Foreign nationals with sufficient policing experience will be eligible to apply to the Queensland Police Service (QPS) under a new labour agreement between the State and Federal Governments.
The QPS has approval for 500 new international recruits to join the service each year, for five years.
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| Italy Windfarm |
The so-called Superbonus 110 program for climate-friendly renovations has been threatening public finances, officials say
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The Italian government has scrapped a climate-friendly tax credit program, claiming it had cost more than €110 billion ($117 billion) and led to widespread fraud. According to Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, the “reckless policy” was a threat to public finances. “We have decided to stop the effects of a wicked policy that has benefited a few citizens but has placed a burden on each of us from the cradle onwards of €2,000 ($2,132) per head,” Giorgetti told reporters on Thursday. The so-called Superbonus 110 initiative, which was one of several programs aimed at reducing the environmental impact of properties, entitled homeowners to a tax credit of up to 110% on the cost of upgrading their home. Introduced after the Covid-19 lockdowns ended, the program has led to a surge in home renovations, boosting Italy’s economic activity. However, the initiative has been criticized by former Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who called it “a system without checks” after it was revealed that $4.6 billion of fraud had been linked to the scheme. The law ending the tax credit program specified that construction work that has already begun will continue. Meanwhile, former Italian premier Giuseppe Conte, whose government introduced the Superbonus system in 2020, warned the move would deal “a fatal blow” to the construction sector. “We’re putting at risk 25,000 companies and 130,000 jobs,” he claimed. The president of the ANCE national building association, Federica Brancaccio, echoed the warning, adding that if the government stopped the tax credits without coming up with a structural solution, then “thousands of companies will be permanently without liquidity and construction sites will stop completely, with serious consequences on families.” Source: rt.com
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Two of Queensland’s most popular national parks have expanded thanks to a partnership worth more than $600,000 between the Department of Environment and Science (DES) and the Foundation of National Parks and Wildlife (FNPW).
More than 185 hectares of undisturbed forest habitat has been added to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage-listed Lamington and Main Range National Parks.
Queensland’s Protected Area Strategy 2020-2030 supports the expansion of our national parks and other protected areas.
Quotes attributable to Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon:
“I’d like to thank our new partners at FNPW for contributing $340,000 towards expanding these extraordinary national parks, which hold a special place in the hearts so many Queenslanders,” Minister Scanlon said.
“The Lamington National Park addition is a pristine area of beautiful tall forests and rugged mountains and is habitat for a range of rare species of fauna and flora.
“One of the best parts of Queensland’s lifestyle is our great natural assets like our National parks.
“This will mean more national park that Queenslanders can access for recreation like bushwalking and camping.
“My department had a long history of cooperative conservation management with Mr Ken and Mrs Jan Drynan who previously owned the property which is surrounded on three sides by Lamington National Park.
“Sadly, Mr Drynan passed away not long after the property was acquired, but with the expansion now formalised, a lasting connection has been forged between his family and park rangers who knew and respected him.
“The joint purchase of this land with FNPW completes a section of park near the New South Wales border and consolidates the park boundary.
“The addition to Main Range National Park has connected two existing sections of the protected area, which are popular for remote bush walking.
“The new area also includes pristine tall forests set beside the rugged and spectacular western escarpment of Main Range and features riverine wetlands of very high aquatic conservation significance.
“With these purchases, the Palaszczuk Government is delivering on our promise to expand and sustainably manage our protected areas.
“We will also consider other privately owned properties with significant conservation values for addition to the protected area estate.
“My department will continue to work with FNPW and other conservation organisations to identify opportunities for co-investment in protected area acquisitions.
“We will continue to add properties to our estate that will help conserve Queensland’s natural and cultural heritage.”
Quotes attributable to Foundation of National Parks and Wildlife CEO Ian Darbyshire:
“The foundation is proud to be a part of the recent acquisitions, which is a significant step in our ongoing efforts to preserve and protect Australia’s unique and diverse wildlife and national parks,” Mr Darbyshire said.
“This acquisition aligns with our mission to expand the country’s national parks and conserve threatened species for future generations.
