The National Vaccine Strategy should be adapted to reflect the changing nature of the pandemic, which is increasingly putting young people and casual workers at risk, the Greens have said.

The Greens also welcome the decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to provisionally approve the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged between 12 to 15 years old. This decision was made following careful evaluation of the available data supporting safety and efficacy.

Quotes attributable to the Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP:

The Greens are calling on the Federal Government to commit to funding a pay increase for aged care workers saying the Government should have done this in the recent budget.

Thursday 1 July, 2021

Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said it was outrageous that less than 1 in 5 disabled people, and our support workers, in phase 1a and 1b had been vaccinated, more than 4 months after the rollout begun.

Senator Steele-John said the Morrison government should have made a plan to vaccinate disabled people and disability support workers in April when it was revealed that less than 10 per cent had been vaccinated.

The Greens say the Government need to address continuing uncertainty over the vaccine roll out. There are supply, delivery and hesitancy issues plaguing the rollout that need urgent attention and actions in the face of the delta variant.

Wednesday 30 June, 2021

Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said projections in the 2021 Intergenerational Report (IGR) did not support the Morrison government's claims the NDIS was growing unsustainability nor justify cuts to the scheme.

Senator Steele-John said the Morrison government were not being transparent with the community about claimed 'cost blowouts' in the NDIS.

In light of the highly transmissible Delta strain now in the community, the Greens say it's a shocking failure of leadership of the Morrison Government that they haven’t required an update of  Australia’s infection prevention and control guidelines to address airborne transmission and ventilation in hotel quarantine.  
 
I have been asking the Government about these guidelines for months and months and now here we are with the Delta variant in the community and no update to the national guidelines for how quarantine hotels should manage airborne transmission. 
 

The Greens have criticised changes to the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 which passed the Senate last night saying they set a dangerous precedent for how disabled people can access Private Health Insurance. 
 
Under these changes Australian Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, who is not yet a participant of the NDIS, would not be considered a disabled person.
 
Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said: 
I am disappointed to see that the Government has succumbed to the pressure of private health insurers.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says the Prime Minister must instruct his Health Minister to stop giving mixed messages on vaccines that could delay the national rollout.

Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John has called for an urgent review into the Health Department to determine why disabled people have been discriminated against in the Morrison government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in particular, phase 1a of the vaccine rollout.

I, and also on behalf of Senator Waters, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) Australian school students are crying out for clear and direct education on sex and consent,

(ii) the Federal Government's 'Respect matters' resources for schools were announced in 2015, re-announced twice and launched six years later to the condemnation of experts and survivors for promoting harmful ideas about consent and relationships,