Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Animal Welfare spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that today’s announced Australian poultry standards, which will phase-out battery cages, are long overdue but provide a far too lengthy transition period out to 2036.

Senator Faruqi said:

“The industry has had more than enough time to move away from battery cages. We now need some real action.

Ahead of joining the NTEU picket line at the University of Sydney staff strike this morning, Deputy Greens leader and Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit must address the job insecurity crisis in higher education.

Senator Faruqi said:

“There is a scourge of insecure, casualised work in higher education. University workers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim, has responded to the announcement by BHP that it will pay a record dividend by calling for a Mining Super Profits Tax (MSPT).

“Australia needs a Mining Super Profits Tax."

“BHP shareholders are rolling in cash but the Australian public who own the resources are being shortchanged."

“Mining giants are posting obscene profits on the back of commodity booms, but the benefits are going to corporate executives and shareholders rather than to Australians who are struggling with the spiralling cost of living."

The Greens have called on the nation’s education ministers to tackle the root causes of the teacher shortage crisis, after today’s roundtable failed to produce a credible plan for real reform.

Comments attributable to Greens spokesperson on schools, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:

“It’s great that teachers had a seat at the table at today’s Education Ministers Meeting. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that the ministers were really paying attention. 

The Australian Greens say today’s report into workplace culture in NSW Parliament shows that the toxic boys club of politics extends beyond Canberra.

Lines attributable to NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens Deputy Leader and member of the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards:

“The Broderick report is nothing short of traumatic and devastating. Sadly, however, it does not surprise me that this is what has been revealed about my old workplace.

Following the death of a man at Port Phillip Prison on Wednesday, the family have asked the media to respect their privacy as they process their grief.

The following lines are attributable to Gunnai, Gunditjmara and DjabWurrung Senator Lidia Thorpe:

“These are real people's lives which have just been torn apart, again, by this system. The grief, the pain and the loss is overwhelming. The family demand respect and privacy as they process their grief.” 

Ahead of tomorrow’s Education Ministers meeting, the Greens have called on federal, state and territory governments to address teacher shortages once and for all by properly funding public schools and giving all teachers a long overdue pay rise.

Comments attributable to Greens spokesperson on schools Senator Penny Allman-Payne:

“It’s not very complicated: to attract more teachers to public schools and provide a world-class education for our kids, governments must properly fund all public schools and pay all public school teachers more.

On the Climate Change Authority Report into the international offsets market released today, attributable to Greens leader Adam Bandt MP:

“The government must reject international offset accounting tricks.

“This Morrison-era report, commissioned by Angus Taylor to justify his government's Paris accounting tricks, should be binned.