“With over 50 years of expertise in park and wildlife preservation, FNPW will continue to work in partnership with government agencies, corporations, and local communities to achieve our goal of creating a lasting impact and positive change for Australia’s natural environment.
“We are appreciative of the support of our partners and supporters in making this acquisition possible and look forward to continuing our mission of safeguarding Australia’s national parks and wildlife for generations to come.”
Fast facts:
The Palaszczuk Government has committed $262.5 million over four years to expand and sustainably manage Queensland’s National Parks.
More than 14 million hectares in Queensland now protected.
Attribution: State of Queensland
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| Vladimir Putin delivered his Address to the Federal Assembly. |
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon,
Members of the Federation Assembly – senators, State Duma deputies,
Citizens of Russia,
This Presidential Address comes, as we all know, at a difficult, watershed period for our country. This is a time of radical, irreversible change in the entire world, of crucial historical events that will determine the future of our country and our people, a time when every one of us bears a colossal responsibility.
One year ago, to protect the people in our historical lands, to ensure the security of our country and to eliminate the threat coming from the neo-Nazi regime that had taken hold in Ukraine after the 2014 coup, it was decided to begin the special military operation. Step by step, carefully and consistently we will deal with the tasks we have at hand.
Since 2014, Donbass has been fighting for the right to live in their land and to speak their native tongue. It fought and never gave up amid the blockade, constant shelling and the Kiev regime’s overt hatred. It hoped and waited that Russia would come to help.
In the meantime, as you know well, we were doing everything in our power to solve this problem by peaceful means, and patiently conducted talks on a peaceful solution to this devastating conflict.
This appalling method of deception has been tried and tested many times before. They behaved just as shamelessly and duplicitously when destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. They will never be able to wash off this shame. The concepts of honour, trust, and decency are not for them.
Over the long centuries of colonialism, diktat and hegemony, they got used to being allowed everything, got used to spitting on the whole world. It turned out that they treat people living in their own countries with the same disdain, like a master. After all, they cynically deceived them too, tricked them with tall stories about the search for peace, about adherence to the UN Security Council resolutions on Donbass. Indeed, the Western elites have become a symbol of total, unprincipled lies.
We firmly defend our interests as well as our belief that in today’s world there should be no division into so-called civilised countries and all the rest and that there is a need for an honest partnership that rejects any exclusivity, especially an aggressive one.
Wars are world-shaping. Beyond their immediate human and physical tolls, wars alter the fates of societies and states; of clans, cultures and leaders. They establish new lines of access to resources and influence, determining who has what – and who doesn’t. They set precedents for how future wars are justified and, in the case of attempted conquest, wars can ultimately redraw the map of world politics.
One year after its unprovoked invasion on February 24, 2022, Russia’s war against Ukraine encompasses all these dangers.
With Ukraine waging an existential battle for its very survival, and Russia seemingly happy to settle for destroying Ukraine if it fails to conquer it, neither side has any incentive to stop fighting.
Absent the complete collapse of either the Ukrainian or Russian armed forces, the grim reality is that the war will likely drag on throughout 2023 – and potentially beyond it.
But what happens in Ukraine during 2023 will be crucial. For a start, it will reveal whether victory for either side is possible, or whether a “frozen” conflict is more likely.
It will test the resolve of all the main protagonists and their supporters:
How the war plays out in 2023 will also reveal how credible the West’s determination to stand up to bullies really is. Will it move further towards supporting Kyiv by all means necessary, revert to drip-feeding its assistance, or give in to apathy and war fatigue?
At present, Ukraine continues to have the upper hand, even if Russia’s armed forces have lately wrested back some momentum. But in the coming months, Kyiv will face two key challenges.
First it will need to absorb Russian attacks while conducting its own offensive operations, which will require Western heavy armour, longer-range strike capabilities, and possibly air power.
Second, Ukraine will require continued international aid and assistance to ensure its social order doesn’t break down as a result of economic collapse, and to be able to mitigate further damage to its critical infrastructure.
