Australian Greens Disability Rights & Services spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said the vast majority of the government's reduced budget surplus of $5.1 billion - announced today in the Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook - was coming from a structural underspend in the NDIS.

"This is a government who is boasting about balancing their books on the backs of disabled people and our families," Steele-John said today.

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.

Acting Greens leader Adam Bandt MP has responded to moves within the government to lift the rate of the goods and services tax (GST), warning that the Greens will fight tooth and nail to block any increase.

“Today Scott Morrison’s real agenda was exposed,” said Mr Bandt.

“This government wants to hand over tax cuts to the wealthy and then make everyone else pay more by lifting the GST.

“The Greens will fight tooth and nail against the Liberals’ plan to lift the GST.

Leader of the Australian Greens Senator Richard Di Natale has condemned today’s bipartisan destruction of our progressive taxation system, declaring that the Greens are the only party acting as a real opposition.
 
“What a dark day this has proven to be. Centre Alliance seem to be Morrison puppets, Jacqui Lambie has sold out Tasmanian battlers for cents on the dollar, and Anthony Albanese’s Labor folded at the first sign of pressure,” Opposition Leader Richard Di Natale said.
 

I rise to speak on the government's disastrous $158 billion tax bill that is being rushed through parliament. This is a $158 billion mistake. This is a terribly irresponsible choice that the people of Australia will be forced to wear the consequences of for decades to come. How can this government look the 700,000 people barely surviving on Newstart in the eye and say: 'You know what? We can't afford to increase Newstart. We can't afford to support you, but you won't believe what we can afford to do for the very rich.' Shame on you.

The Labor leadership needs to stick firm in its opposition to the Government's tax cut package, despite the pressure it may be feeling from a handful of backbenchers, Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale said.

"Labor said during the election that they wouldn't back in the Government's disastrous tax cuts and Anthony Albanese should stand firm, do the right thing for the country and continue to oppose these cuts," Di Natale said.

Instead of locking in a spiral of economic inequality by green-lighting Scott Morrison's flat tax system, the Labor Party should work with the Greens on a long-term plan to drive productivity and create sustainable jobs through investment in renewables and increasing Newstart, Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale said.

"By supporting these tax cuts the Labor Party are going to make inequality worse and do nothing to set the country up for the future," Di Natale said.

Greens to mandate carbon risk reporting for large companies

This budget is a cynical attempt to buy votes instead of planning for the nation’s looming challenges. What we needed was a plan to tackle the climate emergency through a real investment in renewables and a managed transition away from coal and other fossil fuels. What we needed was a plan to tackle growing inequality and to fund our essential services. Instead Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have stuck their heads in the sand and delivered a few election bribes.