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Dr Dennis Jensen MP
Federal Member for Tangney
“The Greens are about recreating Australia for the new century street by street, community by community, city by city.” [i]
Senator Bob Brown
Economic Policy
* Increase the company tax rate to 33 per cent.[ii]
* Broaden the company tax base by reducing tax concessions. [iii]
* A new personal income tax bracket of 50 per cent. [iv]
* Road congestion taxes. [v]
* Reduce or eliminate personal and business tax concessions, such as the FBT concessions on company cars. [vi]
* Tax Family Trusts as companies. [vii]
* Remove concessional arrangements for Capital Gains Tax. [viii]
* Increase tariffs on imported 4WD vehicles to 10 per cent for non-primary producers. [ix]
* Means test First Homeowners Grants. [x]
* Impose a 50 per cent Resource Rent Tax on mining profits. [xi]
* Impose a Tobin Tax on foreign currency transactions. [xii]
Social and Community
* End the Northern Territory Indigenous Intervention. [xiii]
* Legalise cannabis for medical use. [xiv]
* Support needle and syringe exchanges, and medically supervised injecting rooms. [xv]
* Ban on junk food advertisements during children’s television viewing hours. [xvi]
* Limit Commonwealth power to override territories legislation. [xvii]
* Give 16 year olds the right the vote. [xviii]
* Enact a Bill of Rights. [xix]
* Full public funding of elections. [xx]
* Change the national flag. [xxi]
Education
* Freeze private school funding at 2003-04 levels. [xxii]
* Implement a new model for recurrent funding to non-government schools based on:
* - Proper consideration of the resource levels of non-government schools and their financial capacity, including fees and other parent contributions.
* - An appropriate measure for indexation of the funding of non-government schools that de-couples it from spending on public schools.
* - Non-government schools to be fully accountable to the parliament and therefore transparent to the public on their use of government funds and their financial situation, including all income and assets. [xxiii]
* Oppose performance pay for teachers. [xxiv]
* Closed shop for education unions to represent teachers and administrators, trade trainers, professors and child care workers. [xxv]
* Repeal voluntary student union legislation. [xxvi]
Health
* Abolish the private the health insurance rebate. [xxvii]
* Establish an assessment of and management plan for health risk posed by climate change. [xxviii]
Energy
Oppose:
* The exploration, mining and export of uranium. [xxix]
* The diesel fuel rebate. [xxx]
* Government funded research and development for geosequestration technology. [xxxi]
Support:
* The progressive closure of existing coal mines and coal fired power stations. [xxxii]
* A ban on new coal mines, new coal fired power stations and the expansion of existing coal mines. [xxxiii]
* Renewable electricity to provide 30 per cent of national demand by 2020. [xxxiv]
* New buildings and retrofitted old buildings to meet high minimum standards of energy efficiency, noise insulation and water conservation. [xxxv]
* National planning guidelines will be advanced for new housing developments that meet or exceed a national six star rating. [xxxvi]
* Sustainable, renewable energy sources to meet future energy needs. [xxxvii]
* National efficiency targets. [xxxviii]
* Minimum Energy Performance Standards for products, buildings and infrastructure. [xxxix]
Border Protection
* Abolish mandatory and indefinite detention of asylum seekers. [xl]
* House illegal asylum seekers who arrive without a valid visa in publicly owned and managed open reception centres with unrestricted entry and exit. [xli]
* Amend the Migration Act to restrict the detention period to 30 days. [xlii]
* Restore the Australian migration zone to that which existed before the changes made by the Howard Government. [xliii]
Defence and National Security
* End the ANZUS Treaty if it cannot be revised to accord with unspecified international and human rights obligations. [xliv]
* Reduce Defence spending. [xlv]
* Close Joint Australian/American military communications bases. [xlvi]
* End joint military training exercises with the armed forces of particular countries.[xlvii]
* Restrict and/or prohibit US naval fleet visits to Australia. [xlviii]
Workplace Relations
* Require employers to adhere to collective agreements. [xlix]
* Abolish secret union ballots on strike action. [l]
* Repeal independent contractors legislation. [li]
* Increase casual loadings to a minimum of 30 per cent. [lii]
* Repeal Sections 45D & E of the Trades Practices Act. [liii]
Endnotes
[i] 25 August 2008, Press Release, Greens ‘New Century’ Australian Senate Agenda http://greens.org.au/node/2169
[ii] Australian Greens Sustainable Economy Policy, Economics Section, Taxation subsection, paragraph 29 http://greens.org.au/policies/sustainable-economy/economics