Conversely, for Russia to turn the tide it will have to dramatically reverse the abysmal performance of its armed forces. The recent spectacular failure of the Russian assault on Vuhledar in Ukraine’s south east, seen by many as the prelude to a Spring offensive, doesn’t bode well.
With an estimated 80% of Russia’s entire ground forces now engaged in the conflict, plus tens of thousands of newly mobilised conscripts arriving at the front, there’s mounting pressure on those at the very top of Russia’s military leadership to achieve rapid results.
Failing to achieve that will ultimately rebound on Putin. To maintain social order he has become increasingly repressive, banning books, engaging in shadow conscription campaigns, and imprisoning many of those who speak out against the war.
And while the bitter infighting between the armed forces and paramilitary organisation the Wagner Group seems to have been settled for the moment, the fact that it was conducted so publicly suggests Putin no longer enjoys the same iron control amongst Russia’s leaders that he once did.
Of course, another Russian revolution (either from above or below) is still far off. There’s no alternative value proposition for Russia’s political elites to remove Putin, and the personal risks for trying it remain very high. For its part, Russian society remains effectively apathetic – if no longer very enthusiastic – about the war.
Yet that might change. Putin can’t endure unscathed by forever blaming the West, or purging his security services for his own bad choices. His longevity has relied on the bargain he made with Russians: to protect them, and offer them stable lives with gradually improving living standards. In the last 12 months he has broken both parts of that bargain, drafting large numbers of Russians to fight in Ukraine, and causing tough sanctions in response to his actions.
By using mobilised Russians as cannon fodder, and having emptied much of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2022 to blunt damage to its economy, Putin has created dual pressures on Russian society.
First, the demand for fresh recruits has become recurrent, mandatory and inexhaustible.
Second, sanctions are about to bite much harder. And instead of being able to direct mobilisation campaigns at Russia’s marginalised and minority groups, affluent and influential areas like Moscow and St Petersburg will for the first time find their livelihoods affected by the war in 2023.
If maintaining control at home becomes more challenging for Putin, a new round of brinkmanship will look increasingly attractive. In turn, that elevates the risks of conflict escalation.
Already the past 12 months have witnessed the Kremlin flirting with global hunger games, hinting at nuclear annihilation, raising the spectre of “dirty bombs”, and branding virtually anyone who opposes Moscow as a Nazi.
So far, the West has responded tactfully and proportionately to the Kremlin’s threats. It largely weaned itself off Russian energy over the past year, removing a key part of Russian strategic leverage. But in 2023 we should expect a redoubling of Moscow’s efforts to fracture Western unity.
Putin’s propensity for risk means any action short of war in the so-called “grey zone” is possible, as demonstrated by reports the Kremlin has been supporting a coup attempt in Moldova and aiding Serbian nationalists protesting against closer ties with Kosovo. More broadly that list could include blackmail, cyberattacks, sabotage, and even assassinations on NATO territory, coupled to posturing and provocations by Russia’s armed forces.
Similar efforts will likely be made to try and sway Western populations. True, Russia’s previous attempts to enlist gullible and/or reflexively suspicious Western citizens with false narratives about NATO enlargement have only enjoyed limited success, mainly because it’s painfully obvious Russia is engaged in a war of imperial expansion.
But just like prohibition-era Baptists and bootleggers, it will continue trying to exert pressure by seeking to unite seemingly disparate groups, such as the anti-war campaigns which have brought together the anti-globalist Far Left with the conspiracy theory-laden Far Right.
The centre of NATO gravity will likely continue to shift further east. Both Poland and Estonia have emerged as strong champions of Ukrainian sovereignty, and have been particularly instrumental in pushing more reticent European nations, including Germany and France, towards a firmer stance. NATO aspirant members Finland and Sweden have been busy too, with both nations increasing their 2022 defence expenditure by between 10% and 20%.
With the exception of Hungary, the Bucharest Nine Group – formed in 2015 in response to Russian aggression in Crimea – has emerged as a powerful voice within NATO, advocating for the transfer of more sophisticated weapons systems to Ukraine.
