Releasing a list of the Abbott government’s top failures, the Australian Greens say the first 100 days have been a secretive, cruel and chaotic preview of what is to come.

“During the election campaign the Abbott government’s true agenda was hidden behind cheap rhetoric, but you can’t run a country with a slogan,” said Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne.

“The Abbott government has tried to claim a so-called mandate to take Australia back to the last century, but he doesn’t have one. The longer Prime Minister Abbott and his big business mates run the show, the less the public knows about what’s going on behind the scenes. The Abbott government is a secretive, cruel and chaotic government.

“The Australian people didn’t sign up to this, and the Greens will stand against it. (more…)

Our comprehensive election platform “Standing up for what matters” has been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office and makes The Greens the obvious choice for all who want to see a change of focus in politics. If implemented, it would ensure a healthy, just and sustainable future for the people of Eden-Monaro.

Simple measures like a 0.2% levy on bank assets above $100 billion, the abolition of fossil fuel subsidies, an effective mining tax and 50% tax on all incomes in excess of $1,000,000 would raise $42.7 billion.

There is an urgent need to act on climate change. If we don’t, there is every likelihood we will see an end to snow this century, and farming will be even more difficult than it is now. The Greens want a swift transition to renewable energy, for which there is huge potential here, and which would create thousands of jobs. Imagine if Eden-Monaro became home to Australia’s first solar thermal energy plant!

Farmers are essential to our country’s future prosperity and a sustainable economy. We propose actions to strengthen the viability of farming and farming communities, and increase support for small business and local employment in general. (more…)

In the wake of the launch of The Australian Greens’ policy platform “Standing up for what matters”, Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore says that The Greens are the obvious party of choice for all those who want to see a change of focus in politics, and positive and meaningful proposals to take us into the future.

“If they were implemented, the policy initiatives that we have released for this election would ensure a healthy, just and sustainable future for the people of Eden-Monaro.

“By introducing simple measures like a 0.2% levy on bank assets in excess of $100 billion, the abolition of tax-payer funded fossil fuel subsidies, an effective mining tax and 50% tax on incomes in excess of $1,000,000, we could raise $42.7 billion over three years.

“These funds could then be directed into social and environmental policy actions that benefited all Australians. (more…)

The National Disability Insurance Scheme be will be of great assistance to rural and regional people with disabilities, who frequently have fewer choices than people from more highly populated areas. Increased school funding is also welcome as again, rural and regional areas are often struggling to provide the programs and facilities that are available in the city. Redirecting the baby bonus to family payment is also an improvement, as is a fairer superannuation payment system, with those on $37,000 or less now paying no tax.

However, despite these positives, The Greens believe that the Government has missed some golden opportunities to build a safer, cleaner, more just and compassionate society.

The Government is only implementing 39% of the reforms proposed by Gonski, which has led to the labelling “Gonski Lite”. While the welcome boost to schools education is the biggest for years, generous funding of private schools continues while the cuts to tertiary education will force students further into debt and impact on universities’ vital research. Tertiary students in Eden-Monaro will suffer greater impact as they often have to leave home or travel long distances to study.

Labor will spend $10 billion in this year’s Budget subsidising the biggest mining companies to look for and burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. This is equivalent to $66 million for every electorate in the country – money that could have been spent in the community. The subsidy for fuel use by the mining industry is projected to increase by $352 million in the next financial year. (more…)

Despite including some positive initiatives in this year’s Budget, the Government has missed some golden opportunities to build a safer, cleaner, more just and compassionate society, says Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore.

“The National Disability Insurance Scheme be will be of great assistance to rural and regional people with disabilities, who frequently have fewer choices than people from more highly populated areas.

“Increased school funding is also welcome as again, rural and regional areas are often struggling to provide the programs and facilities that are available in the city. Redirecting the baby bonus to family payment is an improvement, as is a fairer superannuation payment system, with those on $37,000 or less now paying no tax.

“But while generous funding of private schools continues, the cuts to tertiary education will force students further into debt and impact on universities’ vital research. People living on Newstart need an extra $50 per week but instead they will be able to earn just an extra $19 per week (effectively, one hour of work) before their income support payment is affected. (more…)

and make history by putting the first woman of Muslim background in to any parliament in Australia.Greens NSW members have selected environmental engineer and academic, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, to replace sitting Greens MLC, Cate Faehrmann, when she resigns her seat to contest the Senate later this year.

