Senator RHIANNON (New South Wales) (09:43): The first part of the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Direct Lending and Other Measures) Bill 2014 does extend the mandate of Efic's activities from supporting the export of capital goods, to all goods. So we are really going from a situation where so many of Efic's loans went for large mining projects and the infrastructure that supported them, and other related projects, to really being about services, consumer goods and many aspects of what are called SMEs, small and medium sized enterprises.

Greens spokesperson for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Small Business, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, says that today’s revelations in the Fairfax papers about scandals in the NAB financial advice arm is the last straw for the Government in failing to regulate and properly investigate the sector.

Greens Leader Christine Milne has a food labelling bill ready to go and says the time is ripe for the Coalition government to help pass it.

"We have people being diagnosed with Hepatitis A from eating contaminated imported food, and we have people saying they don't know how to tell if they're buying Australian food. Let's fix the system," said Senator Milne.

"Big supermarkets and overseas food corporations have made it really difficult to know where our food comes from.

The Australian Greens say massive cuts to research and development, passed through the Senate today by the Liberals, Nationals, Palmer United Party and Independent Nick Xenophon, is another act of intergenerational theft.

"Cutting support for research and development is a short-sighted way to balance the Budget and will help drive the country's investment in research to a 30-year low," said Greens science, research and innovation spokesperson Adam Bandt MP.

This Australia Day weekend, Greens Leader Christine Milne is ramping up the campaign for country of origin food labelling to support Australian farmers and workers.

Senator Milne has announced that she will re-introduce the Greens bill for mandatory labelling as soon as parliament returns.

"Australia's farmers and food manufacturers are under pressure. Everyone wants to support our farmers and workers by buying local products but our current labelling is too confusing," said Senator Milne.

Greens spokesperson for Consumer Affairs, Competition Policy and Small Business, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson provides the following comments on release of the Murray Financial System Inquiry final recommendations today.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The vast number of recommendations contained within the Murray Inquiry to provide better protections to consumers, justifies the strong stance the Greens have taken on the Future of Financial Advice laws (FoFA).

The Greens spokesperson for Consumer Affairs, Competition Policy and Small Business, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson provides the following comments about today’s explosive hearing into Managed Investment Schemes (MIS) held at Melbourne Town Hall.

Senator RHIANNON (New South Wales) (15:44): by leave—I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Sunswift University of New South Wales Solar Racing Team was recently confirmed by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile to have broken the world speed record for electric vehicles, averaging more than 100 km/hr over 500 km on a single battery charge,