The Australian Greens welcome two submissions to the Expert Panel today, made by a group of 17 refugee law academics and another group of 204 Australian academics, which both strongly endorse the life saving and internationally lawful proposals of increased humanitarian intake and escalated direct resettlement from regional nations.

“The Greens agree with the experts that the humane and legal option to protect refugees is to offer safer pathways by boosting assessment of claims in Indonesia and Malaysia and bringing people safely to Australia.

“The submission of the 17 refugee law experts, which has been backed by legal academics around the world, further demonstrates that there are a number of available ways to save lives that should be put on the table before expelling people to danger in Malaysia or Nauru,” Senator Hanson-Young, Australia Greens’ spokesperson for Immigration and Citizenship, said today.

The legal submission argues that the government and Coalition policies of punitive off-shore processing in Malaysia or Nauru risk are not durable solutions and would breach Australia’s international law obligations.

“The Greens support the view of these pre-eminent legal academics that Australia must not use arrangements such as the Malaysia Agreement to ‘contract out’ of its international obligations,” said Senator Hanson-Young. (more…)

It’s time to stop talking down the carbon tax and look at the positives that we will start to see coming out of both it and the Mineral Resources Rent Tax, says Catherine Moore, Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro.

“Far from towns and regions being wiped off the map, a clean energy economy means more jobs and innovation, cleaner air and a safer climate, and a healthier, smarter, fairer society.

“While the big polluters and their spokespeople in Parliament will continue to talk down these taxes, there are plenty of Australians who are glad that we’re taxing pollution and not people on low incomes.

“It’s about time that we finally gave some support to the innovators who’ll power Australia with renewables like the sun, wind, water and waves, while protecting our natural environment at the same time.

“Putting a price on pollution, investing in clean, renewable energy and supporting householders is the most effective and efficient way to cut the pollution which drives global warming. (more…)