Dr Faruqi was preselected by a postal ballot of all members of the NSW Greens, in a field of seven all-women candidates. (more…)

As the O’Farrell government enters the second half of its term, the Greens NSW MPs have put together a report card on the government’s worst failures, and the Greens’ top achievements for a more sustainable and caring NSW.

The O’Farrell government:

• launched attacks on wages and conditions of teachers, nurses and other public sector workers, and drastic cuts to our workers compensation laws
• overturned the 26-year ban on uranium exploration in NSW, prompting widespread community concern and condemnation
• savaged schools and TAFE, stripping a staggering $1.6 billion of funding from public education
• opened up national parks to recreational hunters for the sake of a political deal with the extreme Shooters Party to enable electricity privatisation
• broke an election promise to oppose mining in drinking water catchments with approval of massive coal mine in the Sydney catchment
• gave tunnel vision priority to more tollways with $1.8 billion committed to the WestConnex without traffic modelling or cost-benefit analysis
• launched a “dob-in a rorter” program that demonised public housing tenants, while failing to clear the maintenance backlog and left tens of thousands on social housing waiting lists.
• watered down coal seam gas policy, failing to protect our farming lands and water with a weak strategic land use policy
• proposed child protection reforms that focus on punitive approaches to parents in at-risk families and prioritising adoption under short time-frames
• eroded civil liberties and failed to deal with police accountability - from the expansion of the sniffer dogs program, the removal of the right to silence and the failure to ensure that police do not investigate police
• squandered opportunity to transition to low carbon clean energy economy throwing $11 billion of wind industry investment into doubt with unrealistic and unreasonable wind farm guidelines.
• trashed marine science with the closure of The Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre of Excellence and continuing the deal with the Shooters Party for a moratorium on new marine parks
• replaced one pro-developer planning system with another, failing to put planning decisions back in the hands of local communities

(more…)

Letter to the editor

In the last week, an almost unidentified leaflet has been landing in letterboxes around NSW and possibly the country. Inexplicably, though perhaps coincidentally, it uses the colours of the Aboriginal flag to tell us that “illegal boat arrivals” are costing tax-payers big money – no less than $12.8 million per boat. The word illegal is used four times, and we are told that $6.6 billion has been “wasted on illegal boat arrival cost blow-outs” between 2008 and 2012. The leaflet has been authorised (see the very small print at the bottom) by one Mark Neeham, whom googling reveals to be the State Director of the Liberal Party of Australia.

A political party that has its sights set on governing the country would do well to come up with some visionary policies. A party with vision would talk about ways to process asylum seekers rapidly onshore, thus saving no small proportion of those billions. Such a party would talk about preventative health measures to save on hospital costs down the track, and adequate investment in public education and transport. Instead, the Liberal Party has opted to continue to create fear and loathing in the Australian community about people whose lives are so unbearable that they are forced to leave their homes and seek asylum in a country that is supposed to be compassionate, humane and fair. A close to anonymous scare campaign such as this one is no less than despicable.

Catherine Moore
Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro

The Australian Greens welcome the establishment of a Senate Inquiry into the mining tax.

“I am pleased that our motion to set up an inquiry into the design of the mining tax won the support of the Coalition and passed the Senate today.” Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne said today.

“This is a win for transparency, and a win for the community.  It’s about time Australians found out why the Gillard Government agreed to a dud mining tax, why the mining tax has failed to raise the billions that were promised, and how to fix it. (more…)

Following Julia Gillard’s election date announcement, the Bega District News asked the three known candidates for Eden-Monaro a series of questions. Here are The Greens’ responses.

What are the big issues as you see them in Eden-Monaro for this election year? Which will you be championing in your election campaign?
Climate change remains the biggest issue of our time, and it is already starting to affect everyone, so it will be of great concern if there is any party or candidate who does not take climate change seriously. Recognising how it permeates all our lives through health impacts, electricity and insurance costs for example, and taking positive action by way of investment in renewable energy programs, will filter through to a range of policy areas and benefit everyone in the electorate. While coal and coal seam gas mining does not affect Eden-Monaro directly, its impacts will be felt by all. Continuing to mine and export coal in increasing volumes together with the use of processes that pollute or destroy water supplies is something we need to stop. As with every previous election in which I have been involved, the closure of the chipmill is a major issue. The Greens presented a plan for softwood processing to state government and opposition candidates in the 1999 state election, and some of that has now been taken up, but we need to go further. See later responses for more detail. (more…)