Greens leader Adam Bandt MP and health spokesperson Dr Richard Di Natale have called on the Morrison government and national cabinet to explain what actions are being taken to double the number of intensive care units and to secure adequate number of ventilators.

Medical experts have warned that the number of intensive care beds need to at least double if we are to have a chance of managing the corona crisis. The Deputy Chief Medical Officer has flagged that Australia is facing up to 150,000 possible deaths in the worst case scenario.

Today’s reports of insufficient access to protective masks for front line GPs in the face of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency is of significant concern, Greens spokesperson for Health Dr Richard Di Natale has said today.

It is essential that our health workers, in particular, those directly responding to possible Coronavirus cases within the community, have access to an ongoing, sufficient supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) and masks.

Greens spokesperson for Health and public health specialist Dr Richard Di Natale will quiz senior government officials on the Australian and international response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) response at Senate estimates this morning.



Dr Di Natale, who is a GP and Public Health specialist, has worked in infectious disease control and outbreak investigations.

Senators Di Natale and Faruqi: To move—That the Senate—

(a) notes the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act in India on 10 December 2019, which legalised the granting of Indian citizenship based on religion but specifically excluded muslims;

(b) expresses deep concern that the Indian Government has created the legal grounds to strip millions of muslims of the fundamental right of equal access to citizenship;

Greens Leader Adam Bandt will join former Greens Leader Richard Di Natale in wearing a West Papuan lapel flag during the address of Indonesian President Widodo to the Australian Parliament on Monday. West Papuan human rights advocate Ronny Kareni will also be a guest of Senator Di Natale at the address. Mr Kareni is a member of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and is a longstanding campaigner for West Papuan human rights.

The Australian Greens today condemned US President Donald Trump’s blatantly unfair “peace” proposal for Israel and Palestine, which would instead further entrench injustice and conflict in the Middle East.
 
“This proposal is not worth the paper it’s written on. It fails to provide the minimum requirement for a Palestinian State and rewards breaches of international law like the Israeli Government’s flagrant settlement building,” said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
 

The bushfires devastating communities across regional New South Wales and Victoria require an emergency response from the Government that not only addresses the fires currently burning but also tackles the root cause of those fires and the fires yet to come - the climate crisis, driven by the burning of fossil fuels like coal - said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.

Australia is in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave and bushfire emergency, but the Prime Minister has been missing in action. Scott Morrison must show some leadership and immediately convene emergency meetings with fire chiefs, peak medical bodies and cross-party political leadership to craft a response to this crisis, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.

”The country is in crisis and the Australian people are crying out for leadership, but Scott Morrison has been missing in action," said Di Natale.

It’s time that the fossil fuel companies whose products are responsible for the climate crisis start footing some of the bill for cleaning it up. A $1 levy per tonne of carbon pollution from the country’s biggest polluters, proposed today by the Australia Institute, is the very least that these companies can do, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.