Latest news with #LarissaWaters
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Labor must protect environment while rewriting laws ‘written to facilitate development', Larissa Waters says
Greens leader Larissa Waters warns Labor's rewrite of national environmental laws will not be credible if the government uses its planned 18-month timeline to continue to approve new coal and gas projects or allow continued habitat destruction. Labor's proposal to create a federal environment protection agency collapsed in the final months of the last parliament. A deal with the Greens was being negotiated by the then environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, but Anthony Albanese pushed the changes off the agenda, fearing an electoral backlash in Western Australia. The newly appointed minister, Murray Watt, says Labor's 3 May victory gives the government a 'very clear mandate' to pass the so-called nature positive laws, which he says should be finalised and passed by parliament within 18 months. That progress will require support from the Greens, which hold the sole balance of power in the Senate. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email But Waters said Labor needed to do a 'proper job' in redesigning the Howard-era rules and to ensure they were not pushed down the political agenda ahead of the next election. 'They were always written to facilitate development and not to protect the environment. I say that in all honesty,' Waters said. 'What they are now very clearly weak on is meeting the challenges that we're facing. 'They don't have any reference to climate in them. Now that's just ridiculous, to have environmental laws that don't require explicit consideration of the climate.' Waters called for Labor to stop approvals for new mines, describing the post-election extension of Woodside's huge North West Shelf development out to 2070 as 'a massive, dirty gas bomb'. 'They do need a drastic rewrite. With the 18-month delay that the minister has now said, I take two messages out of that. 'Because I'm an optimist … maybe they can now take the time to do a proper job. 'But the other message I take is that this is not a priority for them. And I'm also worried that in that 18-month delay, that so much destruction will just continue. Things will just get ticked off while they're reviewing the laws – how convenient – and it's a smokescreen to just continue on business as usual.' The Queensland senator, who replaced former Greens leader Adam Bandt, made the comments in an interview for Guardian Australia's Australian Politics podcast, released on Friday. The National Farmers' Federation (NFF) has been lobbying the Greens on Labor's plans to make some superannuation tax concessions less generous for account holders with balances above $3m. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the government is pressing on with the delayed changes and is expected to negotiate with Greens' treasury spokesperson, Nick McKim. The NFF chief executive, Troy Williams, recently wrote to Waters warning the proposal risks serious unintended consequences for family farming businesses, which often rely on superannuation for intergenerational succession planning. 'We would plead with you to use upcoming negotiations in the Senate to push for sensible changes to this tax to mitigate the unintended consequences for family-owned farms,' Williams said in a letter provided to Guardian Australia. 'This could include grandfathering existing arrangements, excluding agricultural land from valuations, taxing gains on realisation, and of course indexation.' The Greens have promised constructive negotiations and expressed concern retirement savings accounts are being used as vehicles for wealth accumulation. Waters told Guardian Australia the party would consider Labor's final proposal carefully. 'We will support tax changes that make the tax system fairer and I will be having those discussions with Mr Chalmers as the weeks roll on,' she said. 'I think we'll keep those discussions private.'
