Greens spokesperson for Antarctica, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has today released the most comprehensive Antarctic science funding package ever put forward by a political party.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The work of Australia’s Antarctic scientists is pivotal in understand the risk of climate change. Nothing shows this more than the recent discovery that the East Antarctic ice-sheet giant isn’t as stable as we thought and is now starting to collapse. This alone could potentially add several metres to catastrophic sea-level rise.

Today NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon will join Greens second Senate candidate Michael Osborne, Senate candidate Jane Oakley, candidate for Newcastle Dr John Mackenzie and candidate for Paterson John Brown to launch The Greens Jobs Rich Plan for the Hunter.

Greens New England candidate Mercurius Goldstein and Greens NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon say that the relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to the Northern Tablelands smacks of pork barrelling three weeks before an election.

Mr Goldstein said: "It looks like Barnaby Joyce is relocating jobs to Armidale in an attempt to save his own.

"Mr Joyce should have waited for the results of a cost benefit analysis that we understand is required from the Prime Minister.

The Australian Greens have welcomed plans from a second company working towards building a solar thermal plant in Port Augusta.

"It's fantastic to see a second solid proposal to build a solar thermal plant in Port Augusta. The world is seeing what the community and The Greens have seen for years: Port Augusta is on the cusp of being a renewables powerhouse," Greens Senator for South Australia Robert Simms said.

Greens Industry spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today said the Australian auto industry has crashed because Labor and the Liberals have been asleep at the wheel. In February last year the Greens proposed a plan to allow new carmakers and component manufacturers to access the existing hundreds of millions of dollars allocated in the Automative Transformation Scheme if they were manufacturing vehicles or parts for electric or alternative fuel vehicles, or parts for renewables.  Neither Labor nor the Liberals supported the move.

Chair of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures and Greens Senator for Tasmania, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the release of the Senate Inquiry Report into the CSIRO budget cuts.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “What is clear from this entire debacle is that both the Australian Government and the CSIRO management has at no stage placed any value on the work being done by the CSIRO climate scientists.

Greens Senator for Tasmania and Chair of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, will use tomorrow’s hearing into CSIRO cuts to get to the bottom of the supposed final job loss numbers announced today.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Today’s announcement sounds like the Government has merely softened the blow for devastating job losses across the climate and environmental science functions within the CSIRO. The majority of the planned job losses will still go ahead.

Greens Senator for South Australia Robert Simms says Australian governments need to commit to using steel made in Australia for major infrastructure projects, to support the Australian steel industry and save workers' jobs.

It was reported today that structural steel made overseas has been used in the construction of South Australia's new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The Australian Greens call on the Government to provide urgent mental health support to the Whyalla Community as part of any plan to assist in securing the future of the steel industry.

"My thoughts are with the 1100 steelworkers in Whyalla and 7000 across the country during this time of job insecurity. The Government needs to fight for this steelworks to continue operating to ensure Whyalla thrives into the future.