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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Anthony Albanese shrugs off Dorinda Cox's sharp criticism of Labor before party switch
Anthony Albanese has brushed off Dorinda Cox's recent strong criticism of the Labor government – of which she is now a member – claiming the senator made the shock party switch because the Greens had 'lost their way' and could not effect social change. Despite Cox's claims in recent weeks that Labor was 'held ransom' by coal and gas companies and had 'spectacularly failed' by approving the North West Shelf gas project, Albanese welcomed the former Green to the government party room. Cox has also criticised Labor for having 'dropped [Indigenous] people like a hot potato'. But Albanese said that Cox had, 'over a period of time, come to the view that the Greens political party are not capable of achieving the change that she wants to see in public life'. 'That's not surprising, given that the Greens have lost their way,' the prime minister said. At a press conference in Perth, Albanese downplayed comparisons between Cox and Fatima Payman, the former Labor senator who was strongly criticised by government members for quitting the party to sit on the crossbench. Cox's defection from the Greens to Labor stunned her former colleagues on Monday. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email She gave the new Greens leader, Larissa Waters, just 90 minutes notice of her move. It came just weeks after Cox was unsuccessful in winning a leadership position in the Greens' caucus ballot, but it's understood there had been quiet discussions between Cox and Labor members for many months. Waters told the ABC that there was 'no animosity' towards Cox. She and Cox had a 'very calm and measured conversation about it. And I did genuinely wish her all the best.' But Waters also noted Labor's approval of the North West Shelf project, which Cox and other Greens had spoken strongly against. 'What with Labor having decided just this last week to approve an absolute carbon bomb off the coast of WA, which would not only have massive climate impacts but which would have huge impacts on ancient rock art, those values are not consistent with Greens values. We have opposed that. But Senator Cox has made her decision that party is the better fit for her,' Waters said. 'It's disappointing for us to lose a Greens senator. But Dorinda has said her values lie there, and you need to be true to yourself, don't you?' Waters denied the Greens had any issue with Indigenous representatives, with Cox's switch coming after Lidia Thorpe's defection to the crossbench in 2023. Cox had campaigned strongly for the Indigenous voice referendum, while Thorpe quit the party in part over the Greens' backing of the referendum. Cox, a Western Australian senator and Yamatji Noongar woman, was the Greens spokesperson for resources, trade, tourism, First Nations and northern Australia issues. She has been a strong voice on issues related to the justice system, fossil fuels and environmental damage, domestic violence, Closing the Gap, and calling for a federal truth and justice commission in the wake of the voice referendum. She had released several press statements scathing of Labor's record on fossil fuel and First Nations issues in recent months, including a statement on 12 May claiming the government was 'being held for ransom' by coal and gas companies, and is 'not committed to transitioning towards renewables'. Cox last week put her name to a Greens joint statement – alongside Waters, Sarah Hanson-Young and Peter Whish-Wilson – claiming that 'the new environment minister has spectacularly failed his first test in the job, after approving the climate-wrecking North West Shelf dirty gas extension to 2070'. Cox declined to comment on the gas project at her press conference with Albanese on Monday. Asked about Cox's prior comments, Albanese on Tuesday shrugged off the criticisms. 'Dorinda Cox understands that being a member of the Labor party means that she will support positions that are made by the Labor party,' he said. 'If you're serious about social change in Australia, the Labor party is where you should be.' The Nine newspapers reported last year that at least 20 staff had left Cox's office since she entered the Senate, with some levelling workplace complaints. At the time, Cox said she took responsibility for 'any shortcomings' in her office and apologised for any distress that may have caused, but said there has been 'significant missing context' in the reports of bullying allegations within her office. Albanese said on Monday that Labor had 'examined everything that had been considered in the past' and it was felt that the 'issues were dealt with appropriately'. On Tuesday, Albanese re-stated that the issues had been 'dealt with' by parliamentary workplace processes. Asked about Payman, who several Labor members suggested should hand back her seat to the government after switching to the crossbench, Albanese said Cox would come up for election at the next poll. 'Fatima Payman, of course, could have put herself before the people of Western Australia on May 3. She chose not to. Dorinda Cox's term is up at the end of this term, and she will have to – if she is pre-selected through ALP processes – put herself forward for election then,' he said.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Why are environmental protesters being criminalized?
