Greens Spokesperson for Animal Welfare, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has reacted to Million Dollar Chase “consolation winner” Nangar Jack testing positive for EPO.

She said:

“This incident confirms that greyhound racing has not and cannot clean up its act. The trainer should be punished and banned, but this is not remotely an isolated incident. To protect greyhounds, this cruel industry must be shut down once and for all.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi has reacted to the revelation that she was a target of an organised far right network of Facebook pages that are profiting from thousands of hateful posts a week that have targeted high profile Muslim women across the world. Senator Faruqi was the first Muslim woman to sit in an Australian parliament.

Senator Faruqi will refer the investigation and attacks on her to the Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media established by the Senate this week.

She said:

Australian Greens Senator and Education Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi has called for the wiping of Student Financial Supplement Scheme debts which she has described as a rort that has severely impacted people’s lives. From 1993 till 2003 the Student Financial Supplement Scheme encouraged students, including minors acting without their guardians’ authority, to trade in their Youth Allowance for a loan. For every dollar of income support a student gave up, they incurred $2 in debt.

Australian Greens Senator and Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi and The Greens (WA) spokesperson for Animal Welfare Hon. Alison Xamon MLC have responded to the abhorrent allegations of animal abuse on Western Australian cattle farms that were revealed in an investigation by Sentient Media. 

Australian Greens Senator and Education Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi has called the proposed merger of the Department of Education with Skills and Employment a huge mistake.

Senator Faruqi said:

“Merging the departments of education and employment is a short-sighted decision that highlights the Government's narrow, neoliberal idea of education. Education is a public good essential to building a socially and economically just society, not just an avenue to employment or profit – it demands a standalone focus.

I rise to speak on behalf of the Greens on the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Building on the Child Care Package) Bill 2019. This bill can probably best be described as fixing some, but definitely not all, of the problems with the government's childcare package.

I move: That the Senate—

(a) notes with deep concern that:

   (i) over a hundred fires continue to burn across New South Wales,

   (ii) data from the New South Wales Department of Environment shows harmful pollutants in Sydney's air are already over three times worse than at any moment in the past five years during bushfire season,

   (iii) the toxicity of the air in some parts of Sydney is the equivalent of smoking between four and ten cigarettes a day,

   (iv) particle pollution can trigger heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and asthma attacks,

I rise to speak on the Education Legislation Amendment (Tuition Protection and Other Measures) Bill 2019 and its companion bills that establish the HELP and the VSL tuition protection levies.

Muslim women have a right to be safe in our communities. We have a right to socialise and to be in public wherever and whenever we want. We have the right to wear whatever we bloody well want to. We have the same rights as any other person, but too often we are denied those rights because of the risk of violence, harassment and intimidation.

Communities around Australia are living with the toxic legacy of PFAS contamination in their water, in their soil, in and around their environment. People have already lost so much. They are at breaking point. The impacts have been financial, physical and mental. They are stressed and distressed at the lack of action. The government is really dragging its heels and it's extending the suffering of the people around Australia who are living around these sites. I think the lack of empathy the government is showing is really despicable.