Australian Greens: Jordon Steele-John’s August update

A missed opportunity for leadership in the disability space, pondering the climate bill and the nuclear threat, welcoming new Greens MPs and advocating for Julian Assange

By Senator Jordon Steele-John

The 47th Parliament commenced this month and I could not have been more excited to return to Canberra for what was my first sitting week under a Labor Government. As always, there were highs, lows and everything in between.

Ableist major parties block progress – again

In the first week of Parliament, my colleague Larissa Waters moved a motion in the Senate to change the rules governing the composition of the Joint Standing Committee of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which is the key parliamentary body overseeing the scheme. That would have allowed me – the only physically disabled person in the Parliament – the opportunity to chair the committee.

Outrageously, Labor and the Liberals joined forces to strike down the motion. Once again, the major parties were presented with the opportunity to participate in meaningful change. Once again, they chose to uphold the actively harmful status quo.

The NDIS is continuing to fail our community. It needs urgent, transformative change right now. The single best way to achieve that is to centre lived experience by empowering disabled people to lead reviews and take on leadership roles. This motion was a small but powerful act towards that end, and the Greens – always in tandem with the disability community – will keep fighting to ensure disabled people take on leadership roles in places where decisions are made that impact our lives.

Climate bill

The big ticket item this first parliamentary sitting was the Labor Government’s climate bill. While it has yet to reach the Senate – that’s expected to happen in September – my party room colleagues and I spent a lot of time discussing it.

The bill is not perfect – far from it. But in our urgency to address climate change exacerbated over nine years of Coalition inaction, the Greens engaged in good faith negotiations with the government to get the bill to a place where we could support it. As we voted for it, along with Labor and the independents, the bill passed the House of Representatives.

The amendments we managed to secure are significant. Labor’s insufficient 43 percent target is now a minimum, so it can be increased over time and, critically, can’t go backwards. It will also be harder for government agencies to fund fossil fuel projects, and the Climate Change Authority will now be subject to greater transparency.

Our work certainly doesn’t end here – especially as Labor didn’t agree to a moratorium on new coal and gas, which we know is a critical piece of the puzzle. We must do all we can to get this government to take more action to meaningfully address the climate crisis.

New Greens MPs

This month I was thrilled to welcome our six new Greens MPs to Canberra! Though it’s somehow been almost five years, I can vividly remember how that first sitting week feels. Exciting, surreal, slightly terrifying – it’s a huge mix of emotions and I’ve loved witnessing this new cohort of Greens MPs experience something so special.

Libby, Max, Stephen, David, Barbara and Penny have brought such great energy to Parliament already, and I can’t wait to see them all tackle this place with the passion and determination I know they will bring!

Bring Julian home

During this sitting I spoke at a rally on the lawns of Parliament House in support of Julian Assange. Alongside my Greens colleagues Peter Whish-Wilson and David Shoebridge, I called on our government to intervene in what is a clear case of political persecution and torture. I also met with Julian’s dad and brother, John and Gabriel, as well as members of his legal team, to receive an update on his situation.

In short: it’s dire, but there’s hope. That hope lies largely with Prime Minister Albanese, who – as I said in my speech at the rally – must pick up the phone to President Joe Biden and demand the charges against Julian be dropped.

The nuclear threat

August marks the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, which always prompts me to pause and reflect on the horror of nuclear weapons. What’s even starker for me this year is that the nuclear threat is the highest it’s been since the Cold War.

Despite this, the Albanese government has made no move whatsoever toward signing Australia onto the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) – something he has explicitly and repeatedly committed the Labor party to do after they form government. That is simply unacceptable.

In a speech to Parliament, I called on Prime Minister Albanese to follow through on signing and ratifying the TPNW as a matter of urgency; you can watch the speech here. We know how destructive nuclear weapons are, so it is well past time we simply get this done.

Header photo: Jordon on the lawns of the Australian Parliament House speaking to climate activists from the Tomorrow Movement.