Australian Greens Animal Welfare spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has welcomed the Australian Government’s response to the Senate inquiry into the feasibility of a national horse traceability register but said that work must immediately commence.

Senator Faruqi established the inquiry in early 2019, and the committee reported in November. Senator Faruqi said:

“It’s great that the government supports a traceability register, but now we need action.

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson has called on Tasmanian Minister for Resources Guy Barnett to not withhold critical information needed for bushfire research.

This data includes:

• maps showing fire impacts
• photo interpreted data
• historical forest loss
• forest change layer since logging commenced on public land in Tasmania

Senator Whish-Wilson said, "as Tasmania approaches bushfire season yet again, access to this information is critical.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt, has today announced a portfolio redistribution that will see Lidia Thorpe and Mehreen Faruqi take on a new anti-racism strategy intended to counter Australia’s growing tide of far right nationalism and tackle systemic racism. 

The move comes as Lidia Thorpe attends her first Greens Party Room meeting as a Senator this Wednesday and ahead of a fuller redistribution of portfolios by Adam Bandt on Thursday.

Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman, Senator Lidia Thorpe, is thrilled to have been handed the responsibility of the First Nations portfolio in the Greens reshuffle.

“I’m very proud to be the first Aboriginal Senator for Victoria and to take on the First Nations portfolio. There is so much work to be continued,” she said.

“I come from a long line of strong Aboriginal women who taught me to stand up for what’s right and to never let injustice and racism beat you down. If you want change, you have to fight for it.”

The Morrison government still refuses to call the Greens bill to establish a federal corruption watchdog on for a vote, one year after it passed the Senate.
 
Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson for Democracy, Senator Larissa Waters, said time was up on the Coalition’s excuses.
 
“The Senate passed the Greens bill for a federal corruption watchdog one year ago today; so why are we still waiting?” Senator Waters said.
 
“Maybe it’s because the Morrison government is up to its eyeballs in dodgy deals for mates and pork barrelling. 
 

On National Threatened Species Day, Senator Whish-Wilson and Rosalie Woodruff MP highlight proposed EPBC law changes and the implications they have for Tasmania in the transfer of powers from the Commonwealth to the state.

Quotes attributable to Senator Whish-Wilson:

"This all started here in Tasmania in the fight to save the Franklin river.

"It was a watershed moment that led to the realisation that states could not go unchecked and strong environmental laws would be needed to prevent this from ever happening again.

Lidia Thorpe has today been confirmed by the Victorian Parliament, clearing the way for the Greens Senator-Elect for Victoria to make her first appearance in the Senate in October. 

With Victoria's ongoing Stage 4 lockdowns leaving Victorian Parliament sitting on a reduced schedule, the last-minute confirmation was made possible through a joint sitting.

"This is a proud day not just for me, but for Aboriginal people across the country," Senator-elect Thorpe said. 

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the Liberals have sensationally backed down and sent their university fee hikes and funding cuts legislation to a Senate inquiry.

This followed a Greens motion on Tuesday which showed Labor, Greens and crossbench support for an inquiry.

Senator Faruqi said:

Today’s report showing two trillion litres of water is missing from the Murray-Darling Basin shows the Liberal-National Government has mismanaged the River and set it on a trajectory to a slow trickle and ultimately death, the Greens say.

Greens Water Spokesperson and Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young said:

“The report by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists today is devastating.

“Two trillion litres of water is missing. Why? Because of theft, corruption, corporate greed, floodplain harvesting, mismanagement and lack of action on climate change.