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GREENS

The Australian Greens’ vision is for a fair, independent and sustainable Australia which embodies the principles of Ecological Sustainability, Social & Economic Justice, Peace and Non Violence and Grassroots Democracy. We believe a fair, just and sustainable society provides a guaranteed adequate income for all, along with access to timely, good quality health care, high quality public education, housing, other support services and the opportunities to participate in all facets of society. The Greens take every opportunity to advance a fairer Australia – recently Bob called for a pensioner pay rise of $60/fortnight. Aged pensioners haven’t received a decent increase in their pension since 1993. Importantly, the Greens’ vision for social justice  extends beyond our borders – we are working to support freedom for West Papua and Burma, justice for East Timor and Tibet, and human rights in China, for example.

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The Australian Greens believe that:

• the contribution of diverse groups to the political process is inherently valuable.
• ongoing community participation in the making of laws and policy should underpin all government actions.
• marginalised groups must be enabled to participate in policy debates.
• community participation in decision making should be an ongoing process.
• Access to good information is essential for good democracy.

The Greens have published research papers that highlight the need for better measurement of the cost of living and the real rate of unemployment (see for example:  Let them eat cake:  How low income earners are disadvantaged by the consumer price index  http://www.bobbrown.org.au/files/speeches/Let%20them%20eat%20cakeII.pdf  and

Unemployment is in the eye of the beholder: An analysis of the definition of unemployment in Australia

http://www.rachelsiewert.org.au/files/campaigns/extras/unemployment.pdf )

We have also called for much more timely data on a wide range of environmental indicators. For community groups and individuals to meaning fully participate in these processes, it is essential that they are provided with sufficient information, uncontaminated by spin or selective interpretation or exclusion when it is released. This information must be available at no, or little cost, in a timely manner. The Greens work with community groups across the nation to bring motions to the parliament, to inform their decision-making in relation to issues and legislation, and to engage in the varied political debates. The Greens have also supported government funding for public-interest research – we must ensure that research institutions are not forced to limit their work to projects with immediate commercial application as required due to lack of public funding and corporate sponsorship.

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The Australian Greens would strengthen FOI laws by limiting exemptions that restrict access to information, making agencies more accountable for their FOI performance and streamlining the application process. We would also exempt community groups and individuals from fees for material gained under FOI.

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The Greens take the responsibility of elected office seriously – Green MPs treat the parliamentary institutions with a great deal of respect.  Green MPs work hard to represent their constituency according to the political platform upon which they were elected. The Australian Greens believe that citizens have the right, and the responsibility, to participate in the processes of government and that government procedures and processes should be designed to facilitate, rather than inhibit, such participation. In particular, we would increase parliamentary and public scrutiny of government funding programs to enhance transparency and accountability; strengthen whistleblower protection legislation; and support innovative community consultation processes such as citizens’ juries and citizens’ assemblies.  We also support greater transparency in the disclosure requirements of donations to political parties (and we opposed recent reforms to change the threshhold of donations to be declared on the public register from $1500 to $10,000).

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The Australian Greens believe that social, political and economic institutions must allow individuals and communities to determine their own priorities. A corollary of this is that these institutions should be supported by an equitable taxation system that generates the revenue necessary to fund public services at the appropriate level of government – and preferably at the level at which a service is to be delivered. The vertical fiscal imbalance between the States and the Commonwealth runs counter to this belief, thus steps to rectify it should be given a high priority.

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The Greens have once again called for a pay rise of $30 per week for aged pensioners. As Bob Brown said at the National Press Club on 17 October: “We can tell you where to find the funds. That $30 per week for pensioners will cost less than the $3.5 billion in tax cuts allocated to people earning over $75,000 a year.”

Australia as a nation is experiencing unprecedented prosperity and we should be sharing our resources, addressing disadvantage and investing in the future by building up our communities and giving everyone a 'fair go'. 

