Real growth not GDP
By Senator Christine Milne, Leader of the Australian Greens
How do we build an economic system that serves the needs of people and nature, both for today and for tomorrow?
The economy is a tool; a tool we humans invented – like democracy and politics – to help govern our relationships between each other, and between ourselves and the world we live in. If our economic tools are not getting the outcomes we want, making us happy, safe, healthy, better educated and fulfilled and protecting and preparing our country for an increasingly uncertain future in a world on track to be 4 degrees warmer, then it is time our economic tools changed.
Power sell-off boosts Coalition's election war chest at taxpayers' expense
The O'Farrell government wants the parliament to hand Treasurer Mike Baird the power to sell off the state's generators while dumping responsibility for future financial losses onto the public purse, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye ('Taxpayers face huge bill after power sale', Sydney Morning Herald, 9 March, page 2, http://j.mp/yj9KLJ ).
O'Farrell's failure to heed Auditor-General's financial warnings puts state services at risk
Despite repeated warnings of massive errors in financial reporting by NSW agencies, the O'Farrell government has failed to act, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Government gets an F on planning report card
The 2010-11 Local Government Performance Monitoring report released today shows that government intervention in the state planning laws, particularly removing powers from local councils, has done little or nothing to speed up development assessment times. The largest deterioration in assessment times has come from the State government's increased time to determined referrals to it from local council.
See SMH:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/councils-named-and-shamed-over-da-approvals-20...
Hysterical gas industry attacks state government
The Greens NSW spokesperson on mining Jeremy Buckingham criticised the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) for labelling the O'Farrell Government's Regional Strategic Land Use Policy as red tape and consistently attacking the media for reportage critical of the industry.
Torbay linked to lifting of heritage order on donor's property
Former speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly Richard Torbay has been directly linked to the lifting of the heritage listing on a property owned by a major campaign donor.
('The developer, the $100k gift and the 'highly effective' MP' Sydney Morning Herald 9 May, p. 1, http://j.mp/smh130509)
Savage cuts to more than 20,000 victims of crime
The government has announced that it will be retrospectively cutting the rights of more than 20,000 victims of crime in a reform of the victims compensation scheme that removes the concept of compensation from the scheme and replaces it with arbitrary and, in large measure, token recognition payments. The changes will be particularly harsh for victims of sexual abuse many of whom will los
F2 to M3 motorway a lost opportunity to solve traffic congestion
The Greens have labeled the federal and NSW government's multi-million dollar funding of the F3 to M2 link as classic pork barrelling, putting Labor's electoral interests before real transport solutions.
Government blocking papers on Shenhua Watermark coal mine
The Greens NSW spokesperson on mining Jeremy Buckingham questioned why the government was repeatedly blocking access to documents relating to the granting of the Shenhua coal exploration licences by disgraced former Minister Ian Macdonald?
The truth of a quicker, cheaper and lawyer free CTP scheme
The reforms to the Greenslip CTP announced today by the O'Farrell government have been heavily criticised by Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge as sounding appealing on the surface but containing very real nasty surprises.