So many people are struggling right now with rising living costs. The costs of housing, healthcare, education, food, support services etc. are all becoming too high for many of us to manage.
We believe this is because our government is being undemocratically manipulated by big corporations. The two major parties oppose evidence-based policies that would help everyday people, because they prefer to prioritise the interests of billionaires, big corporations and other mega-wealthy investors.
Below you can find a summary of our top priorities for the upcoming federal election, which will be updated further over the coming months.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of everything the Greens stand for – you can find a longer list of all the Australian Greens’ national policies at this link and the party’s latest federal election announcements at this link.
The major parties and conservative media commentators will claim that these ideas are too expensive, but that’s only because they don’t want to make big corporations and billionaires pay their fair share of tax. We can afford to do all of this if we create a fairer taxation system where everyday people pay less and big corporations pay more.
Build more public housing
To put downward pressure on rents and house prices and offer stable homes to people who’ve been priced out of the private housing market, we need to increase the supply of government-owned public housing, and community housing managed by non-profit organisations. We can’t rely on private developers who are motivated primarily by profit – the Greens want to increase funding to build at least 40 000 new public housing dwellings each year. More at this link
Make the big banks lower interest rates
Currently the Reserve Bank of Australia sets Australia’s cash rate (the interest rate on overnight bank loans) which the big banks use to set their interest rates – the Greens want the government to step in to direct the RBA to lower interest rates (using powers under section 11 of the Reserve Bank Act). Read more here
Scrap tax breaks for property investors
Negative gearing (where landlords can claim income tax deductions for mortgage interest, rates, body corporate fees and other expenses) and capital gains tax discounts (where investors benefit from a 50% discount on the tax they would pay when they sell a property for a profit) are putting upward pressure on house prices and encouraging landlords to borrow more to outbid first homebuyers when homes come up for sale. The Greens want to phase out negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts to discourage the treatment of housing as a for-profit commodity and give more people a chance to buy their own home. More at this link
Freeze rent increases and strengthen renters rights
Rising rents are forcing thousands into homelessness and poverty. We want to prevent landlords raising the rent for the next two years, and after the two-year rent-freeze ends, introduce an ongoing cap so landlords can only increase the rent by a maximum of 1% per year. Read more at this link
We also want to end ‘no grounds evictions,’ introducing requirements that landlords must renew leases unless they have a legitimate reason not to, and create stronger rules and enforcement powers to protect tenants’ rights and ensure rental properties are properly maintained. Further details here
Free dental care
Too many Australians are unable to access free dental care because of the high cost. The Greens have a fully-costed, evidence-based plan to bring dental care into the Medicare system and to educate more dentists and nurses so we can ensure everyone is able to access affordable dental care. Read more here
Free doctors
Under-funding of the public health system is making it harder to find a bulk-billing doctor. We want to increase funding through the Medicare system so patients don’t have to pay a ‘gap fee’ when they visit a doctor. We also want to directly fund 1000 new healthcare clinics across the country to ensure everyone can see a GP, dentist, registered nurse or psychologist with no out-of-pocket costs. Read more here
Free mental healthcare
We believe mental healthcare should be freely available to everyone who needs it. We want to increase the number of mental health specialists working in Australia, and remove current caps on the number of subsidised psychologist appointments that patients can access via Medicare. Read more here
Ensure safe abortions are free and accessible
While abortions are now legal everywhere in Australia, many Australians are still unable to access safe abortion services locally. We want to increase federal funding for abortion services so people don’t have to travel long distances and spend huge amounts of money to access them. Read more here.
Treat drug addiction as a health issue
Criminalising drug possession violates civil liberties and prevents people who struggle with drug addiction from accessing care and support. We support legalising cannabis and establishing evidence-backed frameworks for safe use. Read more here</
Burning coal, gas and oil releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which traps heat and warms the planet. Rapid global warming is causing severe and catastrophic changes to our climate, including more frequent droughts, bushfires, severe storms, floods and cyclones, as well as rising sea levels which displace low-lying communities. Runaway global warming is increasing food and water scarcity, conflicts over resources, and mass displacement of refugees.
The Greens believe we need to stop approving new fossil fuel projects so we can begin transitioning to a more sustainable economy. The government must not approve new coal, gas or oil extraction projects, and must instead focus on creating green jobs in fields such as renewable energy generation, reforestation and land rehabilitation, and regenerative agriculture.
