Despite the conduct of politicians having declined year on year and public confidence in democracy bottoming out, both major parties have rejected the need for binding, independently enforced parliamentary standards proposed by the Greens.
 
Responding to today’s bipartisan recommendation of the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee to oppose the Greens Parliamentary Standards Bill introduced in October 2019, Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson on democracy, Senator Larissa Waters said:
 

Wednesday 12 August 2020

Australian Greens Youth spokesperson, and Australia's youngest Senator, Jordon Steele-John has called for greater engagement with young people to help shape our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today is International Youth Day and the theme for 2020 is Youth Engagement for Global Action, which seeks to highlight the need for greater engagement with young people to enhance formal institutional politics and process at the local, national and global level.

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the government is hopelessly divided on the Job-ready Graduates Package, with the Minister for Regional Education today publishing a statement referring to a “glaring and potentially detrimental design flaw” of the package. Senator Faruqi has also criticised the six day time period allowed for public consultation.

Senator Faruqi said:

“Andrew Gee is right. These enormous fee hikes will harm regional students and don’t serve the interests of regional communities.

The Greens have welcomed a new report from the Grattan Institute today, Cheaper childcare: A practical plan to boost female workforce participation, which illustrates that government investment to lower the cost of early learning will improve gender equity and opportunities for women’s financial independence.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens spokesperson on Education, said:

The Greens have written to  the Prime Minister requesting that he urgently update the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to examine the impact of profit-making corporations on the provision and quality of aged care services.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says today's announcement that the government will expand JobKeeper suggests lessons have not been learned from the first round of JobKeeper, meaning millions in need will continue to miss out.

“The Government has shown today how easy it is to expand eligibility,” Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, said today.

“While we welcome an expansion, this was surely an opportunity to fill the gaps that see millions of workers unfairly missing out on JobKeeper.

The Greens are calling on the South Australian Government to guarantee the state won’t lose a single gigalitre of water allocated to it under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan after a feasibility study into SA’s desalination plant showed the Liberal Party was gearing up to cut SA’s allocation. 

Greens Spokesperson for Water Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:

“The feasibility study – released more than a year after it was conducted – shows the Liberals have been gearing up to cut SA’s River Murray allocation permanently.

Friday 7th August 2020

Australian Greens Disability Rights and Services spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said a failure to learn from the mistakes made during the first wave of COVID-19 and take action to protect disabled people is putting lives at risk in Victoria.

Senator Steele-John said both the Morrison and Andrews governments had failed to listen to disabled people, our families, advocates and organisations since the very beginning of the pandemic and that inaction had led to a surge in cases linked to residential disability services.

Thursday 6th August 2020

Australian Greens Peace and Nuclear Disarmament spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John has called for Australian to sign the United Nation Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on the 75th Anniversary of first atomic bombing in Hiroshima.

"Today's Anniversary is a harrowing reminder of the diestructive power of these weapons, of which there are still thousands stockpiled around the world, and why we must continue to strive for peace," Steele-John said.