The Australian Greens have been outspoken about the growing disadvantage within our community and short-sightedness of current social and economic policy. The way we treat those most disadvantaged in our society goes directly to the values that we hold. It can say a lot about how we define ourselves as human beings and what we are doing to realise the kind of society we wish to live in.  We believe as a nation we are in many ways missing the opportunity to make the most of these good times because we are not investing in improving the health, education and living standards of all our citizens. We need to look at how we build, facilitate and support communities and 'social cohesion' as a way of helping to address disadvantage.

We firmly believe that solutions must address the multiple underlying causes of disadvantage, that addressing just one won't help in the long term. That short term fixes don't work, that long term commitment and funding beyond election cycles is needed.

The Australian Greens have long been calling for a national strategy to address poverty in Australia. We support a national poverty strategy that includes better research into poverty, the setting of targets to reduce poverty, increased income support and a simpler and fairer social security system. There also needs to be more emphasis on providing opportunities for job seekers through education, training and real job creation.

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The Australian Greens strongly believe that redress is needed for past and present injustices to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and continue to call for a treaty that would enshrine recognition of prior occupation in the Australian Constitution. We believe saying 'sorry' is necessary but not sufficient, without reparations to right these wrongs.

We are committed to the call for equality of access to essential services within a decade, and equality of outcomes on all major indicators of health, education and opportunities within a generation (25 years). This will require a major investment in both community and mainstream services. In doing so, we are supporting the calls of many leading Australians to make the health of today's generation of Aboriginal children a priority and use this as a focus around which to improve the opportunities and the well-being of the whole community.

We are committed to self-determination and increased political representation of Indigenous Australians at all levels of government. We believe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a right to elect their own representative bodies and to be partners in the development of policies, programs and services that affect them. We would like to see Australia sign on to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and enact it in our laws.

The Australian Greens are committed to supporting the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being heard in the democratic process. One example of our commitment is when Senator Rachel Siewert, our spokesperson on Indigenous Affairs, hosted a meeting of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at Parliament House in Canberra to discuss a response to the Government's Northern Territory Emergency Response. The Government was not listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and this was one means of ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were heard in one of the most important debates on Indigenous policy in recent years.

We believe that to succeed in the long-term it is absolutely essential to have genuine community engagement and ownership of programs and initiatives. Community consultation is the first recommendation of the Little Children are Sacred report, and one of the key criticisms of the top-down approach taken by the Federal Government in the Northern Territory is that they have failed to consult and failed to learn from the past.

What is needed is evidence-based policy that builds on existing knowledge of successful programs to deliver long-term solutions that strengthen and empower communities.

In developing a long term plan to redress and resolve the causes of child abuse we are advocating:

child protection

·       Safe communities by putting more resources into policing, safe houses, night patrols and community-based family violence programs.

·       Investment in proactive preventative strategies, early intervention programs and intensive programs for victims of abuse as part of a national strategy for child protection which includes a priority plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

·       Implement all 97 recommendations of the Little Children are Sacred report

health

·       Healthy kids and healthy families through increased resources and infrastructure for primary and preventative health services

·       Urgent investment to reduce the gap in life expectancy and rates of chronic disease within a generation as part of a national Indigenous health strategy (a commitment of $500M/yr)

·       Significant investment in alcohol and other substance abuse programs including better support for existing community alcohol and substance abuse initiatives and management plans, and tougher restrictions on alcohol sales in regional centres

 housing and infrastructure

·       Sufficient housing to reduce overcrowding and increase child health and safety ($2-3 Billion nationally over ten years)

·       Genuine employment opportunities providing community-based health, education and welfare services as well as housing and infrastructure maintenance and construction

education & training

·       Quality education delivered to all Aboriginal children, with a focus on early childhood development and with school attendance strategies that encourage family engagement

·       Introduce positive parenting programs

·       A universal school meals program

partnership and governance

·       Take a human rights approach to partnering with communities in developing policies and programs

·       Streamline government funding programs to reduce red tape and focus on service delivery rather than compliance, and commit to long-term predictable funding

·       Offer financial management education and services, and support for voluntary community-based financial management initiatives (such as Tangentyere's successful Centrepay scheme).

