The Australian Greens have lashed the Morrison Government’s vaccine rollout, saying that tonight’s announcement of a health advisory to no longer vaccinate many people under 50 would have been avoidable if Australia had a domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity. 

“The government’s rollout is in shambles. This is precisely why Australia should have built domestic mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity at the start of the pandemic,” Senator Siewert said. 

Australian Greens Anti-Racism spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has responded to reports that police have arrested two Australian men and found a bomb during raids on the homes of members of a neo-Nazi group.

Senator Faruqi said:

“This is a downright terrifying development. There can be no more denials or deflections of the violent far-right threat. These people are deadly serious.

Tuesday 6 April 2021

As revealed in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Morrison Government's proposed independent assessments changes to the NDIS were never originally recommended as part of the Tune Review, instead they were inserted by a public servant on behalf of the government.

Australian Greens disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said this shocking revelation was conclusive proof that independent assessments were about saving money, not about making the scheme work for disabled people.

Yet another devastating climate change report details that the Great Barrier Reef is all but doomed without radical climate action. It begs the question: what will it take for our leaders to act?
 
Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said immediate transformative action to reverse climate change impacts on the reef is possible, but political will and determination is lacking.
 

Australia has fallen six places to 50th in the World Economic Forum’s latest global rankings on gender equality, reflecting a growing divide between men and women in terms of economic participation, health outcomes, and political empowerment.

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, says Labor at its national conference has joined the Liberals by backing gas and having no 2030 target, leaving voters who want action on climate change with only the Greens.

“Gas is as dirty as coal. If you back new gas fields, you’re not serious about stopping the climate crisis,” Bandt said.

The Australian Greens are calling for an urgent independent review into the serious and widespread problems with Australia’s vaccine rollout.

“The vaccine rollout for which both the Federal and State Governments have responsibility is having more than so called “teething problems” and these are having real-world consequences with the latest Covid-19 outbreaks spreading in Queensland and threatening in NSW,” Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said.

The Greens have laid the blame for Brisbane’s three-day COVID lockdown at the Morrison government’s door, saying its failure to ensure all frontline healthcare workers are vaccinated has triggered a necessary public health response that will damage already struggling businesses and force more workers into unemployment.

The more than 130,000 people currently receiving JobSeeker in Brisbane will have their safety net slashed to below the poverty line on Thursday after the Coalition and Labor refused to support the Greens’ proposal for an $80 a day payment.

The Greens say the Prime Minister’s reshuffle is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic and won’t fix entrenched cultural and systemic issues in parliament or improve the lives of Australian women.

Greens leader in the Senate and spokesperson on women Larissa Waters said:

“A whole one additional woman in Cabinet will not change the rank and sexist culture in this government, the Liberal Party, or the parliament.

The Greens will today announce key election policies, including a ‘billionaires tax’ to help fund genuinely free public schools, dental into Medicare and a job for everyone who wants one. 

With the party considering an election in November of this year still a possibility and a minority parliament the most likely outcome, Mr Bandt will push for a tax on billionaires & corporate super profits as part of dealings with a future shared power government.