The Australian Greens are today writing to Trade Minister Craig Emerson asking for an immediate investigation into whether oranges are being dumped into the Australian market at below cost, making it impossible for Australian growers to compete.

“Dumping  is bad for growers, bad for jobs and bad for consumers in the long run, and Minister Emerson should immediately investigate if it is going on with $10 boxes of Egyptian oranges being sold in Sydney,” Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said.

“Keeping farmers on the land is one of the key challenges for this decade and this century, and ensuring that our trade policies are fair and implemented well is a critical part of that challenge. (more…)

Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said

“Mr Rudd should realise that, not only is a fixed price period designed to give business much greater confidence and certainty, and to provide time for the Climate Change Authority to develop its five year carbon budgets, but that it is the result of an enormous amount of work and good faith negotiation by many people.

“A review within 6 months is an unworkable time-frame as it is far too soon to give a proper picture of how the scheme is working. But it also jeopardises the whole scheme by giving Tony Abbott much more influence over climate policy again before the community has a chance to see how it works.”

Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown has called on the Gillard Government to heed the Gonski review calls and put in an immediate injection of between $5-10 billion into Australian schools.

“Peter Garrett has said there won’t be any loss of funding for any school but what he hasn’t said is what the additional funding will be for schools in need. The Gonski review is a huge opportunity for action. But only the Greens besides Gonski are saying that more funding is essential and how to get it.

“The Greens want to see and additional $5-10b spent so Australia can begin to reach the average OECD Government spending on schools,” Senator Brown said.

“Like resource-rich Norway, a fair mining tax would make this easy to achieve.” (more…)

UNESCO has sent a clear message that they are taking the threat of mass dredging to the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef seriously, setting out comprehensive terms of reference for their Reactive Monitoring Mission.

The Australian Greens have welcomed the Mission’s intention to help the Government develop ‘a long-term plan for sustainable development’, and strongly endorse the need for UNESCO to be actively involved in the Government’s strategic assessment of the Reef.

“It was revealed in Senate Estimates this week that the Government still won’t review or suspend any of the mass dredging currently approved or applied for, when doing the strategic assessment,” Australian Greens environment spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters said.

“Project-by-project approval will be the death of a thousand cuts for the Reef. (more…)

The Daily Telegraph has blown an opportunity to tell its readers the reality of what happens when asylum seekers are released into the community, the Australian Greens said today.

“Last year the paper showed the dangers asylum seekers faced under the Malaysian solution, but this year it has given a false picture of community release programmes here on shore,” Greens’ immigration spokesperson, Senaator Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

“That’s a real disappointment because there are so many myths about asylum seekers which continue to be perpetuated. (more…)

The Australian Greens say the Government’s planned expansion and extension of income management will see more money wasted on an unproven and unpopular policy.

“We have known all along that income management was expensive to administer and last night we heard further evidence of that,” Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens community services spokesperson said today.

“In estimates last night, the Department of Human Services confirmed it has a budget of $9.1m in 2012 to administer the extension of income management to trial sites.

“In estimates in October we established that $282,048 has been spent by DHS just on advertising information sessions for businesses who will accept Basics Cards. (more…)

The O’Farrell government continues to keep parents and educators in the dark on whether cuts to special needs education funding and specialist teachers positions will be rolled out across NSW, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

Dr Kaye said: “Premier Barry O’Farrell continues to deny a roll-out of the Illawarra Trial despite mounting evidence that the Government is moving to remove specialist teacher positions and student funding.

“Last month the Premier signed up to a National Partnership which provided $48 million for online teacher training which is a key ingredient of the Illawarra Trial.

“Reports are streaming in from across NSW that special education teaching contracts are not being renewed and some schools are being provided with funding for only one term. (more…)

In Senate Estimates hearings today, the Government’s reasons for rejecting $1 bet limits on poker machines were exposed as a lie. Under questioning from Greens Senator, Richard Di Natale, the Department (FAHCSIA) admitted that their $1.5 billion price tag was not based on the Productivity Commission’s recommended policy.

“The most effective way to combat problem gambling is to put a one dollar bet limit on pokies. The government has rejected the Greens’ proposal based on a $1.5 billion price tag. We knew that number was wrong, and today they were caught out,” said Senator Di Natale.

In the Senate, the Government has previously refused to release the costings, citing “commercial in confidence” considerations. (more…)

Coalition frontbencher Senator George Brandis has bowed to Greens’ demands (since December) and has stood down from a signal case before the Senate’s powerful Privileges Committee.

Senator Brandis’ secret “recusal” from the committee last week was not revealed until a letter to Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown’s and Deputy Leader Christine Milne’s legal counsel yesterday. It follows a detailed submission from Senators Brown and Milne, flagged in the Senate, outlining reasons Senator Brandis would compromise the Committee proceedings and indicating a High Court challenge if he did not get off the Committee for this proceeding. (more…)

A major logging contractor operating in Boyne State Forest, Boss Logging Pty Ltd, is undertaking illegal logging operations, threatening many state and nationally listed endangered species of flora and fauna and Forests NSW is refusing to act.  The Greens NSW are joining with forests activists in the South East and demanding that Forests NSW suspend the logging operations and that an Office of Environment and Heritage audit take place.

NSW Greens MP and forestry spokesperson David Shoebridge said  “Boyne State Forest is on the National Estate Register and contains records of nationally and state-listed endangered species.

“It is Forests NSW’s responsibility to ensure that their authorised contractors undertake harvesting practices which protect biodiversity in native forests. (more…)