2026-10-29
By David Shoebridge
Parlimentary Leader of the Australian Greens and Senator for New South Wales
At a time of the rise of the far right enabled by the decades of inaction by the major parties it has never been more important to have Greens representation in Parliament and to be part of a powerful grassroots movement outside of it.
We continue to use the powers of the Parliament to stand up for the 99% and shine light onto this Labor Government and their corporate backers selling out our democracy.
This year I was given the position of the first ever Greens Federal Spokesperson for AI in recognition of the serious impacts the technology is having on our society and environment, and the need for a targeted and coherent response to it.
Iran: Australia rushed to cheer on US and Israeli attacks
When the United States and Israel launched their attack on Iran in February, the Prime Minister didn't wait for allies, didn't wait for evidence, and didn't wait for a single briefing to Parliament before declaring Australia's support. He was among the very first world leaders on earth to back the strikes, even when international observers were identifying the first attacks as including a girls school.
The Greens pushed for answers and Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed under questioning that Australia had no advance notice of the strikes. Within weeks that endorsement had become material support: air-to-air missiles sent to the UAE, a Wedgetail surveillance aircraft deployed to the Gulf, and Australian Defence Force personnel aboard a US submarine involved in sinking an Iranian vessel.
This outrageous breach of international law has now led to a 7 month long assault on Iran with a large number of civilian casualties and global economic damage. The lack of embarrassment or contrition from the Government speaks volumes about their values, they knew this would happen and they just didn’t. Their priority was to show loyalty to the US.
The Greens continue to stand up for our principles of non violence and peace and call for a negotiated resolution to this appalling war.
Gaza: Genocide continues as does our complicity
Australia's recognition of Palestinian statehood last year was overdue and welcome, but a name on a map changes nothing for people still living under occupation and blockade. The government has spent this year defending, rather than ending, our part in the arms trade that armed the war on Gaza. Labor still refuses to accept the credentials of the Palestinian Ambassador.
We did see the discontinuation of a further tranche of export permits this year, wrung out through repeated Estimates questioning. It is proof that pressure works but it is nowhere near enough. Sanctions on the Israeli Security Cabinet, on violent settlers and all settlement products, an end to the two-way arms trade, and the cancellation of nearly two billion dollars in contracts with Israeli arms manufacturers remain critically important steps.
AUKUS: Watching a $375 billion gamble come apart
2026 has been the year the cracks of the AUKUS program became widely understood and accepted.
This year we saw the Defence Minister confirm a "significant" switch toward buying only second-hand Virginia-class boats from the US, an admission that the original promise was never realistic.
We have watched the government hand over billions in so-called sustainment payments to the UK and US for submarines we will likely never get, subsidising the American and UK industrial base while communities in Adelaide, Perth and the Illawarra carry the risk of hosting nuclear waste and becoming strategic targets. I have visited all these areas multiple times to speak to the many campaigners standing up for their communities and a safer future. We are building a movement together here.
We also saw this program this year allocate hundreds of millions for building public housing, but only for US and UK troops and arms manufacturers, not for Australians. It’s hard to believe.
The NACC finally faces consequences
For years, as Greens Justice Spokesperson, I highlighted how the National Anti-Corruption Commission could not do its job while its own Commissioner was compromised. In May, Paul Brereton resigned, one day before he was due to front Senate Estimates to explain his actions, a hearing that only happened because of a Greens motion in the chamber.
Commissioner Brereton’s departure followed sustained questioning over his conflicts of interest with Defence at exactly the moment the NACC was sitting on well over a hundred referrals involving that same department. It followed our earlier success in forcing the release of documents showing a retired High Court judge had found each of the bungled Robodebt referrals raised a corruption issue, findings the Commission had kept hidden.
We are now continuing the work of trying to reset the NACC to restore public trust including by pushing for the next Commissioner to be chosen through a transparent process, and for structural reform that makes public hearings the norm rather than the rare exception wrung out under pressure. The Greens are the party leading this fight, and as so often the case, the resistance to positive reform is being led by Labor.
ASIO's powers supercharged and debate gagged
In August, the Senate passed the ASIO Amendment Bill (No. 2), rammed through under a guillotine that cut off debate before a single government Senator had risen to defend it. The vote was 26 to 15, with the Greens joined by David Pocock, two Coalition Senators and One Nation in opposition, a genuinely strange alliance that says something about how far this legislation reaches.