In January 2023, Poland announced it was increasing its military spending to 4% of GDP, and it has been placing numerous orders for weapons, including from the US and South Korea. Policy coordination between Warsaw and Washington has increased as well, especially on stationing NATO systems, personnel, and providing training for Ukrainian forces – including US President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday to announce a new military aid package, ahead of a visit to Poland to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The challenge for NATO is that a two-speed approach to Ukraine within the alliance increases the potential for disagreement and fracture. Conversely, given the reticence of some West European nations to lead the response to Russian aggression, it’s incumbent on the Baltic States, Poland and others to do so.
Ultimately, those predicting a swift end to Russia’s war in Ukraine are likely to be as disappointed in 2023, as they were 12 months earlier. The past year has taught us much: about how the weak can resist the powerful; about the dangers of peace at any price; and about the hubris of believing autocrats can be bought off with inducements.
But perhaps most importantly it has taught us to question our assumptions about war. Now, one year into a conflict in Europe that many thought impossible, we are likely about to rediscover just how world-shaping wars can be.
Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
 Joe Biden Surprise Visit, Meets President Zelensky |
As the world prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, I am in Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
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When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong. Today, in Kyiv, I am meeting with President Zelenskyy and his team for an extended discussion on our support for Ukraine. I will announce another delivery of critical equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems, and air surveillance radars to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments. And I will share that later this week, we will announce additional sanctions against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine. Over the last year, the United States has built a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific to help defend Ukraine with unprecedented military, economic, and humanitarian support – and that support will endure. I also look forward to travelling on to Poland to meet President Duda and the leaders of our Eastern Flank Allies, as well as deliver remarks on how the United States will continue to rally the world to support the people of Ukraine and the core values of human rights and dignity in the UN Charter that unite us worldwide. Attribution: White House |
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| Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price |
Senator Jacinta Price: The Northern Territory Safe Measures Bill 2023, which has been introduced into the Senate, is a bill that aims to keep all people in the Northern Territory safe in relation to the consumption of alcohol and exposure to alcohol related harm and violence. My bill was drafted in response to calls from vulnerable community members across the Northern Territory and a letter that was dated 9 June, representing nine separate Aboriginal organisations, seeking urgent support from the federal Minister for Indigenous Australians after failed attempts at communicating these concerns with the Northern Territory Fyles government. The Northern Territory government’s response to community cries was followed by neglect and inaction, all justified by accusations that alcohol restrictions were nothing more than race based policies. It was only when the Prime Minister was shamed by a Sydney based radio program that he was prompted to make a fly-in fly-out visit to my home town, which has now resulted in Chief Minister Natasha Fyles having to take back her race-baiting words and backflip on her vehemently held position, forcing her to create half-baked policy on the run.
Senators, I plead with you to help me save the lives of those I love and those I’m democratically elected to represent and whose lives we are all responsible for. I seek your bipartisan support to make my hometown community and vulnerable communities throughout the Northern Territory safer. If we can save one woman from becoming the next domestic violence or homicide statistic, we are winning. If we can prevent one child from being sexually abused and left with a venereal disease or internal physical and psychological scarring for life, that is one child. But I know we can do better than this.
The last few months have been distressing and traumatising for so very many, not just within my own family but for families throughout the Northern Territory. In the lead-up to Christmas, I was grateful to have the opportunity to spend the last few days of my cousin Regina Napaljarri France’s life by her side in the palliative care unit of Alice Springs. My cousin, only one year older than I am, who never bore children of her own, loved and nurtured other children in our family whose own parents could not care for them because they were either dead, incarcerated or suffering from alcohol or substance abuse. My cousin lived her entire life in a town camp, and it is my firm belief that this life lived in a hellhole contributed to her bad health. But it was in the last few months, when alcohol was reintroduced in her town camp, that her health took a steep decline ending in her early death. She was no drinker, and nor did she smoke. Before the Intervention, she witnessed the early death of my uncle, her father, when one morning he failed to wake up after a long night of drinking. My uncle was not violent but a man who loved us all very deeply. He was, however, an alcoholic. My cousin’s brother was the same. He was a quietly spoken man who always carried an affectionate, warm smile, but she witnessed his life end far too early because he too was powerless to the bottle.