[iii] Ibid, paragraph 29
[iv] Ibid paragraph 22
[v] Greens will pursue Henry recommendations in the Senate, Christine Milne Press Release, 2 May 2010 http://greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/greens-will-pursue-henry-recommendations-senate
[vi] Australian Greens Sustainable Economy Policy, Economics Section, Taxation subsection, paragraph 22 http://greens.org.au/policies/sustainable-economy/economics
[vii] Ibid, paragraph 22
[viii] ibid, paragraph 22
[ix] Australian Greens Sustainable Economy Policy, Sustainable Transport Section paragraph 38 http://greens.org.au/policies/sustainable-economy/sustainable-planning-and-transport
[x] Australian Greens Care for People Policy, Housing Section paragraph 27 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/housing
[xi] Greens priorities for Henry Review, Senator Brown Press Release 29 April 2010 http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/greens-priorities-henry-tax-review
[xii] Australian Greens Sustainable Economy Policy, Global Economics Section paragraph 15. A Tobin Tax is a levy of one basis point (one hundredth of one per cent) on international financial deals. http://greens.org.au/policies/sustainable-economy/global-economics
[xiii] Care for People Policy, Indigenous Australians, paragraph 38 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples
[xiv] Australian Greens Care for People Policy, Drugs, Substance Abuse and Addiction Section paragraph 24 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/drugs-substance-abuse-and-addiction
[xv] Ibid, paragraph 33
[xvi] Care for People Policy, Health Section, paragraph 30 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/health
[xvii] Greens support inquiry into enhanced territory powers – Brown, 2 March 2011 http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/greens-support-inquiry-enhanced-territory-powers-brown
[xviii] Australian Greens Human Rights and Democracy Policy, Constitutional Reform and Democracy Section paragraph 17 http://greens.org.au/policies/human-rights-democracy/constitutional-reform-and-democracy
[xix] ibid, paragraph 15
[xx] Ibid, paragraph 17
[xxi] Brown calls for vote on new flag, Press Release, Senator Bob Brown, 25 January 2010 http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/brown-calls-vote-new-flag
[xxii] Australian Greens Care for People Policy, Education Section paragraph 65 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/education
[xxiii] Ibid, paragraph 62
[xxiv] Ibid, paragraph 8
[xxv] Ibid, paragraph 15
[xxvi] Ibid, paragraph 57
[xxvii] Australian Greens Sustainable Economy Policy, Economics Section Taxation Subsection paragraph 22 http://greens.org.au/policies/sustainable-economy/economics
[xxviii] Ibid, paragraph 48
[xxix] Australian Greens Climate Change and Energy Policy, Nuclear Section paragraph 12 http://greens.org.au/policies/climate-change-and-energy/nuclear
[xxx] Australian Greens Climate Change and Energy Policy, Climate Change and Energy Section paragraph 47 http://greens.org.au/policies/climate-change-and-energy/climate-change-and-energy
[xxxi] Ibid, paragraph 41
[xxxii] ibid, paragraph 38
[xxxiii] Ibid, paragraph 39
[xxxiv] Ibid, paragraph 30
[xxxv] Australian Greens Care for People Policy, Housing Section paragraph 28 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/housing
[xxxvi] Ibid, paragraph 29
[xxxvii] Australian Greens Climate Change and Energy Policy, Climate Change and Energy Section paragraph 17 http://greens.org.au/policies/climate-change-and-energy/climate-change-and-energy
[xxxviii] Ibid, paragraph 28
[xxxix] Ibid, paragraph 29
[xl] Australian Greens Care for People Policy, Immigration and Refugees Section paragraph 17 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/immigration-and-refugees
[xli] Ibid, paragraph 24
[xlii] The Government Can't Be Trusted - Asylum-Seekers Need Judicial Review. Press Release, Senator Hanson-Young, 22 April 2010 http://www.bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/government-cant-be-trusted-asylum-seekers-need-judicial-review
[xliii] Australian Greens Care for People Policy, Immigration and Refugees Section paragraph 20 http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/immigration-and-refugees
[xliv] Australian Greens Human Rights & Democracy Policy, Peace and Security Section, paragraph 33 http://greens.org.au/policies/human-rights-democracy/peace-and-security
[xlv] Ibid, paragraph 18
[xlvi] Ibid, paragraph 37
[xlvii] Ibid, paragraph 39
[xlviii] Australian Greens Climate Change and Energy Policy, Nuclear Section paragraph 21 http://greens.org.au/policies/climate-change-and-energy/nuclear
[xlix] Greens Sustainable Economy Policy, Employment and Industrial Relations Section paragraph 26 http://greens.org.au/policies/sustainable-economy/employment-and-industrial-relations
[l] Ibid, paragraph 30
[li] Ibid, paragraph 33
[lii] Ibid, paragraph 44
[liii] Ibid, paragraph 28