The Greens have a strong record in the Senate of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have their voices heard and issues addressed. Bob Brown started the Senate inquiry into petrol sniffing and Rachel Siewert played an important role in its report - which led to the roll-out of unsniffable Opal fuel across Central Australia and increased resources for youth services.

Rachel Siewert also played a key role in Senate Inquiries into Stolen Wages, Aboriginal Heritage protection, the NT Land Rights Act, the Native Title Act, and Indigenous Art. Rachel has been working with Aboriginal organisations and communities and speaking out on a range of issues, including: health, housing, disadvantage, the NT nuclear waste dump, cuts to CDEP programs, services to town camps, and the need for economic development programs.

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Australia’s industrial relations laws should provide a framework for fair and equitable workplaces where vulnerable workers are protected by a strong safety net of minimum conditions, unfair dismissal laws and a fair bargaining process. 

The Australian Greens are committed to protecting and enhancing workplace conditions. We will vote to abolish Work Choices and replace it with a fair and equitable industrial relations system that protects the wages and conditions of Australian workers. The Greens commit to protecting workplace conditions by expanding the safety net of minimum conditions, abolishing AWAs and not supporting any form of individual agreement that can override awards or collective agreements, restoring unfair dismissal laws for all employees and restoring the powers of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to ensure fair minimum wage increases.

Since Work Choices there have been numerous stories of vulnerable workers being exploited under the new laws and the statistics demonstrate lower wages for the already low paid and reduced working conditions.  One of the key reasons why Work Choices allows exploitation is because of AWAs and the inherent unequal bargaining position between individual employees and their employers. To ensure a fair deal in workplace negotiations, collective bargaining must be at the core of the industrial relations system and individual contracts of any sort must not be able to override awards or collective agreements. A strong award safety net underpinning collective bargaining is one of the best ways of ensuring workers get a fair deal.

The Greens are very supportive of the rights of unions to represent their members and assist employees in bargaining collectively. We are opposed to the measures in Work Choices that prevent unions acting on behalf of their members and are committed to restoring the rights of unions and providing a framework of industrial relations where employee representatives have a rightful role in the bargaining process.

To ensure Australian workplaces are more responsive to families we need to create a workplace culture that values workers and recognises their family and community lives. The Greens also support workers having the right to genuine flexible working hours, including moving to part time work if they have caring responsibilities and the right to move back to full time work. We also believe the issue of unreasonable working hours, both long and unpredictable hours, must be addressed. Measures should be implemented to give workers more control over their working lives.

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The Greens, backed by education professionals, unions, students and academics, recognise the benefits of ensuring all Australians can access a high quality, free public education system from pre-school up to and including TAFE and university.

The Greens 2007 education policy is about making that possible. The Greens suggested additional investment of $7.3bn would get Australia back in the Top Ten of OECD countries by public investment in education.

Preschooling is Australia's biggest embarrassment. The Commonwealth can show leadership and ensure access to two years of free public preschool for each child.

Redressing the balance in schools funding away from the wealthiest private schools back into the public schools dealing with the most disadvantaged communities has nothing to do with the politics of envy and everything to do with educational value for money. A $3bn boost to public schools would put Australia in the top ten OECD nations for public investment in schools education.

TAFE should be retooled, reinvigorated and restaffed to take up the challenge to shift Australia to a low carbon future. The Greens want $50m per annum dedicated to mainstreaming environmental sustainability into vocational education.

The Greens want to stop the privatisation of universities and lift the debt burden from students. An average of $11,000 per student is unacceptable - The Greens will push for and end to HECS, the abolition of full fees and the introduction of a fair student living allowance.

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 The Greens Education policy is focused on the need to improve equity and accessibility which necessarily means it is targeted at getting outcomes for the disadvantaged.  In Preschooling - we call for two years FREE public preschool - which will be particularly important for Indigenous communities which are so poorly served by pre-school facilities currently.

