World Autism Awareness Day 2022

Abigail spoke in Parliament about the urgent need to support a National Autism Strategy, in light of World Autism Awareness Day.

Abigail said:

(1) That this House notes that Saturday 2 April 2022 is World Autism Awareness Day, a day that celebrates the valuable contributions that people with autism make to our society and raises awareness of the significant barriers faced by people with autism.

(2) That this House notes that, according to the Australian Autism Alliance:

(a) urgent action is needed by all levels of government and society to eliminate barriers to vital support and opportunities for people with autism in areas of education, employment, health, community understanding and more;

(b) approximately 85 per cent of Australians have personal contact with an autistic person, however only 4 per cent of people with autism and their families agree that people in the community know how to support them;

(c) there are gaps in support for people with autism, including long waiting times for diagnosis in the public system, high costs with accessing assessment and diagnosis and high costs of early intervention supports, which has led to a large number of people with autism being undiagnosed in our community or not being eligible for the NDIS; and

(d) a nationally consistent autism strategy is key to achieving positive outcomes for all people with autism through a targeted response, as has been implemented in many countries across the world.

(3) That this House calls on the New South Wales Government to commit to better supporting people with autism in New South Wales by advocating for and listening to the voices of the autism community, and take further direct action to break down barriers and create opportunity.

(4) That this House calls on the New South Wales Government to support a nationally consistent autism strategy in line with sector recommendations.

You can see the full transcript on 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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World Autism Awareness Day 2022

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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