge said.

20 April 2020

Frontline workers need legal protection as new data shows COVID-19 workers compensation claims being refused


To protect frontline workers most exposed to the disease the Greens have introduced urgent law reform to the NSW Parliament to ensure workers compensation cover for nurses, teachers, retail and other workers who are at an elevated risk of contracting COVID-19. The legal changes have been provided to the NSW Government who are urgently reviewing them.

Urgent legal reforms are needed to ensure frontline workers who contract covid-19 are covered by workers compensation as new data shows there have already been 111 COVID-19 related compensation claims in NSW and 11 have been rejected. No claims have been identified as approved.

With 11 of the 111 workers compensation claims related to COVID-19 already denied, workers who are sick face potentially drawn out legal arguments to prove they caught the disease at work rather than on public transport, during shopping and the like. For many workers proving this, especially if community transmission becomes more prevalent, will be an impossible barrier to accessing workers compensation.

The law change will mean if a worker is in a frontline industry such as health, education, retail or hospitality and contracts the disease, it deems that the disease was caught at work and ensures frontline workers will receive compensation. They can then receive lost wages, medical expenses and death benefits are payable to dependents.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said:

“We have an obligation to protect every one of those workers who are placing their health at risk by continuing to provide for the needs of the community during the pandemic.

“We are already seen claims being denied, with 11 of the 111 claims made to date refused. It is little wonder this is happening because how do you prove you caught the disease at work rather than at the supermarket or on the bus?

“We need this law passed urgently to ensure frontline workers can claim compensation rights without having to prove that they contracted the disease at work.

“Right now hundreds of thousands of teachers, cleaners, emergency workers, medical staff, transport workers, retail workers and others are working to keep us safe and well.

“We owe them to pass this bill to ensure if they get sick, they will be protected.

“This is another reason why we can’t wait until September for the NSW Parliament to sit, these are urgent matters and they need to be urgently fixed,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Prescribed employment covered by the Bill means employment in any of the following—

(a) the retail industry (other than businesses providing only on-line retail),
(b) the health care sector, including ambulance officers and public health employees,
(c) disability and aged care facilities,
(d) educational institutions, including pre-schools, schools and tertiary institutions (other than establishments providing only on-line teaching services), (e) police and emergency services (including fire brigades and rural fire services),
(f) refuges, halfway houses and homeless shelters,
(g) passenger transport services,
(h) libraries,
(i) courts and tribunals,
(j) prisons and correctional centres,
(k) restaurants, clubs and hotels,
(l) places of public entertainment or instruction (including cinemas, museums, galleries, cultural institutions and casinos),
(m) the cleaning industry,
(n) any other type of employment prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition.

Greens call for urgent support for non-citizens in Australia

Non-citizens living in Australia have been stranded with no income, no housing and no way to leave the country and governments must urgently step in to give people access to the same support as citizens, Greens NSW Multicultural spokesperson Jenny Leong said today.

"International students, temporary residents and refugees are not currently eligible for the emergency government support, and as a result are facing a catastrophic situation after having lost their incomes due to COVID 19," Ms Leong said today.

Extraordinary new justice measures show need for continued Parliamentary oversight during pandemic

The significant measures proposed by the Government in their emergency measures laws to respond to the COVID-19 crisis highlight the need to have Parliament continue to operate during the pandemic.

The regulation making powers in the COVID-19 Legislation Amendment (Emergency Measures) Bill 2020 allow many of the most fundamental rules relating to the criminal justice system including laws relating to trials, evidence, bail, sentencing, parole and AVOs to be overridden by regulation.

The Greens understand the need for extraordinary measures given the health crisis and do not oppose broad new powers being given to the Attorney General. We support the overwhelming bulk of these measures. However we believe these powers must have limits and must be properly oversighted by the Parliament.

Greens MP and Justice Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:

“These are extraordinary times, and we know there will be unprecedented challenges, but democracy means that Parliament must retain critical oversight of any emergency measures.

“The new bill contains a regulation making power that allows regulations to be made which override a raft of existing criminal justice laws.

“While there are some limited checks and balances on this regulation making power, as drafted the bill allows for even these checks and balances to be removed by regulation. That is a step too far.

“Extraordinary powers cannot be allowed to proliferate in the absence of any scrutiny, particularly given the tensions we will see play out between our fundamental rights and freedoms and the unquestionable need for strict public health measures.

“Parliament is clearly an essential service and while meetings should be minimised to avoid public health concerns, it must continue to meet and exercise its democratic functions.

“We will be opposing the Government's plan to adjourn the Parliament until 16 September, any special adjournment should be no longer than 1 month.

“We’re asking workers around NSW to continue doing their jobs, often at extraordinary personal risk, they deserve to know that Members of Parliament will also continue to do their jobs,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Greens call for No Evictions in NSW during Corona crisis

Jenny Leong MP, NSW Greens spokesperson on Housing and Homelessness is urging the Premier to put an immediate moratorium on evictions for people unable to pay rent during the Corona virus pandemic, as well as recommending a number of urgent measures to assist people who are homeless and those living in public and social housing.


On Monday Ms Leong launched a petition calling for a moratorium on evictions and already over 1000 people have signed it: https://www.jennyleong.org/no_nsw_evictions


NSW Greens Housing and Homelessness spokesperson Jenny Leong MP said: "We are urging the Premier to immediately put a moratorium on all evictions in NSW to ensure we don't add to the current health crisis with an increase to the homelessness crisis," Ms Leong said.


“This health crisis has already caused many thousands of people who are casuals or self-employed to lose all or most of their income. The stress and impact of this loss of income should not be compounded by the threat of eviction hanging over their heads.


"If we don't take this necessary step, people who don't have secure incomes - casuals, freelancers, students, hospitality staff, retail workers and those in the creative industries - suffer even further.


"People with insecure work are also likely to be those with insecure housing - and they are the people also most likely taking a massive hit to their incomes due to the cancellation of major events and changes to how people are eating out, socialising and going about their daily lives for the foreseeable future.


"Groups identified as 'at risk' should not have to make the decision as to whether to put their health or their home first. This will be a dangerous reality for many who worry that not going out and about isn't an option because they need to pay the rent.


"A moratorium on evictions is just the first step needed to protect renters, we also need to ensure that those unable to pay rent due to loss of income aren't left with a massive debt, that a clear plan is developed to support people who are homeless, and public housing tenants are supported” Ms Leong said.


Ms Leong wrote to the Premier yesterday,<https://www.jennyleong.org/moratorium_on_evictions> with three urgent recommendations:

  1.  An immediate moratorium on evictions in NSW, and solutions to ensure renters aren’t left with massive and unmanageable debts.
  2.  A plan for rough sleepers, boarding houses and assurance for services who support homeless people.
  3.  Additional support for public and social housing tenants.