The Greens have today succeeded in gaining support from all sides of politics to initiate a long overdue Senate inquiry into the spread of invasive long-spined sea urchins that are ravaging lutruwita/Tasmania and Victoria’s coastlines and fisheries.

The inquiry will look into how to restore critical habitat such as lutruwita/Tasmania’s giant kelp forests which have been lost to urchins and other pressures.

Quotes attributable to Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans and Senator for lutruwita/Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson:

I rise to speak on this motion as a proud unionist. Unions are essential to the protection and advancement of workers' rights in this country. They ensure that the economic, social and environmental interests of workers are protected. All Australian workers should receive fair pay for fair work, but the reality is that many workers are falling through the gaps of our industrial relations system because they have been hamstrung by successive governments, who've denied them the right to collectively bargain across sectors.

The Greens welcome the joint agreement of business groups and unions, and support the ACTU and Business Council of Australia in urging the government to expand paid parental leave to 26 weeks.

The Greens’ PPL plan called for 26 weeks with payments that match salaries up to $100k pa, super paid on leave, and ‘use it or lose it’ incentives built in to encourage shared parenting, and we’re glad to see these groups coming onboard.

Senator for South Australia and Employment spokesperson Barbara Pocock will be attending the Jobs and Skills summit alongside Greens Party Leader Adam Bandt. Barbara is a labour market expert and Emeritus Professor and is currently chairing the Senate’s first Select Committee inquiry on Work and Care.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt has expressed deep reservations about any weakening of the Better Off Overall Test, in light of demands by the Business Council of Australia.

Excerpts from Greens Leader Adam Bandt’s address to a pre-Jobs Summit event hosted by law firm Kingston Reid on Wednesday 31 August:

New independent research from the Parliamentary Budget Office shows that Labor’s Stage 3 Tax cuts will give Australia’s richest 1% as much as the bottom 65% of taxpayers in its first year.

Amid a cost of living crisis, the data confirms that the Stage 3 tax cuts will effectively dismantle Australia’s progressive taxation system, and overwhelmingly favour the nation’s richest people.

Women will get around 50c for every dollar a man receives, further increasing gender inequality, and a huge proportion of the $243.5bn will go to people in the top tax bracket. 

Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has welcomed today’s announced review of the Australian Research Council but urged action on a number of fronts.

Senator Faruqi said:

“The Senate inquiry I initiated earlier this year did recommend an independent review, and I’m glad Minister Clare has taken this up. It’s beyond time for a good hard look at the ARC.