Parliament

Another week marking homelessness is another week marking lack of action by the government to reduce homelessness. People wait for over a decade to access public housing in some parts of Australia, while hundreds of thousands of people seek help from homelessness services each year. The last census showed us that over 100,000 people are without a home on any given night. We are now approaching another census, and homelessness and the housing crisis has just been growing.

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.

It was welcome but not totally surprising to see that Sky News Australia this week has been temporarily banned from YouTube for sharing videos involving COVID misinformation. It is such a poor reflection on our media and political establishment that this extremist, conspiratorial, racist news channel is still considered normal and acceptable by so many. Only hours after the ban was reported, the Treasurer went on Sky for an interview as if nothing had happened.

Millions of people are in COVID lockdown this week; many of them are in my home state of New South Wales. Tens of thousands have lost their livelihoods without adequate support from the Morrison government. Marginalised communities are being overpoliced and maligned in south-west and Western Sydney while corporations, billionaires and the wealthiest keep adding to their bottom lines. These are the fault lines, inequalities and injustices that have been exposed and heightened during the last 18 months.

I speak to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021. I will state at the outset that the Greens will not be supporting these bills that impose yet another charge on higher education providers. Since the coalition have been in power, they have been on a relentless mission to attack the higher education sector. The bills establish a new charge to make registered higher education providers bear the costs of TEQSA risk monitoring and regulatory oversight activities.

This is a report on the inquiry of impact of seismic testing on fisheries and the marine environment. The inquiry established by the Greens looked into the impact of seismic testing on fisheries and on the marine environment, with particular reference to the body of science and research into the use of seismic testing, the regulation of seismic testing in both Commonwealth and state waters, and the approach taken to seismic testing internationally.

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.

I have some bad news for people tonight. It turns out that the pandemic didn't kill the so-called culture wars, which are being manufactured again by the far Right in this chamber. There are a bunch of senators who will go to any lengths to appeal to the Sky News crowd, with frantic race-baiting and attacks on minorities, including trans people, and many other invented threats. It seems that nothing is beyond the pale for these senators.

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

There is a housing crisis in Australia and the Morrison Government is refusing to fix it.

There is a housing crisis in Australia and the Morrison government is refusing to fix it. In fact, there is a very deliberate strategy by the coalition to appear to be doing something about the housing crisis, while ignoring the very policy settings that have brought us to this point.