Australian Greens

1.

2. Australian Greens

The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is
a federation of Green state political parties in Australia.
As of the 2019 federal election, the Greens are currently
the third largest political party in Australia by vote. The
leader of the party is Adam Bandt, and the party's codeputy leaders are Larissa Waters and Nick McKim.
The party was formed in 1992 and is a confederation of
eight state and territorial parties. The party cites four
core values: ecological sustainability, social justice,
grassroots democracy and peace and non-violence.

3. Ideology: Policy positions

The Australian Greens' policies cover a wide range of issues.
Most notably, the party favours environmentalism, including
expansion of recycling facilities; phasing out single-use plastics;
conservation efforts; better water management; and addressing
species extinction, habitat loss and deforestation in Australia.
The Greens strongly support efforts to address climate change
based on scientific evidence, by transitioning away from the
burning of fossil fuels to renewable energy production in the
next decade, as well as reintroducing a carbon price. The party
supports lowering household electricity prices through the
creation of a publicly-owned renewable energy provider, and
building thousands of new jobs in renewable energy generation.

4.

5. Ideology: Animals and Climate emergency declaration

The Greens oppose the importation of animals for zoos in Australia,
"except where the importation will assist the overall conservation of
the species". They also seek to ban and phase out respectively the
display of wild or domesticated animals in circuses in Australia. The
Greens are in favour of phasing out live animal exports. The Greens
have campaigned on banning greyhound racing, whale slaughter and
animal-tested cosmetics.
The Greens acknowledge that climate change is a threat to ecological
habitats, biodiversity, human health and infrastructure. Greens leader
Adam Bandt welcomed the UK Parliament's declaration of a "climate
emergency" and has attempted to pass a similar declaration in the
Australian Parliament. Bandt stated that, "The Greens are the only
party that supports emergency action."

6.

7. Ideology: Education and Energy and resources

The Greens support free TAFE and university for undergraduate
students and believe that schools funding should be determined on
the basis of equity and need. The party also opposes the casualisation
of the workforce and wants to introduce a benchmark of 80%
permanent teaching staff throughout public and private VET
providers. The Greens wants class sizes to be reduced and teachers'
wages to be increased.
The Greens support the mass-rollout of renewable energy, with an aim
of 100% renewable energy production by 2030, and phasing out the
use of coal-fired power, as a means of driving investment and creating
jobs.[146][81] In 2019, the Greens pledged to create 180,000 new
jobs in the renewable energy sector, which would drive billions of
dollars of investment in the Australian economy.[81] The Greens are
the only party with an energy policy consistent with keeping global
warming at or below 1.5 °C.

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9. Ideology: Foreign policy and Health policy

The Greens argue for democratic reforms to the World Trade Organization,
International Monetary Fund and World Bank to better promote sustainable
trade and development. The party would end Australia's Defence Treaty with
the United States unless it can be changed to operate within the Greens' view
on Australia's national interest. Former Greens leader Bob Brown argued that,
"The US is a very great friend of Australia and always will be. But that doesn't
mean that we cave in to their demands.“
The Greens believe that access to health care of a high standard and quality
is a basic human right. Adequate access to bulk-billing general practitioners
(GPs) across Australia is a priority of the party's health policy. The Greens
support Medicare and believe that dental and mental health care should be
included in Medicare. Improving food labelling to be more comprehensive and
strongly enforced is another health policy adopted by the party. The party
also wish to ban junk food advertising on television during times of high
children television viewing.

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11. Ideology: Science, technology and research

The Greens want Australia to reverse cuts to science and technology funding. The
Greens would inject $19.4 billion into the sector over the next decade. The Greens'
science and research policy, launched at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical
Research (Australia's oldest medical research institute) includes:
o
Continued funding for the Medical Research Future Fund;
o
Targeted support for women in science;
o
Creating a 'Protecting Science' package, consisting of a $2.557 billion boost to the
Australia Research Council, National Mental Health & Medical Research Council,
and Cooperate Research Centres over the next decade;
o
Providing $185.1 million over the forwards to ensure Open Access Publishing of
Government funded research;
o
Providing $60.2 million over the forwards to invest in strategic opportunities for
international collaboration;
o
Improving the R&D Tax Incentive by reversing millions of dollars of government
cuts and providing a 20% non-refundable tax offset for companies that hire STEM
PhD students to work in their field of expertise.

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13. Constituency

The Greens generally draw support from younger voters with higher than
average educational attainment. The Greens absorbed much of the
Australian Democrats' support base following its downfall as the third
party in Australia and many of the social and environmental policies and
issues that the Democrats advocated for have been taken up by the
Greens. Much like the Democrats, the Greens have a higher proportion of
supporters who are university educated, under 40, who identify as
professionals in their field, who are small business owners, and who earn
above the national average wage. Notably, there has also been a steady
increase in working-class support for the Greens since the creation of the
party.
Following the 2016 federal election, the Australian Greens had nine
senators and one member in the lower house, 23 elected representatives
across state and territory parliaments, more than 100 local councillors,
and over 15,000 party members (as of 2016). All Senate and House of
Representatives seats were retained at the 2019 election.

14. Current Federal Parliamentarians

Adam Bandt MP
2010–present
Senator Larissa
Waters, 2011–2017,
2018–present
Senator Nick
McKim, 2015–
present
Senator Rachel
Siewert, 2005–
present
Senator Richard
Di Natale, 2011–
present
Senator Janet
Rice, 2014–
present
Senator Peter
Whish-Wilson,
2012–present
Senator Sarah
Hanson-Young,
2008–present