Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam says the Fair Work Commission's move to increase the minimum wage by $15.80 a week barely matches inflation and will leave WA workers struggling with record high rents.

"The minimum weekly wage is barely over $600, and the median weekly rent in Perth is $520. The weight of those numbers is crushing people.

In an ominous escalation of internet filtering in Australia, an unidentified agency under the remit of the Attorney-General is also using section 313 of the Telecommunications Act to block an unknown set of websites – bringing the number of government agencies filtering up to three,  Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said today. 

“We now know that in addition to the ASIC and Australian Federal Police, a third agency has used the section 313 power to block websites, but the Government will not reveal which,” Senator Ludlam said.  

While the Australian Government pushes open slather trade with Burma, the country is plagued by sectarian violence and the continued use of child soldiers by the Burmese government, the Greens said today.

Greens spokesperson on Burma, Senator Scott Ludlam, said "the resource-rush which appears to be driving Australian foreign policy on Burma may perversely end up consolidating the regime's hold on power and attendant human rights abuses. The Australian Government should urgently rethink its sanctions policy, lest ‘constructive engagement' end up as complicity".

The rapid rise in the cost of housing has pushed thousands of Australians into deep poverty, the Australian Greens warned today as a Salvation Army survey revealed alarming results.

Greens housing spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said "Labor and the Coalition need to declare what they will do to deliver more affordable housing in Australia before the September election".

The Australian Greens are calling on Julia Gillard to stop ignoring human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and push for CHOGM to be relocated.

"It is wrong for the Commonwealth to legitimise the human rights abuses of the Rajapaksa regime by proceeding to hold CHOGM in Sri Lanka," Senator Christine Milne said.

"Anyone who dissents from the Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka is under threat of arrest, imprisonment or disappearance including judges, academics, journalists or opposition politicians.

Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam has urged Foreign Minister Bob Carr to take all measures necessary to ensure two Western Australians in Saudi Arabia - one in prison and one in hiding - receive full diplomatic support.

"Saudi Arabia is not renowned for due process or fair treatment of suspects. It is essential that the Federal Government makes the maximum effort to protect the human rights of Junaid and Shayden Thorne.

"Shayden Thorne was held for more than one year without trial. That is an outrageous abuse of his rights.

Efforts to secure Act Of Grace payments for the victims of British nuclear testing will be stepped up after the British Government's disappointing response, Senator Scott Ludlam said today.

"I call on Foreign Minister Bob Carr to raise this proposal directly with his UK counterparts.

"Because of difficulties victims of the British nuclear testing were facing in the courts, I wrote to British Foreign Secretary William Hague twice making the case for ex gratia payments to Australians exposed to British nuclear testing in the 1950s and ‘60s.

The Australian Government must use its seat on the UN Security Council to initiate immediate action in response to the horrifying rise of anti-Muslim violence and ongoing military brutality in Burma, the Greens said today.

With almost 18,000 children under the age of 12 homeless in Australia, new ideas and new funding to tackle homelessness must be on the table for the Federal election, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said today.

On Youth Homelessness Matters Day Senator Ludlam - the Greens spokesperson for housing - said youth homelessness was "a growing national tragedy that demands extraordinary measures".

The Western Australian Government's obsession with appearing to be tough on law and order has resulted in children being locked up in an adult prison, including minors who have not been sentenced, the Greens said today.

Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam threw his support behind legal action commencing today to remove dozens of teenagers from the high-security Hakea adult prison.