The Australian Greens have called on Scott Morrison to lift his climate ambition to save Australian lives, as the NSW climate bushfires leave Sydney air quality as unhealthy as smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day.

Quotes attributable to New South Wales Senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi:

Australian Greens Senator and Education Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi has responded to reports that Australian students are slipping in international testing standards by calling for more and better targeted education funding in Australia, especially for the most disadvantaged schools. She has also called on the Government to invest more in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.

Senator Faruqi said:

Barnaby Joyce and the National Party have unleashed an assault on the Murray River, the environment and South Australia, the Greens say.

I rise to speak this evening about the ongoing impact of student debt on the community. I call on the government to forgive outstanding debt from the grossly unjust Student Financial Supplement Scheme. This scheme was a rort that targeted low-income and disadvantaged students from the start. For the government to continue to collect debts 15 years after its abolition is simply unconscionable. From 1993 to 2003, the Student Financial Supplement Scheme encouraged students, including minors acting without their guardian's authority, to trade in their youth allowance for a loan.

I rise to speak to the Machiavellian named Migration Amendment (Repairing Medical Transfers) Bill 2019. We should actually call it the 'Denying people medical treatment bill', the 'Die somewhere else bill' or the 'Australia has lost the last shreds of its humanity bill'. I have said previously when we have discussed this that it boggles my mind that there are people sitting in this parliament who want to repeal a law that allows sick and injured people to receive the medical attention that they need.

Greens Senator for South Australia and Spokesperson for Water and the Environment Senator Sarah Hanson-Young responded to Minister Littleproud’s announcement today relating to the Murray-Darling Basin:

The Morrison Government is making things up as they go along, while the Murray-Darling is in deeper and deeper crisis and communities and the environment are suffering, the Greens say.

The Greens have backed the call by civil society organisations today for the Morrison Government to drop their plans to outlaw environmental and consumer boycotts.

You lot are nothing but grinches working overtime to steal the joy right out of people's lives. Prime Minister Morrison has nothing but 'Bah! Humbug!' to say to people who are doing it tough this Christmas. We know that there are people who are struggling to put food on the table and who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. And what is this government giving them for Christmas? Nothing, zilch, zero.

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Federal Government has announced $10 million in Special Circumstances Funding to drought affected schools, but has specifically excluded public schools from receiving this funding, and

(ii) more than 80% of students in rural and remote areas are enrolled in public schools and they are also deeply impacted by the drought; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to establish a fund for government schools facing hardship as a result of ongoing drought conditions.

Question negatived.