Dear Prime Minister 

I write to request that the forthcoming National Cabinet meeting consider the inclusion of children and all teenagers in the national vaccination targets.

The National Cabinet’s ‘reopening’ strategy envisages the substantial easing of restrictions when 80% vaccination rates are achieved. However, this is currently only 80% of the ‘eligible population’, defined as over 16-year olds, not 80% of the whole population, as recommended by the Grattan Institute.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said Scott Morrison’s announcement today that children would not be included in vaccination targets was a political decision that made the community less safe.

Scott Morrison’s 80% vaccination target is only 65% of the whole population, as it excludes under 16s. An additional 4 million people need to be vaccinated to reach the 80% target if all children and teenagers were included. The Grattan Institute has warned that opening up at such a low level of vaccination could lead to thousands of deaths.

The Greens are thrilled to announce educator, NGO consultant and local mum Sonya Semmens as the candidate for the federal seat of Higgins in the next federal election.

Higgins is set to be a hotly contested battleground at the next federal election, with electoral redistribution picking up Windsor shifting the balance towards the Greens, and threatening a key Liberal-held seat.

Statement from Greens Senator for NSW, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, following today’s announcement of 633 new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases in NSW:

“Today’s COVID-19 numbers are just devastating.

“But simply telling people to ‘stay home’ is not going to cut it when people aren’t getting the financial support they need to do so. The vast majority of people are doing the right thing, and have been for weeks. Blame-shifting onto individuals is very unhelpful.

What is the one job that is expected of the Prime Minister of a country? It's to be a leader, to make decisions for the good of the public and the planet and to be accountable for them—when they bring glory but also when they are bad decisions. Mr Morrison's track record is marred with not just bad decision after bad decision but, like Teflon, any notion of responsibility just slides off his back. Shirking responsibility has become an art form for this spin-over-substance Prime Minister.

I'm speaking from my home in lockdown, as greater Sydney has entered its sixth week of lockdown. Millions of people are under stay-at-home orders as the virus circulates in our community Tragically, people are dying because vaccinations haven't been provided even to essential workers who have to leave home and are expected to stoically put their health and that of their families at risk. It was heartbreaking to hear today of the death of 27-year-old Aude Alaskar, who collapsed in his Warwick Farm unit.

I rise to speak on the COVID-19 Disaster Payment (Funding Arrangements) Bill 2021 and I want to associate myself with the comments made by my colleague Senator Siewert on this bill. Of course we should be providing support to people who need this, in these devastating circumstances, but, as Senator Siewert said, we should be providing it to every single person who is living here and who is facing economic and social impacts. This government has locked them out of support payments and they're living on the poverty line, and we will be moving amendments to that effect.

A Parliamentary Library Brief, provided to the Greens, reveals that a minority parliament is only 828 votes away, and looms as one of the most likely outcomes after the next election.

The brief showed that anything between a 0.57% and 3.88% swing to Labor would result in a balance of power scenario. The average swing in the last 20 years of Australian elections is 2.8%.

“Assuming all six 2019-elected crossbenchers (excluding Craig Kelly) and only these six get returned, a 0.57% uniform two party preferred swing to Labor will knock the Libs into minority.