Strata Schemes Management Amendment Bill 2020

Today Abigail stood to speak in support of the Strata Schemes Management Amendment Bill that will grant those living in apartments the right to have their companion animals reside with them.

Ms ABIGAIL BOYD (21:32): On behalf of the Greens I support the amendments suggested by the Legislative Assembly. Companion animals bring incredible joy to the lives of their families. Everyone who wishes to share their lives with a pet should be able to do so. I acknowledge that my colleague in the other place Jenny Leong has for many years led the campaign for residents of rental and strata properties to have the right to live with their pets. I also recognise the tireless work of Jo Cooper, whose five-year legal battle to lift the blanket ban on pets in her apartment building and the supporting ePetition tabled by Ms Leong in the other place brought us to where we are now.

The Greens were very pleased to support the amendment proposed by the Animal Justice Party back in August of last year that rendered void by-laws unreasonably prohibiting the keeping of animals. While we remain satisfied with the original amendment, we understand the concerns of the Government that the amendment may not in practice provide adequate guidance and that it would require regulation-making powers. In the interest of progressing the issue, we will be supporting the bill in its amended form. It is imperative that the Government consult extensively while developing the regulations. My colleague Jenny Leong and I will be watching the development of the regulations closely, and I want to make it very clear that The Greens will not hesitate to disallow those regulations if they do not follow the intention of the original amendment.

For the full transcript see 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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Strata Schemes Management Amendment Bill 2020

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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