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Senate supports Greens call for new OHS laws to set high standards
The Senate has backed an Australian Greens motion calling on the Government to ensure there is no reduction in occupational health and safety standards anywhere in the nation in implementing their new laws.
"Workers, unions and the community are concerned that the Government's OHS harmonisation agenda will mean lower safety standards rather than the highest possible we should be pursuing", said Senator Siewert.
"The Government must guarantee no reduction in standards in any workplace. With over 150 work-related fatalities last year, an increase of around 14%, this is no time to lower the bar."
Government's knuckles rapped over NT intervention by UN rapporteur
The Australian Greens today welcomed the release of observations by the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples on the Northern Territory emergency response (NTER), noting that the Rudd Government is failing to comply with its calls to fully and unconditionally reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA).
"Professor Anaya's analysis of the way in which the NT intervention tramples the rights of Indigenous Australians, discriminates unfairly against them and fails to comply with Australia's international human rights commitments is both compelling and comprehensive," said Greens spokesperson on Aboriginal issues Senator Rachel Siewert today.
"The Special Rapporteur's report also clearly sets out what the Minister needs to do to properly reform the intervention so that it protects human rights and engages Aboriginal communities in developing effective community-based solutions."
Confirmed: Indonesian fish stocks contaminated by Montara oil
Concerns repeatedly raised by the Australian Greens that Indonesian fishing grounds were contaminated by oil from last year’s Montara oil spill have been confirmed, following testing of an oil sample submitted to the Montara oil spill inquiry by Australian Greens Senator for WA Rachel Siewert.
“We first raised concerns in October that communities in Indonesia who rely on fish for food were being affected by this oil spill,” Senator Rachel Siewert said today.
“The response by the Rudd Government at the time was to play the reports down.
Radioactive Waste Dump: Territory still the target
The Government has foreshadowed the introduction of legislation to repeal the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act, but left Muckaty Station outside Tenant Creek as the most likely target for the national radioactive waste dump.
"If Resources Minister Martin Ferguson is serious when he says, ‘there is no pre-determined site outcome' and that he is putting in place proper processes for site selection, then he should scrap Muckaty and start from scratch, then we've got half a chance of an honest process," said Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues Senator Scott Ludlam.
"The nomination of Muckaty Station as a site for the dump was only possible under the Radioactive Waste Management Amendment Act (2006) - which the ALP opposed, and described as ‘a major attack on the rights of Traditional Owners and an abuse of power?'
Youth Allowance Solution Needed In O-Week
The Federal Government must act urgently to bring on its Youth Allowance legislation this week, to give students the resolution they need before starting the academic year, according to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on Education, says Parliament has to deal with student income support as soon as possible to reassure students and families.
"The Government needs to show commitment to its Youth Allowance legislation, which has been in limbo for months,'' Senator Hanson-Young said.
Terrorism white paper: shiny new language, same old laws
The Australian Greens say the Government's long awaited counter-terrorism White Paper cements the creeping expansion of domestic security agencies.
"It will be essential that key aspects of this package are scrutinised by the Parliament and its committees, and we urge the Government to immediately move ahead with the establishment of the National Security Legislation Monitor, which is delayed again in the House of Representatives," said Australian Greens law and justice spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam.
Greens private health insurance proposal to break deadlock, deliver $145m for mental health
The Greens will propose a compromise on private health insurance today that offers a way to break the senate deadlock and deliver over a billion dollars to public hospitals and $145 million for specific mental health funding.
The compromise proposal would:
- Support the passage of the bill which means-tests private health insurance rebate to deliver an estimated $1.8 billion to public hospitals over four years
- Support the passage of the Medicare Levy Surcharge with an amendment to direct all revenue raised through the increased surcharge (approximately $145 million over four years) into early intervention mental health services.
Senate Inquiry into RDA in NT
A Senate Inquiry into extending welfare-quarantining across the whole of the Northern Territory and the nation, and reinstating the Racial Discrimination Act in the NT will conduct hearings beginning in Darwin today.
It comes as a result of Australian Greens referring the legislation to a committee inquiry to ensure proper scrutiny of radical Commonwealth government plans to effectively roll-out unproven social policy nationwide.
"I find it incredible that this government would push one of the biggest social reforms ever made in this country with no proper evidence that it actually works," said Greens community services spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert.
Taking Australia to war: who should decide?
An informal hearing is being held in Canberra on Friday to debate a long-standing proposal that would require parliamentary approval to send Australian troops to war.
The so-called 'War Powers' Bill is a decades-old piece of unfinished business, introduced by the Australian Democrats in the 1980s and carried forward by the Australian Greens.
The bill is the subject of a committee inquiry by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade which decided against holding a public hearing into the bill.
"I've taken the unusual step of convening a hearing in Parliament House, with or without the major parties," said Senator Scott Ludlam who re-introduced the bill in 2008.
"The evidence we take from an impressive witness line-up will be submitted to the committee and placed in the public domain to further the debate.
Uranium contamination from Kakadu mine 5400 times background
Environmental regulators for the office of the Supervising Scientist admitted to a Senate Estimates committee today that water with uranium concentrations 5400 times background and a cocktail of other radionuclides are seeping from beneath the tailings dam at the Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu National Park.
The Office of the Supervising Scientist acknowledged to Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam that the contamination was occurring, and said that the estimated amount of 100,000 litres per day was based on modelling and not measurement.
"The biggest surprise is that despite knowing about this leakage for years, the regulators don't know how much is seeping, where it is going, or how highly contaminated it is. The regulator suggested that directly sampling this contaminated water would be 'impractical.' I suggest that it is now essential."
