Latest News
Morrison Government fails to ensure Commonwealth purchasing supports recycling
Wed 27 January 2021The only waste policy change this Government has delivered is the straightforward framework that formalises the ban other countries have imposed on Australia’s waste exports. Yet in the absence of both the infrastructure for increased recycling and the end market for recycled material Australia’s growing waste will inevitably need to be stockpiled or landfilled.
Read more...Nothing but throwaway announcements: Govt misses its own waste targets
Mon 21 December 2020With Christmas in four days, and the first waste export ban due to start on 1 January, the Morrison Government looks set to fail on the delivery of key targets within its own National Waste Policy Action Plan.
Read more...Australia needs an Albanese Labor Government
Thu 10 December 2020I’m looking forward to 2021 because we can, as a nation, set off on a better and fairer course, holding no-one back and, most importantly of all, leaving no-one behind. But that requires a change. It requires change. It requires an Albanese federal Labor government.
Read more...Report: ‘From Rubbish to Resources’
Wed 9 December 2020It is worth starting, when we look at this area understanding the state of play, we do have a waste crisis in this country. Other countries have decided in the last 18 months or so, perhaps a bit longer than that, that they’re not going to accept waste from Australia and that’s forced us all, and particularly the general public, to realise that we’ve been kidding ourselves a little bit when it comes to how we deal with waste and resource management to a significant degree.
Read more...Morrison Government is coming for your superannuation
Tue 8 December 2020Superannuation is good for each of us. It is good for all of us. It gives people a dignified and secure retirement. It is the basis of our national savings and our capacity to invest in important national infrastructure.
Read more...Philippine trade union rights
Mon 7 December 2020All the best things we’ve achieved – democracy, equality, egalitarianism, anti-discrimination, peace, and freedom – all these things have been fought for, campaigned for, and bit by bit achieved or improved or protected with the efforts and principled commitment of organised labour; by unionists and their representatives in the union movement.
Read more...Foreign Investment Reform Bill 2020
Thu 3 December 2020At a time when we reflect on matters of national security and broad public wellbeing, countries have an interest in ensuring that appropriate regard is given to how we own and control certain essential parts of our economy and our public service delivery world, and that has been true here in Australia.
Read more...Abolishing the Family Law Court risks harm to vulnerable women and children
Mon 30 November 2020No-one would say that the existing system is perfect, of course it’s not—there isn’t any system that’s perfect—and there are always ways in which reform can be considered, but you have to ensure that the reform that you’re thinking about actually addresses the problems that exist. There is nothing in any of the evidence that suggests that abolishing or dissolving the Family Court will deal with some of the problems that have identified, such as delay. None of the five reports listed on the Attorney-General’s website as informing this bill actually recommend the change that the government is making.
Read more...Environment Minister must protect the environment
Mon 30 November 2020If it’s too much to ask that the government do their job when it comes to environmental protection, they could try to stop actively making it worse: stop cutting resources to the environment department; stop weakening our environmental protection framework; stop ignoring the reality of climate change; and stop undermining the efforts of Australia’s scientists and conservation sector.
Read more...Government should show compassion for asylum seekers
Mon 30 November 2020The government can accept the opportunity to resettle asylum seekers in New Zealand. It can choose to allow Priya and Nades and their children to come home to Biloela. I ask them to do that. It doesn’t need to be a Christmas miracle. At the end of a dark year, it could simply be an act of grace, a gesture of common sense and compassion.
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