Why are environmental protesters being criminalized? (AP) Climate and environmental protest is rising in line with increasing global temperatures. But new draconian penalties are putting people who rally against climate pollution in jail. In late 2024, in the industrial city of Newcastle on Australia's east coast, a flotilla of kayaks paddled into the harbor shipping lane to block a massive coal ship from docking. The "climate defenders" gathered by activist group Rising Tide aimed to temporarily blockade the world's largest coal port and bring attention to a climate crisis caused primarily by burning fossil fuels. It also called for an end to new coal, oil and gas projects. The New South Wales ( NSW ) state government and the police had attempted to stop the blockade in the courts. But after a judge lifted an order creating an exclusion zone at the port, the protesters held up the coal tanker for over 30 hours. Some 170 activists were arrested for alleged crimes, including the disruption of a major facility. Most could face fines of up to 22,000 Australian dollars (€12,350) or two years in jail, under a 2022 anti-protest bill. The law criminalizes public assemblies that disrupt major public infrastructure such as roads, tunnels and ports, and was a response to past blockades by climate protesters. The then-NSW attorney general said that prior laws did not sufficiently penalize the "major inconvenience that incidents like these cause to the community," along with "severe financial impacts" due to "lost productivity." Zack Schofield , a spokesperson for Rising Tide who was also arrested, said the NSW law is being "used to target climate protesters almost exclusively." Australia is getting tough A young climate activist who blockaded a lane on Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2022 was the first to be charged under the NSW law and was initially given a 15-month sentence. Sue Higginson , a member for the Greens Party in NSW, called the imprisonment of the nonviolent protester "undemocratic," adding that people should not be punished for "engaging in legitimate forms of dissent and civil disobedience." One in five climate and environment protesters are arrested in Australia, which is the highest rate in the democratic world, according to a 2024 study on climate protest criminalization by researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK. Harsh anti-protest laws have been passed across the country, the world's third-largest fossil fuel exporter. That includes the island state of Tasmania, where protests at sites of old growth forest logging can incur a $13,000 fine or a two-year prison sentence. Climate protest crackdown goes global Similar punitive anti-protest laws have been enacted across Europe and US. In the UK, recent amendments to the Public Order Act give police increased power to act on "serious disruption" from public protests. Five Just Stop Oil activists were charged under the revised act for organizing the blockade of a UK motorway in 2022. Charged with conspiracy to create a "public nuisance," the protesters were sentenced to prison terms of between four and five years in 2024 before their sentences were slightly reduced. Said to be the longest sentences for a nonviolent protest in British legal history, they were almost on par with the five-year maximum sentence for aggravated assault, noted Global Witness, UK-based campaigners monitoring the criminalization and killing of environmental defenders. The UK law has been used against climate and environmental protest 95% of the time, said Oscar Berglund, a senior lecturer in international public and social policy at the University of Bristol, who co-authored the 2024 report "Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests." In Germany, members of the nonviolent climate action group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) were charged in May 2024 with "forming a criminal organization," said Berglund. The law is typically used against mafia organizations, and has never been applied to a nonviolent activist group, said the researcher. Meanwhile, anti-terror laws and military action have been used to suppress climate actions, including a blockade of a highway in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2023. This was in contravention of statute law, according to an Amnesty International study that described a "sweeping pattern of systematic attacks" that "undermine peaceful protest" across 21 European countries. Protesters face crippling litigation cases In addition to anti-protest laws passed by governments, climate activists are facing massive compensation claims from fossil fuel companies for disruptions caused during actions. Known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP), the anti-protest litigation peaked in March 2025 when a jury in the US state of North Dakota found Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million (€609 million) for its role in an oil pipeline blockade. The action was bought by oil major, Energy Transfer, which has faced years-long resistance to an oil pipeline running through North Dakota — especially from the local Sioux Tribe, who set up a protest at the Standing Rock Reservation that gained international attention. "It's part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponize our courts to silence dissent," said Sushma Raman , interim executive director of Greenpeace USA, of the compensation that could force the organization to shut down its US operations. Beyond the threat of arrest and litigation, some 2,000 environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2023, with 401 cases reported in Brazil and 298 in the Philippines, according to the Bristol University report on the criminalization and suppression of climate and environmental protest. Are laws a tool of the fossil fuel industry? "You don't have to dig very deep," said Berglund of the influence of oil, gas and coal interests on harsher anti-protest laws and policing. "The protesters are being targeted because they are a threat to fossil fuel profits." He added that in the UK, anti-protest laws were drafted in consultation with a right-wing think tank, Policy Exchange, which has openly promoted the oil and gas lobby. But for Luke McNamara, a professor at the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales, these "punitive actions" also reflect "growing intolerance" for the disruption caused by climate protesters resorting to peaceful civil disobedience. "Australian politicians regularly share their great affection for the right to protest," he said in reference to new local anti-protest laws. However, this principle "tends to crumble each time an innovative climate protest garners attention," he told DW. Back in Newcastle, some 130 Rising Tide protesters who pleaded not guilty remain uncertain about the severity of potential fines or imprisonment when their trial begins later this month. "If the penalties are disproportionate, we will appeal," said spokesperson Zack Schofield of what could become a test case for judicial willingness to criminalize environmental dissent in Australia — and beyond. For Berglund, such prosecutions confirm the increasing impact of the climate movement. "Protesters are targeted when they are successful," he said.