In schooling our focus on public school funding calls specifically for a redirection of funding from the wealthiest private schools to pay for a special purpose fund to assist those schools which serve the most disadvantaged.

 In addition we want to:

·       fund reduced class sizes in all public schools that suffer socioeconomic disadvantage, starting with those that recruit students from communities that have a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and those that cater for children with special needs.

·      substantially increase specialist support services for students with special needs, including those with a disability, and students from non-English speaking backgrounds, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

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Core to the Greens approach to the skills shortage is the recognition of the special place of the TAFE system in our VET environment. TAFE is uniquely placed to deliver the kind of reskilling of Australia's workforce that is needed to both address the skills shortage and retrain Australia to thrive in a low carbon emission economy. Specifically our policy will:

·       increase per-student funding to at least 1996 levels appropriately indexed

·       abolish all fees and charges for educational services

·       increase the availability of a wide range of apprenticeships, especially in rural and regional Australia

·       fund enough places to meet demand for VET from every suitably qualified applicant.

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The key barriers to Higher Education are limited access to high quality public education starting with Pre-school. Ensuring that Australian kids access pre-school and then at high school go on to complete HSC or equivalents is the goal of The Greens schools policy as previously detailed.

In addition prospective students are put off applying or, once there, completing a higher education course because of the very high price of courses since the sector has been effectively privatised. The Greens want to abolish fees and return Australia to a system of free public education from pre-school to university.

Specifically our policy will: 

·       abolish fees for educational services at public universities for Australian students and forgive HECS debts and FEE-HELP debt incurred at public universities.

·       provide a means tested living allowance for all full-time students

·       repeal voluntary student unionism

·       support affirmative action entrance, residential programs and ongoing assistance to improve opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students entering university

·       ensure adequate funding to all rural, regional and outer-suburban universities to enable them to serve their communities and meet local and regional demand.

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The Australian Greens recognise Australia is facing a housing affordability crisis. The lack of affordable housing, particularly for people on low incomes, represents a serious market failure as well as policy failure by federal and state governments. We are also seeing increasing financial stress for many in the rental market. In fact, while private renters are only one fifth of all households, they make up over half of households in housing stress.

Furthermore, the provision of public and community housing has been declining, leaving many disadvantaged people in a desperate situation. There is now a real shortage of low-cost private and public rental housing despite increasing demand.

There are no simple answers to addressing Australia’s housing crisis. Federal, State and local governments all have a role in the housing market, and better coordination together with a comprehensive policy approach is vital to effectively address these issues. 

The Greens do not believe simplistic suggestions, such as increasing housing supply through further releases of land, or merely increasing subsidies and incentives will provide real solutions to the problem of housing affordability. All policy interventions must be evaluated to ensure they do not result in further increases to housing costs. Instead the issue of housing affordability for all Australians, particularly low income households, needs to be addressed in a comprehensive and coordinated way.

The Australian Greens Housing policy calls for the development of a National Housing Plan and the appointment of a Minister for Housing, Urban and Regional Development with Cabinet status. We also believe it is essential to review all existing subsidies and incentives for housing and property investment to ensure subsidies and incentives improve access to housing for low-income households.

In particular, we need to ensure subsidies and concessions for the provision of private rental accommodation are targeted at affordable housing for low-income households. We also strongly support significantly increased investment in public and community housing and emergency accommodation.

We also believe it is important to develop national planning guidelines for new housing developments that provide for a social mix of public and private housing and incorporate principles of environmental sustainability.

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The Greens believe that everyone has the right to timely, high quality health care.   The fairest and most efficient way to achieve this is through a strong and well-resourced public health system

The Greens would

·       Introduce a National Health Care Strategy to provide a comprehensive, co-ordinated and properly evaluated approach to health care provision. 

·       Reallocate the $3.5 billion spent on private health insurance rebate to public health and hospitals (the government is currently putting this money into the private insurance companies and taking desperately needed funds out of the public health system)

·       Increase funding to universities to create more places for training health professionals to address the workforce crisis in health care

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The Greens believe an effective health system must be based on primary health care and preventive health care, such as health promotion, disease prevention and early intervention, in order to reduce avoidable admissions and pressure on hospitals.

