We must say no to AUKUS

Today in Parliament Abigail stood in strong opposition of a Liberal's Motion celebrating the AUKUS pact.

Ms ABIGAIL BOYD (20:54): I oppose the motion on behalf of the Greens.

The Hon. Chris Rath: What a shock.

Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: It is no shock that the Greens oppose the AUKUS pact. I note that peace and anti‑nuclear groups, unions and even some former leaders and members of the Australian Labor Party have expressed their opposition to AUKUS. If the Albanese Government's AUKUS plan for Australia went ahead, there would be direct, catastrophic and lasting repercussions across the Pacific. This would result in a huge expansion of militarism in the Asia-Pacific region—something that the motion clearly fails to mention. The AUKUS pact is nothing short of a dangerous version of twenty-first century imperial dominance. Australia must oppose the AUKUS deal. The unavoidable impact of any form of nuclear technology, let alone nuclear weapons, is far too glaring and will have lasting, irrepressible consequences for the nation and the world.

In May I gave notice of a motion on behalf of The Greens, calling for the Federal Albanese Labor Government to withdraw from the AUKUS pact, discontinue any plans to build or purchase nuclear submarines, finally sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to redirect those billions of dollars towards addressing the urgent crises of climate change, affordable housing and cost of living. For the past five or so months the Labor Government has gone on about the so-called inherited blunders and failures of the former Liberal-Nationals Governments before it. The Federal Government has done the same thing. But right now, Government members have the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of millions of Australians. I and my colleagues agree with the sentiments of Labor pro-AUKUS delegates at the Labor conference last week, who said that if any members of the Labor Party are against AUKUS they should "join The Greens". I would warmly welcome any of those Labor members to join us to work towards peace.

Read the full debate in Hansard here (including to find out who supported AUKUS and who didn't).

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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We must say no to AUKUS

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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