DW
18-05-2025
- Politics
- DW
Why are environmental protesters being criminalized? – DW – 05/18/2025
Climate and environmental protest is rising in line with increasing global temperatures. But new draconian penalties are putting people who rally against climate pollution in jail. In late 2024, in the industrial city of Newcastle on Australia's east coast, a flotilla of kayaks paddled into the harbor shipping lane to block a massive coal ship from docking. The "climate defenders" gathered by activist group Rising Tide aimed to temporarily blockade the world's largest coal port and bring attention to a climate crisis caused primarily by burning fossil fuels. It also called for an end to new coal, oil and gas projects. The New South Wales (NSW) state government and the police had attempted to stop the blockade in the courts. But after a judge lifted an order creating an exclusion zone at the port, the protesters held up the coal tanker for over 30 hours. Some 170 activists were arrested for alleged crimes, including the disruption of a major facility. Most could face fines of up to 22,000 Australian dollars (€12,350) or two years in jail, under a 2022 anti-protest bill. Climate protesters took to the water to blockade the Newcastle coal port, the world's largest, late last year Image:The law criminalizes public assemblies that disrupt major public infrastructure such as roads, tunnels and ports, and was a response to past blockades by climate protesters. The then-NSW attorney general said that prior laws did not sufficiently penalize the "major inconvenience that incidents like these cause to the community," along with "severe financial impacts" due to "lost productivity." Zack Schofield, a spokesperson for Rising Tide who was also arrested, said the NSW law is being "used to target climate protesters almost exclusively." Australia is getting tough A young climate activist who blockaded a lane on Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2022 was the first to be charged under the NSW law and was initially given a 15-month sentence. Sue Higginson, a member for the Greens Party in NSW, called the imprisonment of the nonviolent protester "undemocratic," adding that people should not be punished for "engaging in legitimate forms of dissent and civil disobedience." One in five climate and environment protesters are arrested in Australia, which is the highest rate in the democratic world, according to a 2024 study on climate protest criminalization by researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK. Harsh anti-protest laws have been passed across the country, the world's third-largest fossil fuel exporter. That includes the island state of Tasmania, where protests at sites of old growth forest logging can incur a $13,000 fine or a two-year prison sentence. Climate protest crackdown goes global Similar punitive anti-protest laws have been enacted across Europe and US. In the UK, recent amendments to the Public Order Act give police increased power to act on "serious disruption" from public protests. Five Just Stop Oil activists were charged under the revised act for organizing the blockade of a UK motorway in 2022. Charged with conspiracy to create a "public nuisance," the protesters were sentenced to prison terms of between four and five years in 2024 before their sentences were slightly reduced. Said to be the longest sentences for a nonviolent protest in British legal history, they were almost on par with the five-year maximum sentence for aggravated assault, noted Global Witness, UK-based campaigners monitoring the criminalization and killing of environmental defenders. Just Stop Oil climate activists were arrested in 2024 after cutting through a fence at a London airport and spray-painting a private jet Image: Just Stop Oil via AP/picture alliance The UK law has been used against climate and environmental protest 95% of the time, said Oscar Berglund, a senior lecturer in international public and social policy at the University of Bristol, who co-authored the 2024 report "Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests." In Germany, members of the nonviolent climate action group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) were charged in May 2024 with "forming a criminal organization," said Berglund. The law is typically used against mafia organizations, and has never been applied to a nonviolent activist group, said the researcher. Meanwhile, anti-terror laws and military action have been used to suppress climate actions, including a blockade of a highway in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2023. This was in contravention of statute law, according to an Amnesty International study that described a "sweeping pattern of systematic attacks" that "undermine peaceful protest" across 21 European countries. Dutch police employed high-powered water cannons and arrested around 700 climate activists who blocked a highway in The Hague to protest fossil fuel subsidies Image: James Petermeier/ZUMA/picture alliance Protesters face crippling litigation cases In addition to anti-protest laws passed by governments, climate activists are facing massive compensation claims from fossil fuel companies for disruptions caused during actions. Known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP), the anti-protest litigation peaked in March 2025 when a jury in the US state of North Dakota found Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million (€609 million) for its role in an oil pipeline blockade. The action was bought by oil major, Energy Transfer, which has faced years-long resistance to an oil pipeline running through North Dakota — especially from the