The Greens have called on Labor to change their position (from lying down to standing up to the government) on tax cuts as independent analysis shows 96% of the benefit flowing to the top 30% of income earners.

The second round of tax cuts will also hand men $2.28 for every dollar received by women, meaning men will get 69% of the benefit come 2021-22.

The Greens are calling on Labor and the crossbench to block key elements of a terrible trickle-down Budget that spends big but spends badly, said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt MP, and Treasury spokesperson, Nick McKim.
 
The Greens said the Budget fails to invest in a green recovery to tackle the climate crisis, grow new industries and create jobs. The budget gives young people the finger and actively engineers a worse world for our children.
 

After almost a decade of campaigning, the $44 million compensation package announced in today’s budget has the potential to be a huge win for Thalidomide survivors, who have been fighting for decades to get the recognition and support they deserve from the Australian government.

Australian Greens Disability Rights spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said that after a lifetime of discrimination, bullying, ongoing health problems and even suicide, Thalidomide survivors and their families now finally had an opportunity for justice.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says Labor and the crossbench must join the Greens in opposing tax cuts to the super-wealthy, warning that Scott Morrison’s COVID recovery budget looked set to supercharge inequality and create a ‘lost generation’ of young people.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers refused to rule out supporting a fast-tracking of Stages 2 & 3 of the government’s $286 billion tax cut package, which overwhelmingly benefits people on higher incomes. Mr Bandt said with economists discrediting the Government spin that Stage 2 was ‘kinder’ than Stage 3, both should be opposed.

With JobKeeper payments set to drop from Monday 28 September, the Australian Greens have today released Parliamentary Budget Office-backed analysis showing it would cost less to continue JobKeeper at its current rate through to March 2021 than to bring forward tax cuts for high income earners by even one year, as is reportedly being considered in the upcoming Budget. 

Greens Economic Justice spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim, responded to reports today that the government will loosen lending standards and relieve the banks of responsibility for determining a customer’s loan capacity to service a loan.

“Today’s announcement shows exactly where this government’s allegiances lie," Senator McKim said.

“The day after Westpac received the largest corporate penalty in Australian history, the government is changing the rules to benefit the banks."

As calls grow for a $220b infrastructure spend to tackle the recession, new costings completed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, at the request of the Australian Greens, have revealed that the Government could fund $225 billion in job-rich major infrastructure projects for the same cost to the Budget of bringing forward round 2 of planned personal income tax cuts.