My cousin’s mother, left with heartbreak and ill health and regularly undergoing renal dialysis, now has the responsibility of raising the adopted granddaughter left behind. My cousin’s adopted daughter, also my niece, had already lost three of her mothers, including her biological mother, before losing my cousin. In our Warlpiri kinship structure, your mother’s sisters are also regarded as your own mothers. Her biological mother was killed in her mid-30s when she was mown down in an alcohol fuelled domestic violence attack by her father. One of her mother’s sisters died of alcohol abuse at the age of 28. She simply drank herself to death in the same town camp, before the intervention. Another of her mothers was killed, as a passenger, in an alcohol related car crash. The driver crashed the car after her drunken husband punched her in the back of her head while she was driving. My cousin was the only one to die in that crash. My husband accompanied me while I identified her body in the morgue.
Our family remember all too clearly the horrific conditions in town camps before alcohol restrictions. So I could understand when my 42-year-old cousin told me on Christmas Day that she was at peace and happy to say goodbye to the world of the living. I could not be angry at her for wanting to leave us all behind. Life in her town camp had become absolutely unbearable again with alcohol flowing back in. So, when I speak to this bill and stand here as an Indigenous voice in parliament, I am deeply offended when it is suggested by others in this chamber that my actions are nothing more than political grandstanding. My cousin is now at peace, and my family is heartbroken, but my family is not the only family that is. The uncle of Alena Kukla, whose life was taken at the hands of her violent partner, along with her baby, told me he marks the day alcohol was introduced to the very same day that she was killed. So, again, I ask your support, in a bipartisan manner, my colleagues, to protect our most vulnerable Australians.
The bill will introduce elements specific to reducing alcohol consumption and related harm, applied in the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act 2012, which ceased in 2022. The bill will put in place alcohol restrictions that will include declaration of alcohol protected areas and the development of alcohol management plans, which will provide that supply of alcohol is regulated, mitigating illegal alcohol supply and providing a legal framework for prosecution.
When dealing with addiction, the first step to management and recovery is acknowledging there is a problem. And those that are subject to the effects of addiction in the Northern Territory—the whole community—have been crying out that we have a problem since the cessation of the measures and the lifting of alcohol restrictions in the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act.
The bill makes provision for equitable consultation to take place in relation to alcohol protection measures to ensure that men, women, consumers of alcohol, nonconsumers of alcohol, addiction experts and the Northern Territory Liquor Commission are all involved. The introduction of a requirement for an expert committee to support the development of each alcohol management plan will provide that measures designed to reduce alcohol related harm and to improve the quality of life are realised, such as monitoring school attendance and rates of alcohol related assaults.
The need for the introduction of the bill has been demonstrated through the increased rates of crime, alcohol related domestic violence and alcohol related assaults. Alcohol related assaults in Alice Springs alone have risen from December 2021 to December 2022 by 54.6 per cent, and property damage has increased by 59.6 per cent.
The removal of income management measures of the cashless debit card has increased the availability of obtaining alcohol to those vulnerable to alcoholism, and there has not been sufficient analysis of the impact of the removal of this important measure, but we can see it through our own eyes.
The Australian government has a responsibility to ensure that the Northern Territory has consistency in law and order, and that punitive approaches are not taken by the Northern Territory government that do not address the broader context of addiction and alcohol related harm.
For a decade the Australian government has intensely invested in the Northern Territory to address significant levels of need, specifically to improve the quality of life for Aboriginal Territorians. The management of alcohol consumption and the reduction of alcohol related harm were not realised within this period of time. This bill will set a framework of accountability for alcohol management plans to be developed, with alcohol restrictions in place to protect our vulnerable communities.
I have developed this bill over several months in conjunction with community consultation with relevant stakeholders that include drug and alcohol services, Aboriginal health services, legal services, education institutions, businesspeople, community members both remote and in major towns, and town camp residents. Chief Minister Natasha Fyles sent me a letter just yesterday claiming that I had not consulted her. I reminded her of my letter dated from October outlining my intentions in the draft of this bill and extending an invitation to sit with me and to understand what this might entail. I’ve had no response to that correspondence.
