Latest news with #Hanson-Young
Canberra Times
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Canberra Times
Call for action as Aussie journo hit with rubber bullet
"Trump is a threat to journalistic freedom and to democratic values and we cannot afford, as Australians, to sit by and see an attack on those values by US authorities shooting at one of our journalists," senator Hanson-Young said.
Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Dorinda Cox should resign after Labor defection
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has suggested that former colleague Dorinda Cox should resign, following her shock defection the Labor Party. Ms Cox said she chose to quit the minor party to join the Albanese government after some 'deep reflection' about her personal values. However, Ms Hanson-Young has criticised the move, and Labor's embrace of it, saying the defection disrespects the voters who elected her as a Greens representative. 'I always think that it's not fair to the voters and indeed any of the parties involved that if somebody is elected to one party and then jumps ship later on,' she told reporters. 'I do think the honourable thing is to resign from the parliament, but that's not the rules, and so we're left where we are.' The comments follow a spate of criticism surrounding Ms Cox's abrupt resignation. Ms Cox only announced she would leave the party after she lost a deputy leadership ballot 9–3 to Senator Mehreen Faruqi. She then claimed 'deep reflection' had led her to realise her values were more closely aligned with Labor's. But her sudden transformation has met skepticism and accusations of political opportunism, particularly given her scathing past criticisms of the Labor Party. In 2020, Ms Cox said she left Labor because it was 'patronising to women and people of colour' and accused the party of caring more about donors than members. More recently, she accused Labor of having 'spectacularly failed' the public through its support for the North West Shelf gas project. Also resurfacing was her support for the controversial slogan 'from the river to the sea' - a phrase Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has publicly condemned. Adding to the controversy was another leaked 2023 text message in which Ms Cox referred to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as a 'f---ing retard'. Labor's apparent willingness to accept Ms Cox, despite these incidents, has drawn comparisons to Mr Albanese's prior treatment of former Labor senator Fatima Payman. Ms Payman was hounded by Mr Albanese after she quit the Labor Party last year to form her own party, Australia's Voice. 'There is a bit of hypocrisy, of course, about how Labor has responded to this,' Ms Hanson-Young said. 'It wasn't okay to jump ship for Fatima Payman, but apparently when it's people coming to them, it's all okay.' Ms Payman herself chimed in on Tuesday, saying she was surprised Ms Cox had not suffered 'the smear campaign' that she endured after her exit from Labor. Meanwhile, internal alleged complaints of staff bullying continue to hang over Ms Cox's legacy in the Greens. More than 20 staff reportedly quit her office, prompting an internal investigation—but the probe was abandoned following her defection. 'There has been a process, and an internal process is hard to run if somebody's gone to another party,' Ms Hanson-Young said. Former Labor minister Stephen Conroy added to criticism, calling for Ms Cox to 'resign from the Senate' and seek Labor preselection through the proper channels. 'She shouldn't steal something from the Greens; she should resign and ensure that it's passed back to the Greens,' Mr Conroy told Sky News.
Sky News AU
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Greens consider historic three-way leadership team of Faruqi, Hanson-Young and Waters after Bandt election defeat
The Greens will on Thursday agree on a new leader, with top contenders Mehreen Faruqi, Sarah Hanson-Young and Larissa Waters being tipped for a three-way leadership team. The minor party's 11 senators and sole remaining House of Representatives MP, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, will decide the party's future when they meet to appoint their next leader about midday on Thursday. The Greens have previously decided on their leaders through a partyroom consensus rather than a ballot. The party's leaders have always run unopposed; however, members have vied for the role of deputy leader before. has reported that Faruqi, Hanson-Young and Waters are being considered for a shared leadership trio. All three contenders hold senior roles within the party and represent its progressive policy agenda. Ms Hanson-Young, a prominent South Australian Senator, has been a loud voice on climate and refugee issues. Ms Faruqi, the party's deputy leader and the first Muslim woman in Australian parliament, has pushed issues on education and the war in Gaza. She raised eyebrows in the 47th Parliament of Australia when she wore a keffiyeh to the Senate and shouted "free Palestine" in the chamber. Ms Waters, a former co-deputy leader from Queensland, has represented the party on women's issues, mining and resources. Thursday's leadership contest was triggered by the loss of Adam Bandt, who led the party for five years before losing his Melbourne seat, and subsequently his spot in Parliament, in the recent Federal Election. The former Greens leader suffered a shock defeat to Labor's Sarah Witty after preferences tipped her over the edge. In 2010, he was the first Greens MP to win a lower house seat at a Federal Election. Greens Senator David Shoebridge said it was "time for a woman" to lead the Greens, with just four men in the party's 12 elected representatives. 'We haven't seen final nominations… I'm not going to give you a running commentary on who I would be supporting as leader,' Mr Shoebridge told Sky News. 'My hope is that we, and I see this happening, we will come together as collegiately as we can and first of all try and make a consensus decision. 'Whoever is chosen to do that is going to have a job to bring the party together and put forward a positive platform for the next three years.' Mr Shoebridge conceded that the party would review its election campaign failures. "When you take on the property industry, and you take on the war industry, and you take on the fossil fuel industry, and you take on the billionaires, and you take them all on at once, it's a bloody hard job," he said. Whoever successfully clinches the party's top spot will have the responsibility of negotiating legislation with Labor for at least the next three years, with the Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate. This means reforms only need the support of Greens and Labor senators, as Coalition senators hold a minority position in the upper house.
