The Greens have called on Labor to change their position (from lying down to standing up to the government) on tax cuts as independent analysis shows 96% of the benefit flowing to the top 30% of income earners.

The second round of tax cuts will also hand men $2.28 for every dollar received by women, meaning men will get 69% of the benefit come 2021-22.

The Greens are calling on Labor and the crossbench to block key elements of a terrible trickle-down Budget that spends big but spends badly, said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt MP, and Treasury spokesperson, Nick McKim.
 
The Greens said the Budget fails to invest in a green recovery to tackle the climate crisis, grow new industries and create jobs. The budget gives young people the finger and actively engineers a worse world for our children.
 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says Labor and the crossbench must join the Greens in opposing tax cuts to the super-wealthy, warning that Scott Morrison’s COVID recovery budget looked set to supercharge inequality and create a ‘lost generation’ of young people.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers refused to rule out supporting a fast-tracking of Stages 2 & 3 of the government’s $286 billion tax cut package, which overwhelmingly benefits people on higher incomes. Mr Bandt said with economists discrediting the Government spin that Stage 2 was ‘kinder’ than Stage 3, both should be opposed.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says the Morrison Manufacturing ‘plan’ is being used as a cover for a raft of failed neoliberal ideas, from union bashing to corporate welfare to weakening environmental protections.

Greens Education spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi pointed out a massive contradiction in spending on manufacturing while cutting TAFE, higher education funding and research and development - critical to any country’s efforts to innovate in manufacturing. 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt and NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi say the approval of the Narrabri Gas project is the first domino to fall in the Morrison Government’s gas executive-stacked energy plan, which flies in the face of the climate emergency and basic market economics.

The Narrabri Gas project is a climate disaster and it has just been approved, against the will of local farmers and the Gamilaraay Traditional custodians. 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt said:

“Scott Morrison and his gas cartel have just lit the fuse on a giant climate bomb.”

Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt has seized on reports today that show demand for Australian goods will increasingly be put to an emissions test as Scott Morrison floats a detail-free manufacturing plan.

“Whether it’s exporting our sunlight in green hydrogen form, or zero-emissions metals, Australia is in a box seat for a burgeoning mega-industry,” Bandt said.

“Renowned greenie-leftists, Goldman Sachs, are predicting green hydrogen will become a $12 trillion dollar industry by 2050.”

With JobKeeper payments set to drop from Monday 28 September, the Australian Greens have today released Parliamentary Budget Office-backed analysis showing it would cost less to continue JobKeeper at its current rate through to March 2021 than to bring forward tax cuts for high income earners by even one year, as is reportedly being considered in the upcoming Budget.