Greens communications policy spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said today that the overreach of covert surveillance agencies had hit a tipping point, with revelations that Indonesian leaders had been directly targeted.

"Are we seriously meant to believe that the President of Indonesia, his wife and his leadership team are a national security threat to Australia?"

"Australian intelligence gathering has been absorbed into the US national security state, which is widely accepted in the US to be out of control and in urgent need of reining in."

Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne says the Prime Minister’s gift of two naval vessels and co-operation with the Sri Lankan authorities to help stop people fleeing the country is collaboration on human rights abuses.

“The Prime Minister’s silence on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka was inexcusable complicity, but this is nothing less than collaboration and it is abhorrent,” Senator Milne said.

“I am devastated and heartbroken at the thought of Australia assisting a disgraced government to suppress and control its citizens.

The Australian Senate has rejected Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s stance on human rights abuses in Sri Lankan, and called on the Prime Minister to raise an independent investigation into allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law with the President of Sri Lanka at the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo. 

Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said “Tony Abbott’s public comments that human rights abuses in Sri Lanka comes second to his inhumane domestic policies about so called ‘boat people’ are disgraceful. 

MEDIA ALERT FOR MONDAY 11 NOV

10 November 2013

Greens Senator Rhiannon returns to Australia after detainment - will report on Sri Lanka human rights abuses

WHAT: 

Senator Rhiannon is on a flight back to Sydney after being detained by Sri Lankan Government officials for over three hours. 

Australian Greens Senator Rhiannon and New Zealand Green MP Jan Logie will be holding a Press Conference today in Sri Lanka.

Time: 10.30am (local time)

Location:         Tamil National Alliance office, 32A, Retreat Road Colombo 4

Contact:   Lee Rhiannon:   +61 487 350 880 and Jan Logie: +64 21038 6101 

MEDIA STATEMENT 

10  November 2013

Greens Senator Rhiannon is in Sri Lanka to discuss human rights in the country on eve of CHOGM

WHAT:                 As the Heads of the Commonwealth, including Prime Minister Abbott, prepare to travel to Sri Lanka for CHOGM, Senator Rhiannon and New Zealand Greens MP Jan Logie are in the country to discuss human rights, media freedom, war crimes and the push factors that cause Tamils to seek asylum in Australia.

Prime Minister Abbott should immediately stop the clock on negotiations over the secret text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which threatens to further extend the power of foreign multinational companies.

In the event that Parliament ever resumes, the Australian Greens will move for the Joint Standing Treaties Committee to urgently review what the Abbott Government is proposing to sign us up to.

The Australian Greens said today that they remain the only party with effective policies on the table to reduce the incidence of poverty in Western Australia.

The new WA Council of Social Service Cost Of Living Report released today shows that a lack of affordable housing, increased living costs and inadequate levels of income support are driving Western Australians below the poverty line, with job seekers, single parents and families on low or fixed incomes most at risk.

The Australian Greens today launched a national survey to determine where, how, and to what extent tenants and people looking for rental properties are getting a rough deal. The Rental Health Check - http://www.greens.org.au/rental-health-check

"With escalating rents and the shortfall in available rental properties, more and more renters are competing with each other for what can be substandard, over-priced, insecure or inappropriate housing," Greens housing spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said.