The Greens have welcomed the Productivity Commission report into Mental Health and say that it has provided a clear way forward for the Government in reforming Australia’s mental health system.
 
“It is a great shame that this report has not been released earlier and that the Government didn’t take the opportunity in the recent budget to start the process of reform that is so urgently needed.

Mental illness is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century and access to treatments should be universal. People in our community should be able to get easy access to treatments in the same way they would for a broken leg or the flu,” Australian Greens spokesperson on mental health Senator Rachel Siewert said.

Mental ill health is the leading cause of sickness and long term work incapacity in the developed world. 

The Greens are pleased that the Government has finally announced that Australia has joined the COVAX facility. 

Australia’s participation in COVAX is critical to ensuring developing countries, especially our neighbours in the Pacific, have access to a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it becomes available.

Australia has a responsibility to be part of the solution to vaccine nationalism. 

The Government must continue to commit funding to COVAX to actively support smaller nations to access Covid-19 vaccines. 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the power sharing Parliament and the agreement between Labor and the Greens during the Gillard minority government during an address to the Greens National Conference this weekend.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt and Health spokesperson Dr. Richard Di Natale have called on the Morrison government to drop the spin and take real action on a COVID Vaccine.

The Greens say the government’s “big announcement” of a vaccine deal with AstraZeneca has turned out to have little substance and the government has also failed to join the COVAX global vaccine initiative despite the Prime Minister saying the world needs to share the vaccine.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

Greens questioning in the Senate COVID Committee today has confirmed the Morrison government has failed to join the COVAX global vaccine initiative despite the Prime Minister saying the world needs to share the vaccine.

Under questioning by Senator Richard Di Natale the Secretary of Health confirmed the government had not signed up to the main international effort to secure vaccine access globally, nor contributed a single dollar.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

Scott Morrison’s pandemic payment announcement is a poor substitute for sick leave and doesn’t properly support the public health push to contain the coronavirus, said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

“Workers can only get this watered-down payment if they’ve been ordered to stay at home, so it won’t cover people who are experiencing symptoms but haven’t yet visited a doctor,” said Mr Bandt.

The Morrison government can use the extensive coronavirus crisis powers already granted to it by Parliament to immediately grant paid COVID-19 sick leave to workers across Australia, according to advice obtained by the Australian Greens, without Parliament having to sit. The Treasurer could grant the leave by issuing regulations, similarly to the way the JobKeeper scheme was established. The advice was provided by the Parliamentary Library.

Dr Richard Di Natale, Australian Greens health spokesperson, is today calling on the Prime Minister to adopt an elimination strategy for COVID-19 to keep restrictions in place until the rate of community transmission reaches zero. 

"It's now time to commit to eliminating COVID-19 from the community, and give Australians some level of certainty in the face of this pandemic."

"We have already eliminated the virus in some states, which has allowed people to resume doing many of the things they love and provided some certainty for the business community," said Dr Di Natale.

Tuesday, 16 June 2020

The Senate has supported a Greens motion calling on the Government to urgently legislate protections for witnesses seeking to make a submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Exploitation and Neglect of People with Disability in confidence.

Australian Greens Disability Rights spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said confidentiality protections were not only essential, but time-sensitive to ensure that the Royal Commission could do its job properly.