The Australian Greens have today reaffirmed their commitment to disallowing changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

“The Senate is being asked to allow 605 billion litres of water to be ripped off the environment for the sake of untested water efficiency projects, despite a constant flow of reports that big corporate irrigators are stealing water from the river and getting away with it,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

A Clive Palmer monster mine, bigger than Adani, is what will happen if we open up the Galilee Basin to new coal mines, says Queensland Greens Senator and spokesperson for mining and resources Andrew Bartlett.

"This shows once again why the state Labor government must rule out any new thermal coal mines anywhere in Queensland.

"The laid off workers at Queensland Nickel their families and communities have not forgotten the callous mismanagement that took away their livelihoods and neither have Queenslanders.

"Clive and his coal mines are not welcome here.

Pine Gap – decades of creative struggle to shut down US war base

Senator Lee Rhiannon has a long history in the campaign to close the US war base at Pine Gap in Central Australia. She was one of the organisers of the 1983 women-only peace camp. Below is her speech at the 20^th anniversary of this extraordinary protest that kicked off on 11 November 1983 when 800 women of all ages and backgrounds, led by local Pitjinjara women, gathered at the gates of the Pine Gap base and stayed there for two weeks. 

A senate committee inquiry has revealed that jobseekers who smoke a single joint on the weekend could be put onto the cashless welfare card for two years if they are randomly tested when accessing income support. 

“A one-off decision by a jobseeker trying to access income support could now push them into further disadvantage as a result of being pushed onto paternalistic income management for two years, there is no merit to this approach.  

Hearings into the Government’s proposed plan to drug test income support recipients have once again demonstrated an overwhelming opposition to the measure, with concerns including stigmatisation and increased crime rates. 

“Witnesses, including service deliverers, drug and alcohol experts and local Mayors and local Government officials have been very clear in their evidence outlining their concerns about drug testing income support recipients”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today. 

Logan has double the population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared to metropolitan Brisbane, and almost half of the people there were born overseas.

It is among the most economically disadvantaged places in the country, with high rates of homelessness, housing stress and unemployment.

MEDIA RELEASE - 23 April 2018

Greens back Public Health Association warning on dangerous gun lobby plan

Greens gun control spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon has backed a letter sent by the Public Health Association of Australia urging Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to stand up to the gun lobby’s attempts to weaken Australian firearms policy.

“The gun lobby’s proposal to establish an industry-based government advisory committee to advise on Australian gun policy is dangerous and should be immediately rejected by the PM,” Senator Rhiannon said.

Greens' plan to transition live sheep export industry to local processing backed by meat workers union

The Australian Greens will today launch their '5-Point Plan to End Cruelty and Expand Jobs' that would quickly transition the live sheep export trade to a boxed, chilled meat trade processed locally. The plan has the backing of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU).

While glad government has finally recognised that the call wait time is outrageous and is putting more staff on, it is very disappointing that these will be contract staff, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

"Using a private company to reduce Centrelink call wait times holds serious privacy concerns, and staff should be hired within the public sector.