Sky News AU
24-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Taxing Australians' high superannuation income is ‘fair': Sarah Hanson-Young
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young claims taxing Australians with a superannuation fund amounting to over $2 million is 'fair across the board'. 'People who have millions and millions of dollars in superannuation being able to have a special tax setting versus the rest of the population who are struggling … that's my focus,' Ms Hanson-Young told Sky News Australia. 'That's my focus, making sure that everyday hard-working Australians can actually retire with enough money in the bank.'
Sky News AU
24-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Sarah Hanson-Young dodges questions on super tax change as fund manager warns unrealised capital gain tax could threaten system
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has dodged questions over the party's plan to force Labor to tax unrealised capital gains of super funds valued at more than $2 million despite dire warnings from industry leaders. The Greens have been agitating for the government to reduce the threshold at which the tax would kick-in, from $3 million down to $2 million. But leading fund manager Geoff Wilson has warned the lowered threshold could lead to up to $25 billion being pulled from self-managed super funds as thousands try to avoid the tax. Asked by Sky News host Peter Stefanovic about whether the Greens will be supporting the tax on balances above $2 million, Senator Hanson-Young only indicated the minor party would be pushing "a fairer share of these things" in negotiations with Labor. "Well, this is legislation that has been before the parliament over the last couple of years and of course the Greens have been in the balance of power in the Senate and we've negotiated with the government on a lot of things," she said on Thursday. "We've been back and forth with them over this piece of legislation. In the new parliament, of course, we will be pushing for making sure that there is a fairer share of these things. "In a minority government we will negotiate with Labor to make things better, to make them deliver on their promises and to keep them honest." Further pressed on taxing unrealised gains, Senator Hanson-Young said "you need to look at this through the lens of what's fair across the board". "People who have ... millions and millions of dollars in superannuation being able to have special tax settings versus ... the rest of the population who are struggling and worried about what their super balance is going to look like at retirement, is there even going to be enough in there," she continued. "I mean, that's my focus, making sure that everyday working, hard working Australians can actually retire with enough money in the bank. "That's my focus - and that's the bulk of workers actually. You know, the list of people well beyond you know, two or three million dollars is small but you know they are retiring on a lot, lot more." The government has proposed legislation that will double the tax rate on super earnings above $3m to 30 per cent and will not index this threshold over time as inflation changes. Labor's legislation would also force people above this threshold to pay taxes for gains on assets in their super funds - such as farms and properties. They would pay taxes on these gains now, despite the return from these assets not being realised. The Australian reported Mr Wilson had been contacted by clients about taking money from their self-managed super funds in the light of possible negotiations between Labor and the Greens in the event of a hung parliament. "Shareholders are calling me, very concerned about the taxing of unrealised gains. Taxing profits you may never make by Labor is definitely the sleeper in this election," he said. Mr Wilson, who played a key role in the Coalition's 2019 Federal Election campaign attack on Labor's franking credits changes, said the opposition had not gone hard enough on warning of the dangers of the government's tax. "I think there has been a misunderstanding by the Coalition of how brutal this unrealised capital gains tax policy will be on the economy," he said. Of self-managed super funds, nine per cent reportedly have a balance of more than $2 million, and 44 per cent are in retirement phase. Based on that data, 24,500 funds could be looking to pull out up to $1 million over concerns about the tax, Mr Wilson estimates. Clients have reportedly been seeking advice about potentially moving their investments into the property market, leading to concerns that could further push up house prices.
