Greens Defence spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, commented on the release of the Auditor-General’s report into Defence’s Management of its Projects of Concern.

"The Auditor-General’s finding that Defence no longer has an appropriate framework to manage projects of concern comes as no surprise.

"Defence is basically given a blank cheque.

"For example, the White Paper lists the cost of 12 new submarines at simply ">$50bn".

Queensland Greens Senator Andrew Bartlett has welcomed the decision of a Federal Court Judge in Brisbane today not to jail six Queensland residents who engaged in peaceful protests at the Pine Gap Military Base.

The Federal government and Attorney-General George Brandis tried to escalate their charges using a draconian Cold War era law and urged the Judge to jail the protestors.

"Today marks a failed attempt by the Attorney-General and the Federal government to stifle the Pine Gap protestors' freedom of speech and freedom to express their religious beliefs.

Australian Greens Defence spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, commented today on the worrying implications for Australia of Donald Trump’s backflip on Afghanistan.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “We can expect that in coming days Australia will, yet again, be asked to commit more troops and more resources to the longest running conflict in our nation’s history.  Already we can see our Government preparing to capitulate - Defence Minister Marise Payne has refused to rule out sending ADF personnel back into a combat role.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to commit Australian troops to a possible war against North Korea puts Australia at risk and shows why Parliament needs to urgently pass a war powers act and renegotiate the alliance with the United States, said leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale and Greens Defence Spokesperson Sen. Peter Whish-Wilson.