Responding to today’s alarming economic figures, Greens Leader Adam Bandt said Scott Morrison has no plan to get the country out of recession and that a bold investment plan was needed, not granite benchtop grants.

“Australia is in recession and Scott Morrison has no plan to get us out of it,” said Mr Bandt.

“Depression-era job queues demand a Depression-era response, which means massive public investment in nation-building, planet-saving projects, not granite benchtop grants.”

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.

Greens treasury spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson calls for the banking royal commission’s legislation to go before Parliament, warning pushed-back dates could lead to years in delay for crucial banking reform. 
 
“I’m disappointed that the Government has chosen to delay the legislation coming before Parliament for a vote. 
 
“The option is there to delay implementation start dates, but to delay the legislation altogether is overreach.
 
“I call on the Government to bring this to Parliament as planned.
 

Bringing forward personal income tax cuts in an attempt to kickstart spending is a shortsighted move of economic vandalism, Greens Leader Adam Bandt said today, warning that it will entrench economic injustice and hamper recovery efforts.

"Tax cuts will hamper the recovery, depriving the public of money needed to invest our way out of the corona crisis and the climate crisis," Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said.

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.

This morning’s decision by the big four banks to do nothing for homeowners risks putting families out on the streets, Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP, and Housing spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, said today, calling for the government to get big banks to give vulnerable homeowners a residential ‘mortgage holiday’ to make sure families don’t lose their homes.

The stimulus package outlined by the Prime Minister this morning falls far short of what the experts say is needed to weather the economic storm caused by the Coronavirus pandemic and does little to stem the crisis facing people on Newstart & Youth Allowance as well as the 3.5 million casual workers in Australia, said Leader of The Australian Greens Adam Bandt, MP.

The Greens will move to expand the package when it reaches the Senate to lift Newstart & Youth Allowance as well as provide 14 days’ paid coronavirus sick leave to all workers, including casual workers.

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.

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:

As already indicated by my colleague Senator Whish-Wilson, the Greens do support this bill, but we also realise that what this bill does not do is specifically crack down, and crack down hard enough, on building companies who are phoenixing to avoid paying their debts and avoid taking responsibility. Builders who declare bankruptcy to avoid sanctions for their shoddy works are constantly resurfacing as new businesses in the building industry. We know that phoenixing is rife in the building industry, and a huge part of that could actually be linked to the cladding crisis.