The Australian Greens have joined RBA Governor Dr Lowe’s calls for tax reform, with Australian Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, saying that means removing unjustifiable tax breaks for polluters, shifting tax concessions towards research, development and innovation and boosting public sector investment.

In responding to Dr Lowe’s speech, Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP warned the Liberal Party against using it as an opportunity to further give tax breaks to their corporate backers, saying everyday Australians should be the chief beneficiaries of any reforms.

The Government needs to implement a Green New Deal to keep the economy moving and stave off the growing risk of recession, said Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP.

Mr Bandt has written to the PM calling for the Government to adopt a Green New Deal, outlining three immediate measures that would boost the economy: lifting public sector wages, a $6 billion investment in the national electricity grid  and raising Newstart and Youth Allowance by at least $95 dollars a week.

Comment by Adam Bandt MP:

Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt has called for a growth in ‘renewables mining’ jobs and a phase out of thermal coal as part of the Green New Deal to unlock Australia’s potential as a clean energy superpower.

Comment from Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP:

“A growth in ‘renewables mining’ jobs as we phase out coal is an important part of the Green New Deal.

“Government needs to take the reins and oversee the transition so we grow jobs and industries, including in areas where coal mines and power stations exist at the moment.

Greens’ Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, responded today to the release of the Mid-Year Economic Forecast and Outlook (MYEFO).

“Today’s MYEFO has confirmed that Scott Morrison is not interested in governing.

“In the face of unheralded economic conditions and a climate emergency, the government is running idle.

“Interest rates are at record lows. Wages, productivity and spending are all in a slump. The enormity of the climate crisis is dawning on the nation.

The Australian Government has rejected key recommendations of the Senate Inquiry into the governance and operation of the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) aimed at improving transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest.

Greens Co-deputy leader and Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters said the Morrison Government had rejected the evidence in favour of continuing with a politically motived waste of taxpayers’ money designed to funnel community resources into projects like Adani.

Today's weak economic figures reveal an economy that is spluttering and directionless under a Coalition Government whose plans are nothing more than the same old discredited trickle-down nonsense. That's why the Greens are calling today for the Government to adopt a Green Stimulus package, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.

"The growth figures released today prove what has been clear to so many of us for so long: this Government's lame old trickle-down approach to the economy is a flop and they have no plan to fix it," Di Natale said.

47,570 full-time jobs a year would be created in Queensland under the Greens plan to rapidly transform Australia’s energy system to renewables by 2030.

Greens energy spokesperson Adam Bandt MP said: "coal is the world’s biggest cause of climate change and Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of coal with 80 per cent of what we dig up being sent overseas to be burned. Unless we phase out coal, we can’t deal with climate change and the Greens are the only party to have a plan to do it."