What a year it has been so far – and the fight isn’t over.
By Adam Bandt
What a year it has been so far. It seems like a lifetime ago that we all received the news of Richard Di Natale’s resignation as leader of the Australian Greens, and since I was honoured with leading your representatives in Federal Parliament.
Taking on the mantle of Leader of the Australian Greens is one of the proudest achievements of my life – and I’d like to thank my colleagues for the honour, and Richard Di Natale for his years of strong leadership.
In my first press conference as leader, I called for a Green New Deal – arguing that massive investment in clean energy would be needed to avert the climate crisis, reduce soaring economic inequality, and create a sustainable employment boom to ensure everyone has a meaningful, long term job. Like you, I knew it was necessary – but no one could have predicted how quickly the case for the Green New Deal would present itself.
Just weeks later, while I was in Tasmania meeting members in the spiritual home of the Greens, news came that Australia was taking unprecedented moves to protect its citizens from the then-new COVID-19 virus. Industries would be put into hibernation, borders closed, and all of us would make saving lives our first priority.
From that moment, the Greens pushed to make sure everyone had what they needed to get through the pandemic. Here in Melbourne, we saw tens of thousands of people pushed onto JobSeeker as their employers were forced to close – and Depression-era dole queues require a Depression-era response.
We successfully pushed the government to raise JobSeeker, introduce an income guarantee for workers, provide specific rescue packages for the worst-affected industries, implement bans on rental evictions, and to follow the advice of health professionals, not their mates in big business.
Despite this, times have still been tough. The government still hasn’t done enough – but thanks to the Greens’ strong advocacy, the million people in Australia who are out of work have had extra support and security through this era-defining crisis.
While case numbers are dropping, and the path away from restrictions seems assured, the fight isn’t over. The Prime Minister’s cruel cuts to JobSeeker and JobKeeper must be opposed, and we must decide what the path out of COVID-19 looks like. Do we want a clean energy led recovery that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs constructing clean energy, nation-building green infrastructure, and public housing; or do we want to double down on dirty fossil fuels?