I am so delighted to have Senator Lidia Thorpe join us in parliament. Senator Thorpe and I will be leading the Greens to put antiracist work at the core of everything that we do. We will leave no stone unturned to tackle head-on the rising tide of racism and demand justice for First Nations people and people of colour. Side by side, and alongside communities of colour, we will fight the growing tide of far-right nationalism and tackle systemic racism. In the words of Angela Davis:

In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.

The Greens want a thriving, expanding and green manufacturing sector, but this government's plan for manufacturing is based on a completely unconscionable, climate-wrecking expansion of fossil fuels. They could choose renewables, but they don't. They talk up advanced manufacturing while actively decimating local research and innovation. A manufacturing plan without funding for research and skills isn't worth the paper it's written on. The Liberals and Nationals have defunded TAFEs and gutted research. They're not interested in our future.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt, has today announced a portfolio redistribution that will see Lidia Thorpe and Mehreen Faruqi take on a new anti-racism strategy intended to counter Australia’s growing tide of far right nationalism and tackle systemic racism. 

The move comes as Lidia Thorpe attends her first Greens Party Room meeting as a Senator this Wednesday and ahead of a fuller redistribution of portfolios by Adam Bandt on Thursday.