Environmentalists say our green goals don't protect nature or work for business. Here's how Labor plans to fix the problem
A long list of unfulfilled environmental promises presents a challenge to the Albanese government in its second term, after it recently approved a major gas project and halted reform progress in the past three years as it tries to balance protecting nature with creating jobs.
In his first decision as environment minister, Murray Watt gave provisional approval to Woodside to extend its North West Shelf gas project until 2070, overruling warnings from climate activists and traditional owners that it could damage rock art and produce vast greenhouse gas emissions.
Watt's initial act in the Albanese government's second term, following its May re-election, followed a rocky environmental record for Labor in its first term. It failed to deliver on an election pledge to create a federal environment watchdog by 2025 and made limited progress on its open-ended promises to reform federal environment laws and enhance Indigenous heritage protections.
The government's former environment minister Tanya Plibersek made three other ambitious pledges in 2022. She promised there would be 'no new extinctions' of Australia's native wildlife and to reform Indigenous cultural heritage laws following Rio Tinto's legal 2020 destruction of the globally significant Juukan Gorge, which contained 46,000 years of cultural heritage, to expand one of its mines.
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Plibersek also pledged to conserve 30 per cent of Australian land and 30 per cent of its seas by 2030 – known as the '30 by 30″ commitment – barring all extractive industry such as fishing or mining in line with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Australian Conservation Foundation policy officer Brendan Sydes said the government needed to deliver on it promises to protect thousands of native plants and animals at heightened risk of extinction.
'There's an urgent need to fix our national environmental laws. They're not working, they don't protect nature, and they don't work for business either,' Sydes said.
'We're now up to well over 2000 species listed as threatened under Commonwealth environmental laws and the numbers are only going up. They are being listed because they're at imminent risk of extinction.
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The Advertiser
36 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
Independents unite to demand home support for 20,000 after aged care delay
In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Horrific': Albanese condemns shooting of Nine journalist in US
Tomasi has been covering the unrest in Los Angeles, where 2000 National Guard members and 700 marines have been deployed by the US president to help 'restore order' following a series of protests against immigration raids. Loading The protests evolved into riots, with cars set on fire and objects lobbed at police. Police deployed tear gas and fired rubber bullets at demonstrators. Speaking on Nine's Today show on Tuesday morning, Tomasi said her injuries were minor. 'I have a bit of a bloody big old bruise, and it's a little bit sore, but I am all OK,' she said. 'It's a really crappy thing that's happened. But I really don't want to be the story … it's a really chaotic situation that's unfolding in Los Angeles.' The day of the shooting, Tomasi went live around 5am LA time after 'thousands of protesters' appeared on the street. 'We felt that presence of the Los Angeles Police Department and law enforcement really ramp up and [we] went live … police started pushing their way up the street. They'd begun firing tear gas canisters and those rubber bullets, and we moved on to the sidewalk, really tried to stay out of the way,' she said. 'I was really focused on the camera and was finishing that report … and I got hit. [Cameraman] Jimmy scooped me up, and we made our way out of there as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a shock.' The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Nine it had launched an investigation into the incident. Nine owns this masthead. British photographer Nick Stern was also hit in the leg by a rubber bullet, and had to be carried away by protesters. Tasmania Greens senator Nick McKim has called the incident 'shocking' and questioned whether the officer's actions were deliberate. 'It certainly looked deliberately done. And if it was, that's absolutely … a cowardly act,' he said on Today. 'The fact that you've got someone in uniform who appears to take a deliberate potshot at an Australian journalist, that is completely unacceptable. And it needs to be raised at the highest levels.' Loading Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth said journalists should be safe at work. 'I understand [Tomasi] is OK and she wasn't seriously injured, but Australia absolutely believes in the freedom of journalists to do their job and to do their job safely, and that journalists should be protected. And so this is obviously a very difficult circumstance.' In a statement on social media, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance – the union representing Australian journalists – said the 'shocking' footage was 'evidence of the lengths media workers go to report the truth'. 'Tomasi appears to be deliberately shot while she is speaking to the camera. Journalists reporting from the front line of protests and wars fulfil the essential role of bearing witness, and should be accorded the same protections as other frontline workers,' the statement read. 'We are grateful to learn both Lauren and her cameraperson are safe, but this situation highlights the need to centre worker safety. No one deserves to be shot or injured during the course of their work.'
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
‘Horrific': Albanese condemns shooting of Nine journalist in US
Tomasi has been covering the unrest in Los Angeles, where 2000 National Guard members and 700 marines have been deployed by the US president to help 'restore order' following a series of protests against immigration raids. Loading The protests evolved into riots, with cars set on fire and objects lobbed at police. Police deployed tear gas and fired rubber bullets at demonstrators. Speaking on Nine's Today show on Tuesday morning, Tomasi said her injuries were minor. 'I have a bit of a bloody big old bruise, and it's a little bit sore, but I am all OK,' she said. 'It's a really crappy thing that's happened. But I really don't want to be the story … it's a really chaotic situation that's unfolding in Los Angeles.' The day of the shooting, Tomasi went live around 5am LA time after 'thousands of protesters' appeared on the street. 'We felt that presence of the Los Angeles Police Department and law enforcement really ramp up and [we] went live … police started pushing their way up the street. They'd begun firing tear gas canisters and those rubber bullets, and we moved on to the sidewalk, really tried to stay out of the way,' she said. 'I was really focused on the camera and was finishing that report … and I got hit. [Cameraman] Jimmy scooped me up, and we made our way out of there as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a shock.' The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Nine it had launched an investigation into the incident. Nine owns this masthead. British photographer Nick Stern was also hit in the leg by a rubber bullet, and had to be carried away by protesters. Tasmania Greens senator Nick McKim has called the incident 'shocking' and questioned whether the officer's actions were deliberate. 'It certainly looked deliberately done. And if it was, that's absolutely … a cowardly act,' he said on Today. 'The fact that you've got someone in uniform who appears to take a deliberate potshot at an Australian journalist, that is completely unacceptable. And it needs to be raised at the highest levels.' Loading Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth said journalists should be safe at work. 'I understand [Tomasi] is OK and she wasn't seriously injured, but Australia absolutely believes in the freedom of journalists to do their job and to do their job safely, and that journalists should be protected. And so this is obviously a very difficult circumstance.' In a statement on social media, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance – the union representing Australian journalists – said the 'shocking' footage was 'evidence of the lengths media workers go to report the truth'. 'Tomasi appears to be deliberately shot while she is speaking to the camera. Journalists reporting from the front line of protests and wars fulfil the essential role of bearing witness, and should be accorded the same protections as other frontline workers,' the statement read. 'We are grateful to learn both Lauren and her cameraperson are safe, but this situation highlights the need to centre worker safety. No one deserves to be shot or injured during the course of their work.'
