Former Greens Leader and Senator for Victoria Dr Richard Di Natale will deliver his valedictory speech to the Senate this afternoon by remote video link. He will highlight serious failings in Australian politics to deal with the issues Australian people care about and outline a prescription to rejuvenate our democracy. 

This Saturday's Northern Territory election has the potential to make history by electing a strong, independent Greens voice to Parliament, Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP has said, urging voters to put the Greens at the top of the ballot paper.

The Northern Territory Greens have run their biggest campaign yet, running nine candidates in an election that has hit boiling point over concerns about fracking.

I am pleased the Parliament will sit again. In a crisis we need more democracy, not less, and the Greens opposed the initial agreement between Liberal and Labor to cancel sitting weeks.

We have been consistently calling for the government to explore how Parliament could be held consistent with health restrictions, including virtually, so Parliament can ensure that no one is forgotten in the government's response to the health and economic crisis. For everyone else in the country, 2020 has been a year of workarounds and online meetings, and politicians shouldn’t be exempt.

Democracy should not be a victim of the pandemic.

We need a health-first approach if we are to have any chance of effectively eliminating community transmission of this virus. The advice of health experts must be heeded.

I want to thank our fantastic candidate, Cathy Griff, and the wonderful members and supporters of the NSW Greens, especially in Eden-Monaro, who worked hard on this campaign in very difficult circumstances.

The overall winner appears too close to call. This is a good result for the Greens in a challenging context of the COVID crisis and a Melbourne Cup field of candidates.

The Australian Greens have today announced that Lidia Thorpe will be the next Senator for Victoria, following a massive state-wide ballot of the Victorian Greens membership. 

Lidia Thorpe, Aboriginal leader, activist and Gunnai-Kurnai/Gunditjmara woman will be sworn into Parliament in the coming months to fill the casual vacancy soon to be left by Senator Richard Di Natale. 

In Eden-Monaro, where in 2019 Greens’ preferences were crucial in determining the final result, the Greens have made a decision about who will appear in the important ‘number 2’ spot on their How to Vote cards when voting starts tomorrow. Eden-Monaro is currently held by a margin of less than one percent. 

The Greens’ candidate, Cathy Griff, is campaigning on the climate crisis and a green-led economic recovery package, and this by-election is a golden opportunity to send a message.

The Greens are proud to announce Cathy Griff, long-term resident of the rural hamlet of Tanja on the NSW Far South Coast, as our candidate for the upcoming Eden-Monaro by-election.

As a Bega Shire Councillor, Cathy has been at the forefront of progressive issues including the climate emergency declaration, affordable housing, food recycling and phasing out plastics.

Greens Leader and MP for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, said that Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert, had potentially lied to him in writing over the Minister’s closure of a Centrelink office in the electorate of Melbourne, and that in the absence of an explanation, Bandt would be moving a censure motion when the Parliament resumes.

Young people will be guaranteed a job, secure income, and free education under a new Greens recovery plan to restart the economy and build ‘a better normal’ after the coronavirus economic shock.

The vision for a debt-financed recovery reaffirms the government’s role in responding to the crisis, and rejects the austerity approaches offered by the Liberal and Labor parties, charting a course for a government-led recovery that extends Australia’s world-class social services, instead of slashing funding for education, healthcare, and the environment.