Green Party Policies:

Recently Senator Bob Brown said that the Australian Greens are the opposite to Pauline Hanson's One Nation. Our National Director Frank Hough said that they are the opposite to us. Using the national policy document of the Green Party I have extracted a variety of statements made on policy issues. It is only a random selection as the document is 79 pages long. For more information visit their web site www.greens.org.au .

• Native Title:- The Greens reject the 1998 Native Title Amendment Act and support and recognise inalienable Aboriginal Native Title to empower a people who have been denied their country and to enable them to preserve and determine their traditional lifestyle and culture................................................................................................page 5
• Apology:- Reconciliation will never be achieved until we can say sorry to Australia's indigenous community for the wrongs that were done to them in the past, and which are still continuing. ......................................................page 5.
• Homosexual Marriage:- The Greens support legalisation of marriage and de facto relationships between two people irrespective of their sex and gender identity and whether or not they cohabitate..........................................page 13.
• The Greens support the establishment of an adequately funded Federal Office for the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People..................................................................................page 15.
• Transgender Issues:- The Greens support the provision of accurate , comprehensive,non-stigmatising and non-pathologising information and education about transgender issues..........................................................page 15
• Tertiary Education Fees:- The Greens will work to achieve free tertiary education..................................page 20.
• Unemployment:- The Greens define unemplotment as the lack of availability of paid work for anyone who wishes to engage in it.......In a green society everybody is the master of her/his own time..............................................page 28
• Guaranteed Adequate Income:- Aspects of a GAI scheme would include ....applicants would not be subjected to an activity test..........page 30................artists would be allowed to work solely in the arts sector..................page 33
• Illegal Drugs:- The Greens believe that that softer, less addictive drugs should be more freely available as in the Netherlands model, as research shows that such availability mitigates against the the use of hard drugs...........page 35
• Multiculturalism:- The Greens support a policy of multiculturalism that celebrates our indigenous and immigrant history and welcomes further immigration.....................................................................................................page 37
• Nondiscriminatory Immigration:- The Greens believe that Australia's immigration policy must be nondiscriminatory on the grounds of nationality,ethnic origin, religion, language, gender, disability, sexual preference, age or socioeconomic background..........................................................................................................................page 36
• Refugee Visas:- The Greens propose that the temporary protection category of refugee visa be abolished and all refugees currently holding a temporary visa be immediately granted permanent residency status with full rights
• Forestry:- The Greens will work to end logging of old growth and other high conservation value native forests immediately, and over time complete the phase out of most logging from native forests.....................................page 40
• Sand Mining:- The Greens will work to ban all new sand mining operations in the coastal zone......................page 40
• Electricity Generation:- The Greens will work to establish a moratorium on issuing licences for new fossil fuel fired power stations and large scale hydro electric dams..........................................................................................page 45
• Military Alliance with the USA:- The Greens will work for the cessation of any defence co-operation with our allies which promotes or facilitates the maintenance of nuclear weapons.......................................................page 47
• Junk Mail:- The Greens will support the the provision of free " no commercial advertising material" stickers for letterboxes to decrease the volume of junk mail and will introduce fines for junk mail distributors who ignore them.48
• Product Packaging:- The Greens will propose uniform national legislation to require retail outlets and manufacturers to take back the packaging from the products they sell..................................................................................page 48
• Urban Encroachment:- The Greens aim to reduce the total amount of land occupied by human infrastructure and agriculture below 1995 levels........................................................................................................................page 50
• Farm Animal Population:- The Greens consider it environmentally and ethically essential to decrease all production of animal food and other animal products........................................................................................................page 53
• Voting Systems:- The Greens believe that proportional representation best reflects the wishes of the electorate in the composition of Federal Parliament and the State and Local Governments.........................................................page 57
• Republic:- The Greens strongly support Australia becoming a republic and believe that the head of state should be purely ceremonial.........................................................................................................................................page 57
• Indirectly Elected President:- The Greens maintain that a Head of State should be elected by a special majority of a joint sitting of Federal Parliament..............................................................................................................page 57

• Abolition of Australian States:-The Greens support the eventual abolition of the States..............................page 58

• Trade Agreements:- The Greens are committed to subjecting trade and trade agreements entered into by Australia to the priorities of human welfare and ecological sustainability.........................................................................page 63
• Goods and Services Tax:- The Greens support the repeal of the Goods and Services Tax............................page 65
• Inheritance Tax:- The Greens propose an inheritance tax on estates with a total value above $1 million.........page 65
• Gift Tax:- This should be supplemented by a gift tax designed to prevent the disposal of an estate prior to the death of wealthy individuals. Exemptions for bequests to charities, for family homes and farms upon which relatives live...pg65
• Company Tax:- The Greens support the establishment of equitable company tax rates i.e. 49%...................page 66
• Dividend Imputation:- The Greens will sek to ensure that all income share dividends, including fully franked didvidends, are taxed at marginal personal rate for individuals and the company tax rate for companies...........page66
• Directed Superannuation Investment:- The Greens support the subvention of of up to 5% of available capital from all Superannuation funds to be used in National Investment Partnership Projects............................................page 68
• Measuring of Inflation:- The Greens support disaggregating the causes of inflation so that distinctions can be made between cost increases which are socially and environmentally beneficial and those which are not...................page 69
• World Bank and International Monetary Fund:- The Greens support abolition of the World Bank and the I.M.F. unless they are reformed so that their membership and decision making are democratic and their operations are become subservient to principles of sustainability..........................................................................................page 70
• Foreign Investment:- The Greens support limiting foreign investment in Australia to investments where capital or technology are not available in this country.................................................................................................page 71
• Foreign Exchange Market Speculation:- The Greens support radical reform of the financial system throgh the introduction of the Tobin Tax ( each country would tax 0.1% of both sides of a forex deal)...........................page 71
• Poor Country Debt:- The Greens would lobby other OECD countries to cancel all debts of developing countries..74
• Austalian Government Support for IMF:- The Greens propose withholding financial support to the IMF in situations where it favours commercial interests over human needs................................................................page 74
• Reduction on Defence Spending:- The Greens will establish a fundamental review of of the Australian Defence Forces and their security roles with a view to reducing the overall Australian military financial burden, thereby releasing the "peace dividend".........and draw up a framework for nonviolent civilian resistance training...........page 78

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30/10/2001