The Greens say they are very concerned about gag clauses in participation and land use agreements and the impact they have on the ability of Traditional Owners to raise objections to development proposals. 

“Today we heard from witnesses to the Juukan Gorge inquiry that confidential participation agreements with “gag clauses” negotiated before or during the signing of Land Use Agreements with Traditional Owners are “potentially illegal” and impinge on basic human rights” said Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens spokesperson on First Nation issues.

The Greens say that the community has lost confidence in the Government's ability to manage aged care calling their handling of the crisis and failure to take responsibility a debacle.

“Aged care is a debacle in this country,” Greens spokesperson on Ageing Senator Rachel Siewert said.

“We have no national coordinating body to address the COVID crisis in aged care.  

“We have a regulator that is not regulating effectively.

“We have a Government failing on workforce.

The Greens say that the Government is failing the growing number of people out of work by cutting the Jobseeker payment at the end of September and failing to provide certainty to people looking for work.

The Greens say that Mr Ramsey’s comments on people doing it tough have no place in our community and that he should apologise. He is continuing the Government’s long tradition of using anecdotal evidence to set policy.

These are disgraceful comments to make about people doing it tough during a pandemic.

Questions to Prime Minster and Cabinet today at the COVID hearing have shown that despite the aged care crisis the Government is not doing enough to ensure that all aged care providers around Australia are completely prepared. 
 
"It’s pretty obvious that prevention is better than cure and after speaking to the Department today I have very little confidence that they are taking an appropriate leadership role. 
 
"We cannot just wait around, rely on self assessment by providers on their readiness for an outbreak, there needs to be action around the country. 
 

The Greens have written to the Prime Minister requesting that he urgently update the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to examine the impact of profit-making corporations on the provision and quality of aged care services.

The Greens say that the Government's failure to deliver certainty to people on income support is cruel and unfair and undermines confidence in the economy.
 
"The Government should abandon its plans to cut the Jobseeker supplement by $300 at the end of September and increase Jobseeker permanently", Greens spokesperson on Family and Community Services Senator Rachel Siewert said.
 
Keeping Jobseeker above the poverty line will save people's lives and their livelihoods.
 

The Greens welcome the Government’s suspension of mutual obligations while Victoria is in a state of disaster but say that the suspension of compliance measures needs to be extended to the rest of the country. 
 
"The Government's approach to mutual obligations throughout this pandemic has been haphazard, without proper information given to people on income support", Greens spokesperson on Family and Community Services Senator Rachel Siewert said. 
 

The Greens are calling on the Government to drop their plans to reintroduce the liquid assets tests saying it is unfair, will cause significant hardship and discriminates against the newly unemployed.

The reintroduction of the liquid assets test in September will see many people who have just lost their jobs having to wear down their savings before they can access a weekly income. 

The Greens welcome the steps towards a co-design and community led decision making and control by First Nations organisations in the Closing the Gap Partnerships.
 
“It is long overdue that the peak First Nations organisations had a seat at the table,” Australian Greens spokesperson on First Nations issues Senator Rachel Siewert said.