local Sioux Tribe, who set up a protest at the Standing Rock Reservation that gained international attention. "It's part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponize our courts to silence dissent," said Sushma Raman, interim executive director of Greenpeace USA, of the compensation that could force the organization to shut down its US operations. Beyond the threat of arrest and litigation, some 2,000 environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2023, with 401 cases reported in Brazil and 298 in the Philippines, according to the Bristol University report on the criminalization and suppression of climate and environmental protest. Greenpeace faces large fine for pipeline protests To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Are laws a tool of the fossil fuel industry? "You don't have to dig very deep," said Berglund of the influence of oil, gas and coal interests on harsher anti-protest laws and policing. "The protesters are being targeted because they are a threat to fossil fuel profits." He added that in the UK, anti-protest laws were drafted in consultation with a right-wing think tank, Policy Exchange, which has openly promoted the oil and gas lobby. But for Luke McNamara, a professor at the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales, these "punitive actions" also reflect "growing intolerance" for the disruption caused by climate protesters resorting to peaceful civil disobedience. "Australian politicians regularly share their great affection for the right to protest," he said in reference to new local anti-protest laws. However, this principle "tends to crumble each time an innovative climate protest garners attention," he told DW. Climate protest halts Frankfurt flights To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Back in Newcastle, some 130 Rising Tide protesters who pleaded not guilty remain uncertain about the severity of potential fines or imprisonment when their trial begins later this month. "If the penalties are disproportionate, we will appeal," said spokesperson Zack Schofield of what could become a test case for judicial willingness to criminalize environmental dissent in Australia — and beyond. For Berglund, such prosecutions confirm the increasing impact of the climate movement. "Protesters are targeted when they are successful," he said. Edited by: Jennifer Collins
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Greens go maroon with Larissa Waters as Coalition looks to rebuild with Queensland 'complexion'
A maroon footy tumbled through the doors at Government House as Anika Wells was sworn in this week. That's one way to announce Queensland's presence in Canberra. It's been a big week for the Sunshine State, with three leadership contests. Larissa Waters has become the first Greens leader to hail from Queensland, despite the party failing to repeat its 2022 "Greenslide" in Brisbane. In her first press conference as leader Waters pledged that the Greens would "get shit done" — spoken like a true Queenslander. David Littleproud — whose seat of Maranoa was the first to be called on election night — remains as Nationals leader after being challenged by Queensland Senator Matt Canavan. While the Coalition is without Peter Dutton, the influence held by Queensland members is not lost. In starting a new chapter, the Liberals created history with Sussan Ley becoming the party's first female leader with Queensland MP Ted O'Brien to be by her side. Meanwhile, five Queensland MPs have secured ministerial roles in Anthony Albanese's post election re-shuffle, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers the most senior among them. Wells adds communication to her sport portfolio as fellow Queenslander Murray Watt takes on environment and water. Australian National University visiting fellow Robert McMahon says Chalmers's prominence throughout the campaign was a "deliberate desire" to signal to Queenslanders one of their own is in a senior position. However, he says the instalment of Watt in Tanya Plibersek's former environment portfolio is a credit to his track record as a "safe pair of hands" rather than where he's from. "Geography does have its limits and when a government has some difficult issues — such as home affairs, workplace relations or environment — it will tend to opt for people with a proven track record rather than geographic location," he says. Dutton losing his seat came as a shock to Dr McMahon who thought there was "no way" Queenslanders would "vote against their man as prime minister". While it worked for Kevin Rudd back in 2007, in May the voters of Dickson deserted Dutton with a 7.7 per cent swing to Labor. "I thought that was a very interesting turn on this sort of geographical representation," he says. "His local constituents formed a view that, well, we don't want him as prime minister, so we have got to get rid of him as MP." The day after the election, Watt and Wells stood in Dutton's electorate to introduce his successor Ali France — who was elected on her third attempt — and Labor's other new faces. Watt coined Labor's new Queensland members the "magnificent seven", while Wells joked they had enough people for a netball team. On Friday Chalmers returned to the same park in Strathpine, and was introduced to the media by France, as he spruiked Labor's proposed changes to superannuation taxation. This week Senator Larissa Waters made history by becoming leader of the Greens. "I am proud that we have a Queenslander leading the Greens for the first time," she said. She conceded the party had a "Senate dominated" team after losing former leader Adam Bandt and Brisbane's Stephen Bates and Max Chandler-Mather. Elizabeth