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Greens leader Larissa Waters on holding the Labor government to account — Australian Politics podcast
The new leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Larissa Waters from Queensland talks about her vision for the party, the challenges of a shifting political landscape, and why she believes this is a moment for bold reforms
ABC News
19-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Larissa Waters' plan for the Greens, Trump guessing game + lab-grown meat
What's next for the Greens? We sit down with the new leader Larissa Waters to ask about her plan, the lessons from the election, and whether the Greens block progress. Plus, the Iran-Israel conflict is getting more deadly. Is Trump about to get America involved? As he says: "nobody knows". Also, another festival is officially in voluntary administration: Victoria's Esoteric Festival. And some lab-grown meat products have been approved for sale in Australia. Listen now: 01:00 - "Nobody knows": Trump on whether the US will intervene in the Iran-Israel conflict 05:45 - Hack speaks to the new Greens leader Larissa Waters 20:10 - Another music festival folds 25:18 - Australia's first lab grown meat Guests: Larissa Waters, Greens leader Larissa Waters, Greens leader Dr Hope Johnson, socio-legal researcher, Queensland University of Technology Get the whole story from Hack:
The Guardian
15-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Leading players urge Labor to tighten rules for cashed-up political lobbyists
Leading lobbyists are urging the federal government to strengthen investigative powers and penalties to crack down on rogue operators, including through new laws that would add corporate interests to a transparency register. The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, told Guardian Australia this week that the party would use its balance of power position to push for tougher rules on the cashed-up lobbying industry in the new parliament, calling current rules 'really weak and effectively nonexistent'. The attorney general's department administers a transparency register, but it only covers paid third-party lobbyists and their clients. Lobbyists employed internally by corporations and interest groups are not required to sign up. A parliamentary report in 2024 found as much as 80% of the industry was not required to adhere to transparency rules. Worse, breaches of the associated lobbying code of conduct are not made public. The department said the number of breaches has been increasing in recent years, but how bureaucrats dealt with them was not made public. Andrew Cox, the president of industry peak body the Australian Professional Government Relations Association, said tougher rules and bigger penalties were needed. Cox said the department 'should have more robust powers to investigate and punish those who engage in unregistered lobbying' and that 'there should be meaningful consequences for breaching the government's code of conduct'. 'We support transparency where measures seeking to achieve it … do not unreasonably add to the administrative burden or create a chilling effect on the roles of government relations practitioners.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The powerful New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption warned a federal parliamentary inquiry that unregulated lobbying allows private interests 'to exert undue influence over official decision-making, while diminishing trust in government and increasing the risk of corruption'. One influential lobbyist who declined to be named so they could speak freely warned that a small number of players exaggerated their influence and access in Canberra. 'There are a small number of third-party lobbyists who like to pretend the only way to talk to government is through them. That's bullshit – that's greasy and it's gross,' they said. 'Staffers and ministers see through them, and they're not taken seriously.' They said lobbyists 'who understand how government works can be incredibly valuable to the government and to business'. The managing director of Hawker Britton, Simon Banks, said the rules should be strengthened. 'At the moment, at the commonwealth level, we have an administrative scheme. We would support a legislative scheme that makes sure there are clear rules and standards but also a legal mechanism to enforce them. 'The arrangements currently in place only apply to third-party lobbyists. I don't see why the general standards enforced by a code of conduct should apply to me but not someone who is in there lobbying on behalf of an organisation [they work for].' The code of conduct was designed to govern contact between lobbyists and government representatives, and promote 'transparency, integrity and honesty'. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion A growing group of MPs support changes to access rules at Parliament House. In mid-2024, there were more than 2,050 sponsored passes for the building, an unknown share of which were held by paid lobbyists. The inquiry warned there was no interaction between the lobbyist register and the pass approval system, despite access being an important tool for the industry. Banks said pass holders' names should be made public, along with MPs who sponsor them. 'I actually think if you disclose the full range of people who have their passes, you'd find there is a broader range of people who can access this building,' Banks said. Ben Oquist, a director at lobbying firm DPG Advisory Solutions, said stronger rules would benefit the industry. 'Businesses, NGOs and the public should all have the chance to engage with government and share their views or concerns, including with professional help,' Oquist said. 'Lobbying can play an important role in this democratic process. Lobbying can indeed be good. When done right, it can help shape better public policy outcomes. But if the industry does not live up to community expectations, it risks losing all public trust. 'That is why a strong, transparent and loophole-free regulatory regime would be good for everyone.' The Kooyong MP, Monique Ryan, linked powerful lobbying to Labor's controversial approval of Woodside's North West Shelf gas project out to 2070 last month. She said more transparency was badly needed. 'Fossil fuel industry lobbyists do not deserve more influence than our constituents,' she said. 'We deserve to know who is roaming the halls of parliament – and we should know when our ministers and senior public servants meet with them. We should open ministerial diaries in real time, and we must extend, reform and enforce the lobbyists' code of conduct. 'We have to close the revolving doors between ministerial and senior public service roles and the industries over which they have influence.'
