The Australian Greens have used their Budget in Reply speech to announce a new tax on extreme profiteering by billionaires during the pandemic.  
The new tax, which only applies to the 122 richest Australians, will raise $29 billion. It will be taxed on the amount their wealth increased between March 2020 and March 2021.

The Greens say the government’s much-touted spending announcements for women have barely moved the needle on economic security and safety.
 
Greens Deputy Leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said: 
 
“The headlines promised us that this would be a women’s budget but what do we really have to show for it? A transparent attempt to buy off Australian women with some flashy announcements but not much substance.

“This budget is a surplus of scatter gun approaches and tinkering around the edges. 
 
“This is a budget that continues the ongoing disdain this Government has for people who have been doing it tough for a long time and for whom things have only got worse due to the global pandemic and recession: people on income support, older women, young people, single parents and disabled people.
 

Tonight’s Budget is a pre-election sweetener that fails to make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax, while growing inequality and fast-tracking climate collapse.

While on the surface the budget may appear to do away with the Liberals’ years of austerity politics, it continues the myth that largesse to the super-wealthy will trickle down to everyday people.

The Greens say fixing Australia’s mental health crisis must be a budget priority.

Greens leader Adam Bandt will announce the next steps in the Greens campaign to make the billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share today, with a Budget push for the Morrison government to force the billionaires and big corporations who profited from JobKeeper to pay it back.

In the wake of detail-free indication from the Treasurer that he is embracing continued stimulus, the Greens have expressed concern that Josh Frydenberg doesn’t know the difference between job-creating economic stimulus and corporate welfare.

The Greens are calling on the Federal Government to make telehealth a permanent feature of our Medicare system. 
 
“Telehealth has been lifesaving for Australians, especially for people living in regional and remote areas and for disabled people, people with kids and older Australians. 
 
“We know that people living in regional and remote areas suffer worse health outcomes. Telehealth helps to bridge that gap. 
 
“Patients and health practitioners need certainty about the future of telehealth in Australia.