The Greens will

·       support measures, including legislation, to protect and extend the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

·       Increase incentives for GPs and medical specialists to bulk bill.  

·       Reduce waiting lists by securing a health system which has strong, well-funded primary treatment and prevention options as well as acute, hospital based care.

The Greens recognise that, regardless of whether living in urban or remote communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the most disadvantaged group in our society. 

The Greens

• back the plan to reduce the 17 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and equality of health and well-being within a generation
• support investing resources in both community-controlled health services and mainstream services, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Framework Agreements and Aboriginal Regional Health Plans.
• support priority funding for Indigenous children's health

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The Greens would

·       Introduce and fully fund a Commonwealth Dental scheme for low income earners and their families, which provides essential dental care and a full dental examination every two years and adopt mechanisms to increase access to primary dental services through Medicare (Denticare)

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The Australian Greens remain steadfastly opposed to the government’s Welfare to Work legislation. We believe it is unnecessarily harsh, is badly targeted and will ultimately prove ineffective in helping people move from welfare into the workforce. The laws focus on reducing income support and rely on coercive measures and unduly harsh penalties to force people into the workforce rather than providing incentives, training and support.

We voted against the legislation in the Parliament and have been active in drawing attention to how it has been operating and causing harm to many people. Senator Rachel Siewert has been trying to keep the government accountable on this issue through asking questions at Senate Estimates hearings and by using speeches in the Parliament to tell the stories of people caught up in this unfair system.  The Greens are committed to abolishing the welfare to work regime and replacing it with a fairer income support system. 

Through asking questions in Estimates hearings and in Parliament Senator Siewert was responsible for the Government revealing the appalling and disproportionate numbers of Indigenous people receiving eight week non-payment periods. The compliance regime is unnecessarily harsh, arbitrary and deeply unfair.  We need to review and improve the process of breaching where penalties are imposed on unemployed people who fail to meet complicated requirements to prove they are actively looking for work. We need to encourage and empower those looking for work and help them build their confidence, not to make the process confusing, frustrating and demeaning.
 
There needs to be more emphasis on providing opportunities for job seekers through education, training and real job creation. Only this will reduce the number of people living in poverty and the number relying on social security. Investing in education is investing in the future prosperity of our nation.

Another related issue the Greens have been concerned with is the Government's changes to the Jobs, Education and Training (JET) program. JET is a program that assists single parents with child care costs when they are studying. The government has limited access to JET for one year and has cut a number of single mothers off JET in the middle of study. Programs like JET are important to helping single mothers access further education which in turn provides greater opportunities for decent work. The Greens are committed to restoring the JET program and making sure single mothers have every opportunity available to them to further their education and obtain decent work

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The Australian Greens would reduce inequities in the current personal income tax system by:

·       reducing tax breaks for high income earners;.

·       removing Fringe Benefits Tax concessions which promote increased use of motor vehicles;

·       removing the concessional arrangements for Capital Gains Tax;

·       abolishing the 30% Private Health Insurance Rebate in order to increase funding for public hospitals;

·       taxing family trusts in the same way as companies; and,

·       eliminating high rates of effective marginal taxation for those on welfare benefits.

In addition, we would conduct an inquiry with a view to implementing changes to the tax system that address the negative impacts of the GST on:

·       income distribution

·       environmental sustainability, and

·       business administration costs.

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We would propose the introduction of a system of minimum personal and corporate tax legislation to reduce the opportunities for individuals and companies to use loopholes to minimise their tax obligations.

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To the extent that the potential loss of revenue from non-compliance with tax obligations poses a significantly greater risk of loss of revenue than from so-called welfare fraud, the former should be pursued with greater zeal than the latter.