Watson-Brown, representing the Brisbane seat of Ryan, is the party's sole member in the lower house. Dr McMahon says while on paper the argument could be made for the "demise" of the Greens, the party has maintained a strong presence in the Senate. "They may very well increase their power," he says. In Queensland, every seat that changed hands fell to Labor, but the state still holds significant sway within the Coalition. Of the 43 MPs in the lower house, 16 – nearly 38 per cent – hail from Queensland, including the Nationals leader and Liberals deputy leader. Australian National University's Frank Bongiorno says this will give a "particular complexion" to the party room. "Anything you do really needs a lot of Queensland consent and agreement within the Coalition because there is just so many of them," he says. Now the Coalition must come up with a game plan without their former leader.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Larissa Waters vows politics with ‘heart' – but don't expect compromise on core Greens principles
Larissa Waters is known to wear her views on her ears. From the 'Stop Adani' coalmine campaign to the ongoing fight for reproductive rights, the Queensland senator has often used themed earrings to make a point. In a party known for raucous protest, for shouting, even brandishing a fish on the floor of parliament, Waters' subtle-yet-pointed displays of defiance offer a window into the style of politician the Greens have chosen as their new leader. The 48-year-old is the fifth person to lead the party after Bob Brown, Christine Milne, Richard Di Natale and Adam Bandt – whose shock defeat in his own seat at the 3 May election brought on an unexpected leadership ballot. The social activist Mehreen Faruqi and the deal-making environmentalist Sarah Hanson-Young were spoken of as contenders ahead of Thursday's party room vote in Melbourne. In the end, the far lower-profile but far less polarising Waters was elected unopposed and unanimously by the Greens' 12 federal parliamentarians. Waters has been in parliament for 15 years and held the positions of co-deputy leader and leader in the upper house. But party insiders say the single mother-of-two has never pursued power and only reluctantly agreed to run for the leadership at the urging of others. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email She is smart, warm and friendly, colleagues say, the type of politician who can bring people together. Her Labor counterparts describe her as pragmatic. As the Greens rebuild from a federal election result few saw coming, some of those qualities will be needed – and tested – more than ever. So where will Waters take the Greens? The first signs of a new approach were written in bold in a party-issued press release announcing the new leader. 'Progressive Parliament with politics of heart – incoming Greens leader Larissa Waters outlines 'firm but constructive' approach for her leadership,' the statement led off. The reference to 'constructive' will be interpreted as signalling a softening in the hardline tactics that Bandt – and fellow vanquished Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather – adopted in negotiations with Labor, in particular on housing. Waters was an environmental lawyer before entering politics and has more recently been the Greens' chief advocate for women, meaning both areas may naturally be elevated under her leadership. But to expect Waters' Greens to radically depart from Bandt's Greens would be to misunderstand how the party views the election result. The public postmortem into the party's campaign has been conducted largely by its critics – including Labor and rightwing lobby group Advance – which have cast the Greens' loss of three lower seats as a rejection of their 'extreme' positions, particularly on Gaza. The Greens, in public and private, simply do not accept this narrative. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Insiders point to the party's national vote – which, at 12.01%, is down less than 0.2% – as proof its support is holding up. The loss of two seats in Brisbane was not down to Chandler-Mather or his ill-advised attendance at a CFMEU rally, they say, but rather a sudden and severe collapse in the Liberal vote. In Bandt's case, the former leader was the victim of an unkind redrawing of the boundaries of his seat of Melbourne. There is some truth to these assessments. There might also be some delusion. In any case, what lessons the Greens took – or didn't take – from the campaign will inform how they approach the next term. The Albanese government's thumping election win will embolden it to demand the Greens wave through its agenda or again be painted as 'blockers'. How Waters and the Greens manage the now clear expectation of progressive voters who want Labor to be pushed – but not obstructed – will define the early stages of her leadership. The Greens are in arguably a more powerful position in parliament now that it holds the sole balance of power in the upper house when Labor wants to bypass the Coalition. The first test will be on the environment. Labor is eager to resurrect – albeit in a new form – plans for a federal environment protection agency, which stalled in the previous term after Anthony Albanese scuttled a near-deal with the Greens. The Greens will be urged to accept whatever model Labor puts forward, however weak. There will be similar pressure when Labor ultimately lands on a 2035 emissions reduction target. Waters might have vowed to do politics with a 'heart' but don't expect to her to compromise on core principles. Dan Jervis-Bardy is a political reporter for Guardian Australia based in Canberra
