Blind and deaf people deserve their democratic rights

Today Abigail called out the NSW Government for preventing blind and deaf people from exercising their democratic right to serve on jury duty.

Abigail said: I move:

(1)That this House affirms Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which states that all disabled people have the right to effectively and fully participate in all political and public life, and in the conduct of public affairs, and that deaf people should be awarded their right to sign language interpreters in all areas of life.

(2)That this House notes all of the recommendations in the NSW Law Reform Commission's report entitled Report 114 Blind or Deaf Jurors, published in September 2006, including the recommendations that:

(a)the Jury Act 1977 (NSW) should be amended to reflect that people who are blind or deaf should be qualified to serve on juries and not prevented from doing so on the basis of that physical disability alone;

(b)interpreters and stenographers allowed by the trial judge to assist the deaf or blind juror should swear an oath to faithfully interpret or transcribe the proceedings or jury deliberations; and

(c)all relevant personnel, including judicial officers and court staff, should be given the opportunity to participate in professional awareness activities to facilitate the inclusion of blind or deaf persons as jurors.

(3)That this House calls on the Government to implement in full the recommendations of the NSW Law Reform Commission, to allow blind or deaf people to exercise their democratic right to perform jury duty by having an interpreter or stenographer with them to interpret or transcribe proceedings or jury deliberations.

The motion was passed successfully!

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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Blind and deaf people deserve their democratic rights

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

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

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