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
WA senator Dorinda Cox accuses Greens of being ‘deeply racist' and says ‘I am not a bully'
The former Greens senator Dorinda Cox has accused the Greens of being 'deeply racist' and insisted that she has never been a bully. Cox, a Noongar Yamatji woman and Western Australian senator, announced last Monday she had defected to Labor, saying her views were more closely aligned with Labor than the Greens. In a resignation letter sent to Greens leader Larissa Waters' office on Tuesday night, Cox claimed the party had 'cultural problems they refuse to acknowledge or address' and that she had experienced an 'unremitting campaign of bullying and dishonest claims'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'I have seen and survived trauma, discrimination and harassment in previous work environments. I have seen the impact of psycho social violence on my family and my community. I am not, and have never been, a bully. I do not perpetrate it,' she said. Cox has been the subject of a number of workplace behaviour complaints, as first reported by the Nine newspapers last October. At the time, the WA senator apologised for 'the distress this may have caused' but said there had been 'significant missing context' in the reports of bullying allegations within her office. Cox said in her letter that at the time she resigned, there were no grievances pending against her in the party's conflict resolution process, and none had been put to her during the period she was a senator. 'The Greens failed me as its last First Nations MP, and continue to fail First Nations people,' Cox wrote. 'In my experience, the Greens tolerate a culture that permits violence against First Nations women within its structures. In this respect, the party is deeply racist. 'Instead of dealing with its toxic culture, the Greens sought to shut me down. The Greens failed in their duty of care for my staff and me, and disregarded the reported and obvious impact of what was occurring.' Cox accused the federal and Western Australian Greens' leadership for embracing 'untrue' claims and amplifying them. The WA Greens announced an external inquiry into grievances it received against Cox in mid-January by former staff members within the party after the allegations were publicly reported. The inquiry has now ceased. The WA Greens said 'the co-convenors of Greens (WA) went to great lengths to ensure the process was culturally safe and delivered due process to all parties'. An Australian Greens spokesperson said the claims were 'disappointing' and ignored the 'substantive work undertaken by the party to find a resolution to the complaints made both by and against Senator Cox, and to address the breakdown in her relationship with Greens' First Nations members'. 'As the IPSC [Independent Parliamentary Standards Committee] and PWSS [Parliamentary Workplace Support Service] are the bodies created by Parliament to address complaints from staff, they can continue to investigate ongoing matters. This is unchanged by the senator's decision to move to a party that continues to destroy First Nations cultural history through approving coal and gas projects.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Anthony Albanese was asked about historical bullying complaints against Cox last Monday. The prime minister said Labor had 'examined everything that had been considered in the past' and felt that the 'issues were dealt with appropriately'. In October 2024, Cox said she took responsibility for 'any shortcomings' in her office and apologised for any distress that may have been caused but said there had been 'significant missing context' in the reports of bullying allegations within her office. Cox said she had an 'immense amount of respect and gratitude to my team who prepare and support me for the work I undertake' and that she had 'always taken a proactive approach to staff wellbeing, including my own' and had undertaken executive coaching and mentoring from former MPs. Cox's former colleague, Lidia Thorpe, revealed last week she was one of the people to complain to the parliamentary watchdog about Cox, disputing Albanese's claim that allegations about Cox had been 'dealt with'. Thorpe, a former Greens senator who is now independent, said she raised a complaint against Cox in late 2022 to the Greens' leader's office and PWSS. Thorpe formally submitted the complaint to the PWSS in March 2023. Thorpe said on Wednesday her case remained unresolved because Cox declined to attend a mediation. Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung senator, told ABC on Wednesday morning she had also experienced racism in the Greens. 'There's a lot of work that the Greens and many other organisations need to do to stamp [racism] out, particularly the parliament of this country,' she said.
