The PM continues to do all he can to duck transparency and accountability with new laws that would overturn a recent court decision by shielding all national cabinet deliberations from public scrutiny.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
 
“The Morrison Government is the most secretive government in history. They eagerly relied on cabinet secrecy to hide information about Covid decisions, the ‘gas-led recovery’, the women’s safety taskforce. 

25 August 2021

The Greens have called on Environment Minister Sussan Ley to protect Tasmanian devils from becoming mining-industry roadkill by rejecting Venture Minerals’ application to vary the EPBC approval for its Riley Creek mine in the takayna/Tarkine region.

The EDO Tasmania has launched legal action on behalf of conservationists to stop Venture Minerals from trucking ore at night along the 112kms stretch of critical Tasmanian devil habitat.  

27 August 2021

A Senate Inquiry that investigated Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approvals has used key Tasmanian case studies to blast the Federal Government and demonstrate why reform is desperately needed to restore public confidence in foreign investment.

1 September 2021
 

The Greens have condemned Environment Minister Sussan Ley for lifting a ban on Venture Minerals trucking ore at night along a 112km stretch of critical Tasmanian devil habitat.  

Greens Senator for Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson said:

“Tasmanian devils are endangered and their recovery from the infectious cancer that decimated their population in other parts of the state has been fraught.

One Nation has let the Government off the hook on JobKeeper rorts, just as public pressure is mounting to unsustainable levels, the Greens say.

“Reporting which publicly listed companies received JobKeeper isn’t nearly enough as most of this information was already available,” Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“This stitch up covers less than 5% of the $90 billion in JobKeeper payments made  - private companies, private schools and foreign entities will be exempt, and we may never know how much they received.”

In another episode of 'We will do anything but tackle climate change', a bunch of Liberal and National MPs are jumping up and down and wanting more school chaplains so they can knock the very real fear of looming climate catastrophe out of the minds of young people. The problem isn't the kids' activism and recognition of climate emergencies. It is your inaction on the climate crisis that is the real problem. Schoolkids don't need religious chaplains. They need a government that embraces science and takes responsibility to protect their future.

I couldn't agree more that this is a matter of extreme urgency. It calls on the Morrison-Joyce government to take responsibility for the dangerous situation in western New South Wales. Why was this government sitting on its hands and sitting on data that clearly showed vaccination rates in First Nations communities in western New South Wales were desperately low? Why did you not do something sooner? Because you just don't care.

The Greens have introduced a bill to parliament that would ban the export of greyhounds from Australia for commercial purposes including breeding and racing.

The Customs Legislation Amendment (Commercial Greyhound Export and Import Prohibition) Bill 2021 comes following years of reports of horrific treatment of Australian dogs in greyhound racing across the world. The trade goes on: between 2016 and 2021, 1,313 dogs were exported from Australia.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens spokesperson for Animal Welfare, said:

Dear Prime Minister

I write to request that the forthcoming National Cabinet meeting set additional national vaccination targets for First Nations people, people with disabilities and other at-risk groups as part of the National Plan.

The National Cabinet’s ‘reopening’ strategy envisages the substantial easing of restrictions when 80% vaccination rates are achieved. However, this is currently only 80% of the ‘eligible population’, defined as over 16 year olds, and it seems to permit easing of restrictions even if at-risk groups remain largely unvaccinated.

Like many Australians, I watched the Four Corners series 'Fox and the big lie' over the last two Mondays. While it wasn't surprising viewing for those of us who closely monitor far-Right media and politics, it certainly was highly disturbing. There is no doubt that the Murdoch media played a key role in growing and consolidating public support for Donald Trump and his far-Right administration.