Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on Women, Senator Larissa Waters, has written to Minister for Women Marise Payne ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of Women’s Safety Ministers asking for additional funding and national coordination to improve frontline police services available to people reporting domestic and family violence.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP and Greens Community Services spokesperson Rachel Siewert have called on the government to extend the Disaster Recovery Allowance to those affected by the coronavirus, especially those without sick leave.

The Greens have also called for any government stimulus to be targeted to support low-income Australians, support coronavirus resilience and be a more effective response to the threat of recession.

Lines from Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

   (i) Prime Minister Scott Morrison has signed off on a $2 billion deal with the New South Wales Government that would fast track the Narrabri Gas Project (NGP), which will extract gas from coal seams lying deep beneath the mighty Pilliga Forest,

   (ii) the NGP is fiercely opposed by local communities, farmers, and ecologists because it threatens the Pilliga Forest, the Great Artesian Basin, farmers' livelihoods, and food and water security, and

Greens spokesperson for Health and public health specialist Dr Richard Di Natale will quiz senior government officials on the Australian and international response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) response at Senate estimates this morning.



Dr Di Natale, who is a GP and Public Health specialist, has worked in infectious disease control and outbreak investigations.

Attorney-General Christian Porter continues to avoid a clear answer on whether his long overdue proposal for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission would have enough teeth to cover the rorts scandals.
 
“Based on the Attorney’s comments to date, it seems like sports rorts would not have been covered, which shows how weak and ineffective it is likely to be - if it’s ever in fact established”, said Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on democracy, Senator Larissa Waters.
 

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, and leader, Adam Bandt MP, called on the government to respond to today’s interest rate cut with stimulus spending, including for transformative infrastructure.

Senator Whish-Wilson said "this government must overcome seven years of surplus mania.

"We have the triple whammy of COVID-19, secular stagnation and a climate emergency, including recent bushfires.

"The government must use the latest record low interest rates and undertake stimulus spending.

Australian Greens Senator for NSW and Education spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has said that private schools will be able to spend the $1.2 billion ‘Choice and Affordability’ slush fund with enormous discretion. Flexible guidelines for the fund have been released as parliament debates handing out a further $3.4 billion for private schools.

Senator Faruqi said:

The climate crisis is heating Australia faster than other nations and answers to Greens questions at Senate Estimates today confirm Australia will warm by ‘closer to 4 degrees’, not the 2 degrees agreed to in the Paris Agreement on climate change, with Scott Morrison marching us on a path towards death.