The Australian Greens have described the Prime Minister’s latest rejection of constitutional reform for a First Nations Peoples voice to Parliament as “deeply disappointing”.

“I have spent days at Garma hearing from inspiring speakers and talking to people. The message couldn't be clearer: there is strong support for the Voice and for constitutional reform,” Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Issues said.

The Australian Greens have welcomed the Government pressing ahead with funding for Indigenous Protected Areas, and have welcomed the renewing of contracts, but will be chasing up the role that the Department of Environment plays in the critically important programme. 

“It is good the Government is getting on with funding for Indigenous Protected Areas but I note funding was announced last year and contracts could have been signed, sealed and delivered a year ago. The stalling has created unnecessary stress and things could have moved quicker. 

Plans to face scan people who are accessing the social safety net shows yet another punitive barrier for people needing support. 

“This is the Government once again making life harder for people accessing the social safety net”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today. 

“This adds another layer to accessing the social safety net and is unnecessary. It will be seen by many accessing support as punitive and adding to the regulatory burden.

The uncertainty about funding for remote Aboriginal housing past 30 June 2018 (three days from now) has become farcical and must urgently be resolved, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today. 

“This weekend the ten year agreement on delivering remote Aboriginal housing wraps up and the Government has failed to resolve the current impasse, which will have an impact on Aboriginal communities in remote Western Australia. 

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert is urging students to call their local MP or Senator office if Centrelink is not approving student support payments in a reasonable time frame and they are finding themselves unable to pay for basic necessities.   

MP and Senate offices have a Centrelink liaison who assist them with constituent enquiries and payment approvals if students have been waiting beyond the estimated completion date. 

Heartbreaking revelations that 100% of kids in Northern Territory Youth Detention are Aboriginal shows a completely broken justice system that is still not addressing systemic racism that has purveyed for so long. 

“There’s no other way to put it, the fact that there are no non-indigenous kids in NT youth detention at the moment is a result of a broken system that disproportionately incarcerates First Peoples youth. 

The Australian Senate has supported an Australian Greens motion backing the Red Line Principles drawn up by the ‘Hands Off Our Charities’ alliance.

“These principles provide guidance on how to strike a balance with government proposals around foreign involvement in Australian politics. The Australian Greens have already clearly expressed concerns about the entirety of the Government’s foreign influence legislative agenda.

A report by Anglicare Australia that shows the automation in Centrelink is ‘deliberately designed to make it hard for people’ comes as no surprise and will result in more people struggling to get by, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today. 

“Automation of Centrelink services makes it more difficult for some people who are accessing the social safety net. Making the social safety net as inaccessible as possible seems to be the modus operandi of the Turnbull Government who would rather a have a smaller safety net. 

The Australian Greens congratulate local councils around Australia for supporting a motion to increase Newstart at their recent national conference. 

“Local councils are the closest level of Government to the community and they are seeing firsthand the devastating impacts that the current rate of Newstart is having on people trying to find work. 

The Greens are pleased national redress legislation has passed, meaning survivors of institutional child sexual abuse can finally begin to access redress, but will advocate for further reforms so the scheme can be the best possible scheme.

“The Greens welcome with a heavy heart the passing of the national redress legislation and look forward to seeing the Scheme operating from the nominated date of 1 July 2018. 

“We share concerns with survivors that the Scheme is not the best it can be given there are some issues that remain unresolved.