We also support stopping the government from providing massive subsidies to big coal, oil and gas corporations (currently worth over $10b each year) and reinvesting that money into the clean energy transition. Action on climate change must include ensuring that workers in fossil fuel industries are supported to find meaningful, secure employment as the economy transitions. Read more about our detailed plan to create jobs and tackle the climate crisis here.
Reduce military spending and renegotiate Australia’s military alliance with the USA
Australian foreign policy should not be dictated by unstable American politicians like Donald Trump. Instead of supporting and following the USA and its client states into unjust and wasteful conflicts – particularly Israel’s genocidal invasion of Palestine – Australia should pull out of the AUKUS ‘security partnership’ and develop greater independence from the USA.
We must close all foreign military bases within Australian territory, significantly reduce our government’s military spending and prohibit all weapons exports. Read more about Greens foreign policy here
A fairer immigration system
Right now, Australian citizens with loved ones overseas often encounter significant bureaucratic and financial barriers to secure travel visas for siblings, parents and partners to visit or migrate to Australia. Current immigration rules arbitrarily discriminate based on nationality, race, religion and disability. We want to reduce the application costs, processing times and other hurdles that families face when trying to reunite with loved ones.
The Greens also support increasing Australia’s refugee intake and ending the persecution of refugees and asylum seekers. People who’ve been displaced by war and political instability (especially wars that Australia has helped cause) should be offered safe refuge, not criminalised and incarcerated. Read more at this link
Fund public schools so they are genuinely free
Australia’s public schooling system is chronically under-funded, causing serious issues in terms of classroom capacity, staff retention and meeting special learning needs, as well as families having to pay for subject fees, expensive uniforms, laptops, school books etc. The Greens want to increase federal government funding of state schools so we can abolish school fees and ensure every child can enjoy a free, high-quality education. Recent media release at this link
Make TAFE and university free again and abolish student debt
Older Australians (including the Prime Minister) had access to free university education, but today younger people are burdened by huge student debts, or discouraged from tertiary study altogether due to high fees. High study debts also make it harder for people cover other living costs and save up to buy a home. To ensure all Australians benefit from a highly-skilled workforce, and that existing workers are able to upskill as industries change, we want to cancel all HECS debt/student debt, and fully fund universities and technical colleges so that tertiary education is free for everyone. Read more here
Make childcare and early education free
High quality early childhood education is an essential foundation for lifelong learning, but in Australia, both childcare and early education systems are under-funded and too expensive for many families. The Greens want to invest $19 billion over the next four years to ensure early childhood education and care is free and accessible for everyone, and increase universal access to early childhood education up to 24 hours a week for all 3- and 4-year-olds. More info at this link
Currently, support payments for pensioners, tertiary students, unemployed workers and disabled people are too low for people on welfare to afford the basic essentials of a good life.
The Greens want to raise the aged pension, the disability support pension, Youth Allowance and Jobseeker payments to at least $88 per day. Read more here
We also want to ensure that everyone who needs disability support and aged care support is able to access it without facing unreasonable bureaucratic barriers. The Greens strongly oppose funding cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and increased limits on who can access it. The Greens want to increase funding for disability support and aged care, and broaden the range of activities and support services that people are allocated funding for. More info on Greens disability policies here
One third of big corporations operating in Australia are currently paying no tax, and many are offshoring their profits tax-free.
Greens proposals to increase government spending in some areas (such as housing, education and healthcare) while reducing spending and tax handouts in other areas (such as defence, weapons manufacturing, and property investor tax deductions) are part of a fully-costed, economically sustainable plan that delivers a balanced budget.
A key centrepiece of our plan is the proposal to make big corporations and mega-wealthy individuals pay their fair share of tax.
This includes:
- closing loopholes used by multinational companies to avoid paying tax
- increasing taxation rates for big corporations, with a 40% super profits tax on corporations with more than $100 million in turnover in Australia
- increase mining royalties on companies that profit from digging up and exporting minerals
Increasing taxes on big corporations also means individuals on low incomes would have to pay less tax. Our plan includes increasing the effective tax free threshold to $32,100, so that people with a taxable income of less than $32 000/year don’t have to pay any tax at all.
Read more details about our 'fair share' plan at this link
If you support our policies, and would like to see Remah Naji representing us in parliament, please consider making a tax deductible donation, and/or signing up to volunteer. If you're not quite ready to volunteer or donate yet, you can also sign up for email updates at this link.