2022-11-25
We’ve got a formidable team and we’re ready to make some noise and change the country for the better.
By Senator Larissa Waters
At this time last year, I was gearing up for the election and the potential to grow the Queensland movement. I’m an eternal optimist, but even I couldn’t have imagined the joyous result that saw us not only elect Penny Allman-Payne as our second Queensland Greens senator, but three fantastic lower house members in Max Chandler-Mather, Elizabeth Watson-Brown and Stephen Bates. After more than a decade as the only elected federal Green representing Queensland, it’s a privilege to have such a strong, smart, and dedicated team working for Queenslanders.
I am very proud of the campaign we ran this election. We had a bold, transformative platform to make people’s lives better and protect the planet. After a decade of toxicity, climate inaction (even in the face of devastating fires and floods), and rising inequality, the Greens offered a vision for a stronger, fairer, kinder and more sustainable Australia. People clearly liked what we were saying!
Ending gendered violence and harassment
Under the Morrison Government, women watched in horror as scandal after scandal played out without serious repercussions for those accused. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to take even the smallest action by brave women, inside and outside parliament, and persistent journalists.
In September 2021, the government held a Women’s Safety Summit that was big on platitudes and low on outcomes and funding commitments. Women’s safety experts, advocates and survivors repeated their calls to fund frontline services; fund prevention and behaviour change; fund crisis, transitional and long term housing; address income insecurity; and develop a dedicated First Nations gendered violence strategy. Yet the draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children released early in 2022 failed to respond adequately to many of those calls.
The new government has gone back to the drawing board. I will continue to amplify the voices of experts and survivors and keep up the pressure for a fully-funded plan that ensures no one is ever turned away from help, or feels trapped in a violent relationship due to lack of support or housing options.
Unsafe and disrespectful workplace culture within parliament was under the spotlight this year, with Kate Jenkins’ damning Set the Standards report. Thanks must go to the brave survivors who pulled the curtain back – Brittany Higgins, Rachelle Miller, Chelsey Potter, Dhanya Mani and more – and all current and former staff who made submissions to the inquiry, and to Commissioner Jenkins for her steady hand in unpicking the problem and setting out clear, practical solutions. As a member of the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce charged with responding to her report, I’ll be pushing for the rapid implementation of all the recommendations.
At a party level, all Greens MPs have undertaken management training and we’ve strengthened our approach to supporting staff and responding to complaints of poor behaviour. Like all parties, we’ve got more work to do on diversity and inclusion, but we’re committed to making progress.
Parliament needs to be a model workplace, but we must not overlook the harassment and bullying experienced across all workplaces. The Morrison government sat on the earlier Respect@Work report for months, and ignored its key recommendation to implement a positive duty on all employers to provide a safe and respectful workplace. I look forward to working with the new government to finish the job and make all workplaces safe.
Closing the gender pay gap
My recent parliamentary and advocacy work has also been directed at improving economic security for Australian women and closing the persistent gender pay gap (which actually increased over the past year). Too many women still struggle to make ends meet, juggle multiple jobs, live in poverty or without a home, or stay in abusive relationships because they cannot afford to leave.
We need free childcare, fairer paid parental leave, stronger reporting and data collection powers for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, pay rises in women-dominated industries, recognition of unpaid care work, and gender responsive budgeting and decision-making. My colleague Senator Barbara Pocock and I will be pushing the new government for progress on all these issues.
Reproductive healthcare
Earlier this year, women and allies were horrified by the decision in the United States to overturn Roe v Wade. It’s sparked a conversation about reproductive healthcare in Australia, and I will be working to improve sexual health education and access to contraceptives, abortion, and other reproductive health services.
I’ve established a Senate inquiry to get a clear picture of service gaps (particularly in regional areas) and identify what the federal government can do to make sure healthcare is available to all who need it. It will report pre-May Budget 2023 and we will push for public hospitals to provide the full range of reproductive healthcare services, and for full Medicare rebates for the cost of medical terminations.
Strengthening democracy
After years of scandals, pork-barrelling, favours for mates, and special deals for donors, it was heartening to see integrity as a clear election issue. The Greens’ work towards transparency and accountability for decision-makers remains as important as ever.
The Greens were the first movers on a federal integrity commission – we’ve been calling for one for more than a decade, and my bill to establish one passed the Senate three years ago. I’m delighted that we are getting closer to that becoming a reality. My new colleague Senator David Shoebridge will be making sure that the integrity commission is robust, independent and has the powers and resources it needs to do its job.
We can’t keep letting fossil fuel, defence, gambling, banking and other big donors dictate policy. I will continue to push to get big money out of politics – through donations and lobbying reforms.
I will also use the upcoming Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters inquiry into the 2022 election to highlight ways to strengthen our democracy, including capping election spending, engaging disenfranchised voters, increasing diversity in representation, and lowering the voting age.
Thank you
Thank you to all the staff and volunteers across the country for all the work that you’ve put in this year to strengthen our movement. My electorate staff do an incredible amount of constituent work that often goes unrecognised, but it makes a huge difference to the people that you help to resolve issues with Centrelink or the NDIS or to find shelter or other support services. I’d particularly like to thank my outgoing Office Manager, Katinka Allom, for her tireless efforts following the fall of Kabul last year. Working with Senator McKim and Senator Rice’s teams, Katinka devoted days and days to the harrowing task of advocating for Afghan people seeking safety from the Taliban.
As the party room welcomes many new faces, I want to acknowledge that in the past year we said a fond farewell to my dear friend, Senator Rachel Siewert, after an impressive stint in the role. Rach is sorely missed, but Nick McKim is doing a stellar job whipping us all into action!
I am excited by the opportunities that this new parliament brings, with growing non-major party representation and the Greens in the balance of power in the Senate. We’ve got a formidable team and we’re ready to make some noise and change the country for the better.