GreensBlog

Living with detention debt in Australia: video of refugee delegation in Parliament Thursday 25/06/09

GemmaClark — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:49:37 +1000

Check out this video by GetUp about the delegation of refugees who visited Parliament House last Thursday, as the legislation to abolish detention debts passed through the House of Representatives. I look forward to voting to repeal this cruel policy when the legislation reaches the Senate in the next parliamentary sitting. Thanks to GetUp for providing the opportunity for federal parliamentarians to meet with Mr and Mrs Shams and Mr Isrith, hear their stories, and see the human faces of this disgraceful element of Australia's recent immigration policy.

Sarah

Climate Change Rally

TimNorton — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:21:16 +1000

On Saturday 13th June, a national rally is being held in most capital cities around Australia. All five Greens Senators will be speaking at or attending rallies across Australia tomorrow calling for the CPRS to be scrapped and replaced with swift action to reduce emissions, drive renewable energy and create green jobs.

Bob will address the Melbourne Rally, 1pm, State Library
Christine will address the Hobart Rally, 12 noon, Parliament Lawns
Rachel will address the Perth Rally, with Scott also attending, 12.30 pm, Forrest Place, Perth
Sarah will address the Adelaide Rally, 11am, Victoria Square

We're also expecting large numbers of Greens members to be in attendance. Full details of the rallies can be found at www.climaterally.org and resources and details about the Greens' involvement can be found at www. greens.org.au/resources

Bob has also done a short video piece:

Hope to see many of you there!

Sarah on ABC's Heywire about Youth Allowance

GemmaClark — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:30:27 +1000

Sarah had a chat to Watto at ABC's Heywire about the proposed changes to Youth Allowance in the Federal Budget. You can read the story, 'Greens declare change needed', and listen to the audio of the interview here.

Sarah on Insight's 'Seeking Asylum' program

GemmaClark — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:30:00 +1000

Sarah appeared on SBS's Insight program on Tuesday 19 May. The theme was 'Seeking asylum'. You can watch the video here. Sarah is in part three.

Sarah on 9am with David & Kim for the Federal Budget and Paid Parental Leave

GemmaClark — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:30:00 +1000

Sarah talked to Kim Watkins and Steve Quartermain on 9am with David & Kim on Wednesday 13 May from Parliament House about the Federal Budget and paid parental leave.

You can watch the video here.

Paid Parental Bill announcement on 9am with David & Kim

GemmaClark — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:38:14 +1000

Sarah appeared on Network Ten's 9am with David & Kim on Tuesday 28 April to announce that she would introduce a Bill to provide for 26 weeks' paid parental leave when Parliament resumes in May.

Click here to see the video of the interview.

Injustice anywhere a threat to justice everywhere

SarahHanson-Young — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:47:26 +1100

Imagine living in a country where you could be sentenced to death by stoning for your alleged sexual infidelities. The very idea sounds by turns barbaric and incongruous, but for the citizens of Iran, it’s a disturbing reality. According to the Iranian Penal Code, “adultery while being married” carries a mandatory sentence of execution by stoning, with eight people recently sentenced and awaiting execution. Execution by stoning is an unspeakably grotesque and inhumane punishment. According to Amnesty International, Iranian law prescribes that the stones used are “deliberately chosen to be large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the victim immediately”.

Like most stoning sanctions in Iran, the eight people recently convicted are all women, ranging in age from between 27 to 43 years. It’s no surprise that most of those sentenced are women - the Iranian judicial system is systemically sexist, with women’s testimony worth half that of a man. These women leave behind lives in tatters – families torn apart and destroyed by a brutal punishment overseen by the state. In the past three years, six people have reportedly been stoned to death in Iran, with the latest two incidents occurring in Mashhad in December last year. The practice violates the United Nations’ International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (1966), to which Iran is a signatory. This, in combination with one of the highest execution rates globally, including the highest number of child executions in the world, is a damning indictment on Iran’s already tarnished human rights record.

The violent brutality of state-sanctioned stoning, coupled with the apparent ambivalence of the Iranian government, places the onus on the international community to take action. While working as the South Australian / Northern Territory campaign manager for Amnesty International, I developed an understanding of the significant role the NGO sector can play. Amnesty International’s long-running campaign against the death penalty, in collaboration with Stop Stoning and Killing Women, has shed light on the issue and, crucially, exposed this practice for what it is: a gross human rights violation.

However there is only so much the NGO sector can do. Governments from around the world must come forward, exert strong diplomatic pressure and call for a cessation of execution by stoning in Iran. Australia must be at the forefront of what is now a global movement for human rights and basic human dignity. On Tuesday the 17th of March, I moved the following motion in the Senate, calling for action from our Federal Government in light of the recent executions and sentences.

