Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has today strongly criticised the Treasury Secretary John Fraser for seemingly ignoring two of the biggest issues facing Australia today, climate change and the housing crisis, when pulling together the Treasury Corporate Plan.

The Abbott Government must rule out propping up Galilee Basin coal mines with the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, following revelations Queensland Treasury warned Adani's project was unviable before Campbell Newman announced public funding.  

Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Qld Senator Larissa Waters, said:

"Right to information documents show Treasury warned Adani's Galilee Basin project was "unlikely to stack up" financially and that Adani was "susceptible to cost shocks" and "not particularly transparent".

Under questioning from the Greens Spokesperson for Finance, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, the Treasury Secretary John Fraser said that, for Sydney and parts of Melbourne, the housing market was ‘unequivocally’ a bubble.

When Senator Whish-Wilson later questioned the Reserve Bank, Assistant Governor Malcolm Edey added that “…a lot of people do think it’s a bubble – serious people think that – and we agree that this is a situation where the market is strong, it’s overheated, it’s a risky situation…”

The Australian Greens will oppose a temporary so-called deficit levy but have left open the option for permanent increases in taxes on the wealthy if the Abbott government wants to get serious about progressive structural tax reform.

"Australia needs long-term structural economic reform for the future to address challenges like climate change and growing inequality," Greens Leader Christine Milne said.

"Both those challenges highlight the need for permanent revenue streams - not phoney temporary measures.