These powers let ASIO compel someone who has never been charged, and isn’t even a suspect, to answer questions for up to twenty-four hours, on a warrant signed by the Attorney-General rather than a judge. A fourteen year old can be questioned without a lawyer of their choosing. Refuse to answer, or tell anyone what happened afterwards, and you can go to prison.
These were meant to be temporary measures from 2003, renewed under sunset clauses because Parliament understood how extraordinary they were. The Greens continue to oppose these oppressive powers which give Australians every reason to fear their own government, because it can reach out and take you off the street whenever it decides to. That should never be normal in a democracy, and we will keep fighting to have these powers removed.
Digital Rights and the fight to keep up with AI
Our digital rights work has only intensified as the scale of AI's reach into daily life becomes clearer. We have pushed forward a legislative pathway to restrict covert facial-recognition capable smart glasses via an import ban.
We have kept the pressure on the government's digital duty of care framework, using the Rickard Review and a string of FOI requests to test whether it will deliver real protections or another toothless code that big tech can just work around.
Alongside this, we have pushed for genuine algorithmic transparency, scrutinised the environmental cost of the AI data centre boom, and argued for a moratorium on new data centres. We are working going forward on what an Australian owned and controlled AI sector could look like rather than handing our energy grid and our data over to offshore hyperscalers.
Surveillance technology moving us towards Big Brother
This year has seen a sustained campaign against Palantir's expanding footprint across Australian government agencies, including Defence, AUSTRAC, ACIC and possibly even the NDIA.
We have used Senate Estimates, petitions and public campaigning to demand transparency over what a company with Palantir's track record on predictive policing and immigration enforcement overseas is actually doing with the data of vulnerable Australians.
Alongside this we have kept up pressure on Cellebrite's warrantless phone data extraction by NSW Police and Federal Border Force as well as the 128 contracts Federal Government Agencies have with Cellebrite. We are calling for contracts with Palantir and Cellebrite to be urgently cancelled and a comprehensive audit undertaken of what data the Government has allowed to be funnelled to these overseas fascist-aligned companies.
Immigration
This year has shown that when it comes to genuine choices about who gets protection and who gets turned away, Labor keeps landing on the side of cruelty rather than compassion. Iranian nationals fleeing a country now at war, some with direct and obvious links to Australia, found themselves shut out by a rapidly legislated travel ban rushed through with barely a fig leaf of debate.
We now see Labor opening up new privatised detention centres and employing more Border Force staff to jail migrants there. Labor continues to race to the bottom on refugees and migrants time and again to pander to One Nation by cutting places for people seeking safety and protection.
Closer to home, my office continues to see the same pattern play out case by case with families kept apart for years by a broken partner and parent visa system, people with disabilities or medical needs knocked back on grounds that would never survive real scrutiny, and a Fast Track cohort of eight thousand people still waiting for a government that promised reform to actually deliver it.
We continue to advocate in Parliament and in the media for a migration system that is fair and reflects community values.
Advocacy work
Migration and visa matters make up one of the largest and most personal parts of my office's casework, and over the past year that has only grown heavier. We continue to work directly with individuals and families navigating a deeply unfair system that is designed to frustrate them.
Over the past year, our team has successfully seen around 30 visas granted and provided a range of other positive outcomes for our constituents, ranging from families of refugees to our veteran community.
We’ve responded to over 14,000 emails and continue to ensure our community feels heard and connected to our work in parliament.
Every one of these matters is a reminder that immigration policy in this country is not an abstract debate. It is decided in the lives of real people, and right now those decisions are still being made on the basis of fear rather than fairness.
Community Solidarity
None of this work happens in isolation. Our relationships with Palestinian, Lebanese, Kurdish, Iranian, Bangladeshi, Sikh, Tamil and West Papuan communities, among many others, remains central to everything this office does. As attacks on these communities continue, and as fear is deliberately stoked by people who should know better, the Greens remain the clearest and most consistent voice in Parliament for human rights and international solidarity, and for the plain truth that peace, justice and genuine accountability are always connected.
We are proud to have successfully got support for an inquiry into Transnational Repression in the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. This will be a critical opportunity for many of these communities to share their experiences and how they can be protected here.
The work we do is only possible as part of a strong grassroots party and connected to progressive social movements. The work and the powerful outcomes we get belongs to Greens members, to the communities who trust us with their fight, and to the team I get to do this with every day.
Thank you to Bella, Daisy, Gigi, Kilty, Kym. Nirvana, Oboni, Sam and Taylor, and to everyone else across the office including our wonderful and much appreciated volunteers (special shout out to Jacqui), for another year of comradeship in work that matters. For people and the planet.
- David