The motion was supported and passed. The next step is for the Australian Government to work collaboratively with other nations in speaking out wherever and whenever against these types of human rights abuses. Silence in the face of injustice and abuse simply allows the oppressor to keep oppressing. If Australia is serious about a role on the UN Security Council we must start talking straight when it comes to human rights violations.

By Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

The wording of my motion follows, which I moved jointly with Senator for the ACT Gary Humphries.

That the Senate:

(a) expresses deep regret at the two stonings in Mashhad in December 2008;

(b) notes:
(i) reports received by Amnesty International highlighting that as many as eight women are at imminent risk of being stoned to death for adultery in Iran; and
(ii) Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world;

(c) calls on the Australian Government to immediately urge the Iranian authorities to cease the punishment of death by stoning, and halt all remaining executions of those sentenced to death.

Childcare at the crossroads

SarahHanson-Young — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:38:04 +1100

It's Monday morning, you arrive at your child's childcare centre to drop them off on your way to work and there is a sign on the door letting you know the centre is closed, not just closed, but closed down - what would you do? Take your kids to work with you, frantically ring a family friend and see if they can take the kids for the day, or call in sick to work?

This is exactly the dilemma facing some parents who had their kids cared for at a number of the ABC Learning Centres which have been shutting down since December, after the company collapsed back in October.

This wouldn't happen in the school system. Schools are not held to ransom by market profits or shareholders wanting their dividens at the end of each financial year - schools deliver an essential service of education and learning.

But in today's age, when we keep hearing that we need more women in the workforce with government and business both encouraging mothers to go back to work before their children have reached school, childcare is a necessity. Even in two parent families, where both parents often need to work to cover the household bills, we know that the most crucial time for leaning is between 0-5 years of age, reinforcing the need for childcare to be viewed as an essential service, supported by government, and given the priority of proper regulation and oversight.

We need a rethink about the way we deliver and support the care of our youngest children.

The needs of working parents to have their kids cared for while they are off paying the bills should not be used as a commodity to line the pockets of shareholders, or run and owned by companies who put profits above the care and needs of children. Even our independent schools put their school fees back into the maintenance of facilities and curriculum delivery; childcare should be no different.

The collapse of the profit-driven ABC Learning company should serve as a timely reminder to policy makers in Canberra that the time has come to recognise that childcare, as a whole, must be recognised as an essential part of any early childhood education plan.

For too long, politicians and profiteering companies alike have treated the childcare industry with contempt, and it's about time we shake things up to ensure that childcare is no longer considered a luxury, but treated as an essential service for families across the country.

Yet, despite the obvious mess ABC Learning has created for the sector, the lack of any real policy leadership from the government on childcare reform has been minimal, to say the least.

Since ABC went into voluntary receivership in October last year, we have seen the Government announce a ‘prop-up' of $22 million to the original 1020 centres until December 31, and a further $34 million injected into the 241 centres that have been deemed unviable until March 31 this year.

While I don't doubt the Government‘s commitment in preventing the loss of any further childcare places, I am concerned that there seems to be little planned beyond March 31, when its second prop-up of $34 million expires.

We need solutions, and leadership on the management and conduct of this critical social service, not simply a case of policy-on-the-run.

Time and time again, I have heard from experts in the field willing to offer their expertise to the Government in developing a plan on how to move beyond the ABC collapse to ensure its devastating stronghold on the sector is never repeated, to no avail, which is why I successfully moved for an inquiry into the regulation of childcare in Australia.

From childcare workers and employers, to academics and parents, we need the key players in the industry to come forward and tell the Government how we can strengthen and secure the childcare sector in this country, to ensure that Australia swiftly moves from third last in the developed world for childcare and early learning ("The Childcare Transition: A League Table on Early Childhood Education and Care in Advanced Countries", UNICEF Report).

The fact that UNICEF ranked our childcare standards the third worst in the developed world, has showcased to the international community the dire state of childcare in this country.

It is appalling to think that in the twenty-first century we only managed to pass two out of the ten UNICEF benchmarks, failing on key issues such as paid parental leave, a national childcare plan, and child poverty, all of which highlight the importance of the upcoming Senate inquiry into childcare in Australia, due to report mid year.

This crisis represents an opportunity for childcare in Australia to transform from a market-driven industry to a vital community service and a government-supported first step in lifelong learning.

It is time for the Government to stop playing the blame game, and start taking responsibility for a sector in need. We need action and we need a new way of thinking about childcare. Our future deserves our support.

First published on Open Forums