My bill seeks to establish a federal and Territory government partnership to address alcohol-related harm. The Territory government, which is predominantly dependent on federal funding, will have a role in overseeing the process of developing alcohol management plans, while the federal government will be responsible for approving those management plans and reviewing the measures through the Senate committee process and will have the power to revoke approvals of alcohol management plans should they demonstrate that they are not ensuring the safety of Territorians.
It is not good enough that the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory requires the Prime Minister to step in, for them to realise that they got it dreadfully wrong—at the cost of lives lost and the devastation that addiction has unleashed on our communities. We are hurting, and it is disingenuous to provide ad hoc approaches and not take full responsibility for the sake of every Territorian. Senate colleagues, I’m asking you to take full responsibility with me.
THE SENATE PROOF BILLS
Northern Territory Safe Measures Bill 2023
Speaker: Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
Attribution: Parliament of Australia website
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| Adam Bandt MP Photo screenshot Parliament of Australia |
Mr Bandt (Australian Greens) I rise to speak on the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023 and the associated bills. I’m lucky enough, in Melbourne, to have the electorate that has the highest number of public housing residents, from the last time we looked at the statistics. In that electorate, one of the things we deal with day after day, in our office, is people who can’t get into public housing, who have been on the waiting list for years and who are told, even though they’re homeless, even though they’re couch surfing, even though they might be women just about to give birth, there is no place for them in public housing. When you look at the rental market, you find there is zero chance of renting near your family or your friends or where you work or study because rents in the private market have grown seven times faster than wages. People are in crisis.
When you’re faced with this housing crisis, where you can’t get into public housing because governments haven’t built public housing and where you can’t get into the private market because rents are going through the roof, it takes a particular kind of genius to come up with a policy that will see the waiting list longer at the end than it is now. We’ve got a shortage at the moment of 640,000 social and affordable homes in this country—a shortage that is set to grow by 75,000 in five years—and a proposal that says we’re supposedly going to finance the construction of 30,000 over five years, which means the shortage of affordable and social housing will continue to grow under this policy. This policy is one that bakes in the problem getting worse.
It’s not even a promise to spend money on housing. This is a gamble of $10 billion of public money being put into the stock market in the hope that some of that might find its way back into building housing. It’s not a $10 billion investment in housing; it’s a $10 billion gamble on the stock market with a spending cap on housing. We’ve heard from the government that somehow this is going to result in $500 million a year. What people need to know is what the government is doing is taking public money, putting it over for a gamble on the stock market and hoping that that generates some money to be spent on public housing. Last year, if this proposal had gone ahead, it would have actually lost money; the investment in the future fund would have actually lost money. There is no requirement in this legislation that a dollar be spent per year on social and affordable housing. If money is made after gambling on the stock market, then it may come in. Last year there were zero dollars. It was negative; it made a loss. Separately, in a time of crisis they’ve put a cap on how much they’re going to spend. Even if the fund makes a greater return, they’ve limited how much they’re going to spend. And it’s not even indexed. In other words, even if more money is made available, they’ve locked in a steady decline, a steady cut, on how much will be spent on social and affordable housing.
Spending on social and affordable housing and building new public housing in this country shouldn’t be dependent on the whims of the stock market. Imagine if we did that with schools and hospitals. Imagine if the government said: ‘I’m sorry. We can’t find funds to build new public schools this year because the stock market made a loss.’ There would be an outcry, and rightly so. Spending on public, social and affordable housing should be treated the same way as spending on public schools and on public health. We need a mind shift in this country where the government says, ‘Whether you find a roof over your head isn’t dependent on whether the stock market has made money this year; it is a basic right.’ The government shouldn’t come to the parliament in a time of crisis and say, ‘We want a cap on how much we’re going to spend on social and affordable housing.’
There is a massive problem here, including for renters, but there’s nothing in here for renters in the private market, who are seeing rents grow by seven times as much as wages. There’s nothing in here. The government has failed to understand that a shift has gone on in Australian society. Now more people are renting and they are finding it impossible to get a place to rent near where they work or study. There’s nothing in here to address out-of-control spiralling rents. We need to start taking seriously the position that renters find themselves in. Renters need to stop being treated like second-class citizens and ignored by governments. It is time for more rights for renters, but there’s nothing in this package for renters.
