The Greens have slammed the Liberals and Labor for today throwing $217 million in road funding to enable the Beetaloo Basin gas project, saying the funding would worsen the climate crisis and result in a stranded asset as our trading partners abandon gas. 

"The Coalition and NT Labor are in lock step in their plan to light the fuse on the Beetaloo climate bomb,” Acting Greens Leader Nick McKim said. 

"If your plan for the future includes fracking a massive gas mine for 70 years, there's no mincing words - you're a climate denialist.

The Greens have called upon the Prime Minister to boot Craig Kelly from his role chairing a parliamentary committee, following weeks of disinformation intended to undermine the medical response to coronavirus.

The Greens say that decades of decline in Australian manufacturing puts the nation at risk of having fewer options when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines, and have called for a publicly-owned vaccine manufacturer.

Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are based on new technology (mRNA), and while CSL has capacity to manufacture the protein based vaccines it doesn’t at this time have the ability to produce mRNA.

“McCormack's actions over the last two days are an attempt to take Australia down the dangerous path of post-truth politics. 

“The facts are simple. The Black Lives Matter movement is a push back against racist policing and politics. In contrast the Capital riots were because the far right didn't want to accept the results of a fair and democratic election. 

MYEFO shows yet again that the Liberals are locking in inequality and damage from climate change, the Greens say.

“The economy continues to be underpinned by Government spending, with state governments’ investment in social housing and public transport responsible for a lot of the improved outlook," Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

"But wages growth has been revised down following the Government’s announcement that they will reduce public sector wage increases.”

The Future Fund must divest the $3 million it has put into a railway for the climate-destroying Adani coal mine, the Greens say.

Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

"This is public money and should be invested for the public good."

"Having already ruled out investing in tobacco products, the Future Fund must urgently get out of fossil fuels."

"This is a bad investment financially, morally and environmentally. To use public funds to cook the planet is an extraordinary error of judgement."

The Government and Labor have again wasted an opportunity to include real estate agents, accountants and lawyers subject to mandatory reporting of money laundering.

"We have been waiting 14 years for this badly needed reform," Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

"Dirty money is flooding Australia's property market, helping to push house prices even higher, and making owning a home even more difficult for too many Australians."

Today’s national accounts figures show that government support for people who need it most must continue, Greens economic justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim says.

“These figures show it was government spending that propped up the rest of the economy,” Senator McKim said.

“And even then, we are still way behind where we were before the pandemic hit. Millions of Australians are unemployed or underemployed.”

“As the OECD has made clear, now is not the time for the government to cut spending.”

Media Release: Senate casts doubt on proposed changes to lending laws

November 9, 2020

The Senate today supported a Greens motion condemning the government for abandoning the key recommendation of the Banking Royal Commission.

“The Senate has today cast doubt on whether the government has the numbers to tear up responsible lending obligations, which was one of its major budget announcements,” Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

The RBA’s decision to cut interest rates to new historic lows and start a new round of quantitative easing is a vote of no confidence in the Government’s recovery plans, Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Nick McKim says.

“This decision shows the RBA has no faith in the Liberals’ agenda of tax cuts for the super wealthy and more handouts for the big corporate polluters,” Senator McKim said.