2022-11-25
The mandate we have on integrity, climate action and justice is undeniable and we’ve all been working hard to deliver on this.
By Senator David Shoebridge
After being elected in May, my team and I first took office on the 1 July as part of an incredible 16-strong team of Greens members and senators. The mandate we have on integrity, climate action and justice is undeniable and we’ve all been working hard to deliver on this. I was so pleased to deliver my first speech on 1 August, including working with Senator David Pocock to ensure we had an Auslan interpreter delivering the speech.
We’re working hard to deliver a federal ICAC with teeth, championing digital rights, fighting for justice, working to legalise cannabis and challenging the military industrial complex.
Justice
We have been working collaboratively with the Attorney General and experts to ensure the best possible model for a federal integrity commission becomes law. The revelations about the Morrison secret ministries further highlighted the need for a commission with teeth and the importance of the Greens’ role in achieving this.
It’s clear the NACC needs to be just the first plank in reform in this space, with the urgent need for whistleblower reforms to protect those brave public servants who speak out about corruption and wrongdoing but too often end up in the courts themselves.
In a first for Australia, we also gave notice of our bill to legalise cannabis. The constitutional advice we have received on this provides a clear pathway to federal legalisation and the community response to this has been extraordinary – people are so keen to get this done!
We all know that at least 40 percent of Australians have used cannabis and it’s high time we change these outdated laws that make almost half of us criminals. The real harm reduction needed in this space is removing the harms of the police, court and the criminal justice system from the lives of ordinary Australians that choose to smoke a joint with friends or relax with a few gummies after a long week.
Defence
At a time of global warmongering, the role of the Greens in advocating passionately for peace, and for alternatives to ever-increasing defence spending is deeply important. Liberal and Labor continue to be in lockstep on defence and national security, including locking the Greens and crossbenchers out of the intelligence and security committee.
These same parties abandon veterans when they need support, including fair compensation and access to Gold Health Cards when they enter old age. My team continues to work with veterans and their families to get the support they need.
Meanwhile we will always make the case for peace and challenge the appalling expenditure by Australia and the rest of the world on weapons of war.
Digital rights
The encroachment of tech corporations and governments into our lives including mass surveillance and data harvesting demands a strong response. In the wake of a rolling wave of data breaches from telcos and other corporations it’s clear we need stronger measures for data protection and penalties for companies that don’t take data privacy seriously.
New South Wales
As your Greens senator for NSW, it has been a privilege to continue work with communities including Kurdish, Bangladeshi, Palestinian and South Asian communities. The demands for justice don’t end at our borders and we will never forget that.
It has been a privilege to work with communities on peace with justice in Palestine, to press for more aid to Pakistan in the face of appalling floods, to demand accountability for the crimes committed against the the Kurdish people, and for our government to recognise the human rights abuses occurring in the Indian Government’s occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
I was privileged to work with the Wonnarua community and Doug Heslop to organise an important truth-telling art exhibition about the Wonnarua Massacre in Singleton. I also joined First Nations people, including Tribal Warrior Aboriginal Corporation and Redfern Youth Connect, to protest the closure of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence.
My team has restarted our Greens Bushwalking Club with walks on the edge of Sydney Harbour and to the iconic Fishponds in Hornsby.
We’re looking forward to more walking, working and changing the world with you!