Freezing rent increases and doubling Commonwealth rent assistance would go a huge way to relieving the stress that renters find themselves in. The government has brought forward a bill that says that at the end of the bill, if the bill is implemented, the problem will be worse and the gap will be bigger than it is now. It ignores renters. The government has nothing for renters who find themselves in crisis right now. What does the government have for renters who are watching spiralling rents and can’t find a secure roof over their head? Zero; there is zero in these bills for renters right now.
The opposition have said no to these bills, but we’re saying to the government, ‘Do better.’ We’re saying to the government, ‘Put some real money into housing and guarantee that it is going to flow so that we start to make the problem better, not worse, as these bills are proposing to do.’ We’re saying to the government: ‘Do better for renters. Double Commonwealth rent assistance. Work to freeze rents across the country for the next two years, like happened in some places during the pandemic.’ During the pandemic, governments, including in Victoria, understood that we were in a crisis. There is now a rental crisis that people are facing. The government needs to step in and stop rents spiralling out of control.
With over 20 per cent of First Nations people living in overcrowded homes, a $1 billion capital investment will help address the shocking inequality in housing outcomes in this country. That could be part of what the government is putting forward. Ultimately, the Greens are fighting on behalf of the millions of people that this bill leaves behind. Whether they’re homeless, whether they’re stuck on public or social housing waiting lists or whether they’re struggling to pay the rent, we will fight to make sure that Labor does not forget them, because at the moment they are not helped by this bill.
So the opposition will say no and the Greens will say: ‘Do better. Have something in this bill that addresses the real crisis that renters find themselves in. Let’s look at First Nations housing. Let’s make sure we spend some real money, not just have a gamble on the stock market and then cap how much is going to be spent and, in some years, spend nothing at all.’ These are real proposals that will help fix the problem, not see the problem get worse. That is the fundamental problem with the approach the government is taking: if this bill is passed as it is, the problem will get worse than it is now. The problem will be worse than it is now at the end of the next few years.
People are looking to members of this parliament to work together to fix the massive rental crisis that people are in, not to pass a policy that bakes in the problem getting worse. We’ll continue to work with the government over the coming weeks to make this better, because people need it to be better. Renters need it to be better, First Nations communities need it to be better—everyone who is struggling to afford to put a roof over their head needs this government to do better.
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| Joe Biden Photo YouTube |
Joe Biden Inflation in America is continuing to come down, which is good news for families and businesses across the country. Today’s data confirm that annual inflation has fallen for seven straight months. Inflation for food at the grocery store came down again last month. Gas prices are down about $1.60 from their peak last year. And real wages for working Americans are up over the last seven months, delivering welcome breathing room for American families. We are seeing this progress even as unemployment remains at its lowest level since 1969 and job growth remains resilient.
There is still more work to do as we make this transition to more steady, stable growth, and there could be setbacks along the way. That is why my unwavering focus is on continuing to lower costs for families, rebuild our supply chains, and invest in America. Right now, because of the Inflation Reduction Act we passed last year, we are lowering prescription drug costs, health care costs, and home energy costs for tens of millions of Americans all while lowering our deficits. My administration is eliminating junk fees which make it harder for American families to make ends meet at the end of the month. And we are creating manufacturing jobs all across the country, which will lower costs and rebuild our supply chains.
Unfortunately, many of my Republican friends in Congress seem intent on taking us in the opposite direction. They have proposed repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, which would make inflation worse, shower billions of dollars on Big Pharma, and increase the deficit. They are threatening to raise costs for seniors by threatening to cut Medicare and Social Security, and other critical programs that American seniors and families count on. And some are threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the U.S., which would raise costs and create economic chaos. I will stand firmly against any effort to make inflation worse and increase costs for families. Today’s data reinforces that we have made historic progress and are on the right track, and now we need to finish the job.
Attribution: Whitehouse.gov under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
