4.2 Billion People Facing the Global Toilet Crisis

Abigail addressed Parliament on the topic of World Toilet Day 2021, and the disproportionate barriers to sanitation faced by women across the world.

Abigail said:

(1) That this House notes that:

(a) Friday 19 November 2021 is World Toilet Day, a day which celebrates and raises awareness about the 4.2 billion people across the world living without access to safe and sanitary toilets; and

(b) this year's theme is focused on "sustainable sanitation and climate change", which relates to the impact of climate change induced disasters on toilets across the world, and the importance of ensuring safe, accessible, and sustainable toilets for all people.

(2) That this House notes that:

(a) according to WaterAid Australia, women and girls face disproportionate gender inequality regarding their access to safe, hygienic and sanitary toilets, which includes access to acceptable public, school, workplace and private toilets, as well as access to affordable essential period products to combat increasing period poverty in Australia; and

(b) according to a report by the Australian Network on Disability titledDesign for Dignity Guidelines published in 2015, there is an urgent need for fully accessible toilets in public bathrooms as well as in homes, to provide dignified access for the over 20 per cent of Australians who live with a disability.

(3) That this House calls on the Government to commit to ensuring more accessible, inclusive, safe and sanitary toilets for all people in New South Wales, to support the global movement to end period poverty, and to tackle the global sanitation crisis.

The full transcript can be found in Hansard, here.

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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4.2 Billion People Facing the Global Toilet Crisis

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

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