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The Greens believe that protecting our environment and conserving the diversity of life are essential for the wellbeing of all life on Earth. Greens policy will:

• End broad-scale land-clearing and clearing of remnant vegetation
• Fund and enforce recovery plans for threatened and endangered species
• Ensure a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of protected areas
• Support landowners to protect and restore nature conservation values on their land
• End the logging of old growth and high conservation value forests
• Introduce an Oceans Act to ensure the sustainable use of our marine and coastal resources
• Support a comprehensive international ban on commercial and “scientific” whaling.

The Greens have recognised that climate change is serious and urgent for more than a decade, but governments and industry are yet to take real action. If global warming of 2°C above pre-industrial levels occurs the impacts will be too severe and the risks of runaway climate change too great. Urgent action to stop the growth in greenhouse gas emissions must start now. The Greens recognise that energy efficiency and renewable energy options present huge opportunities to create new jobs and export dollars in clean technologies.

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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions does indeed mean that the price of electricity and petrol will increase. This will hit poorer members of the community hardest because their energy costs typically represent a greater proportion of total expenditure.

The best way to resolve this inequity is to assist householders reduce energy consumption. This is the purpose of the Greens EASI policy, which sets out a mechanism for upgrading the energy efficiency of every household in Australia, starting with the low income and rental accommodation, over ten years. By installing simple technology like insulation and solar hot water systems the typical household can reduce emissions by over 30 per cent, saving householders money and reducing emissions by some 30 million tonnes. Similarly, petrol consumption can be reduced by greatly improving access to fast, safe and reliable public transport. The Greens have called for a major shift in Government expenditure, away from road funding towards the provision of public transport.

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Australia has a responsibility to contribute to both long term development aimed at eliminating global poverty and reducing climate change vulnerability, and to humanitarian emergency relief where people become vulnerable and suffer because of natural disasters or social conflict.

            We believe Australia should increase its overseas aid budget to 0.7% of GNP by 2010 as recommended by the United Nations. The Greens support development of long-term aid programs that combat climate change as an integral part of their poverty elimination strategy.

It is Greens policy to help countries in our region reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and adapt to climate change through appropriate technology transfer and other forms of assistance. Australia should provide assistance, including funding to assist communities, particularly in the Asia Pacific, to adapt to climate change impacts so that they can remain in their own countries and maintain their cultural cohesion.

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The Australian Greens support Australian ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, and taking a leading role in negotiating a ‘post-Kyoto’ multilateral emission abatement treaty which includes binding emission targets for all countries.

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The Greens will ensure that renewable electricity contributes at least 15% of national demand by 2012 and 25% by 2020, by increasing the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) and by introducing measures such as feed-in tariffs and regulations to support a range of prospective new renewable energy technologies.

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The Australian Greens have the most stringent targets of all the political parties – a 30% reduction in emissions by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050. These targets are based on climate science and represent the minimum that Australia will have to achieve if we are to contribute fairly to the international effort of avoiding a global temperature increase of more than 2 degrees C.

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Asylum seekers should be treated with respect and compassion, not locked up behind razor wire and treated as criminals. The Australian Greens recognise that under the United Nations Refugee Convention people have the right to seek protection and should not be discriminated against on the basis of their mode of arrival.

The Australian Greens propose processing people while they live in the community.  Under our policy, arrivals would have a security and health check within 14 days after arrival and then live in the community. A complementary protection stream should be set up to assess people on humanitarian/compassionate grounds if they fail to meet the strict definition of a refugee.

Greens’ policy on refugees and asylum seekers is to:

• End mandatory detention as unnecessary, cruel and expensive;
• Abolish off-shore detention centres and reverse the excision of islands from Australia’s migration zone;
• Abolish Temporary Protection Visas – grant permanent protection visas;
• Process asylum claims while applicants live in the community with work rights;
• Implement a compassionate approach in accord with international conventions;
• Grant bridging visa E holders work rights after 28 days;
• Expand the humanitarian and refugee component of immigration intake;
• Improve settlement services for refugees.

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The Australian Greens believe that lasting resolution of conflicts requires a commitment to non-violent means of political engagement. We further believe that the principles of the United Nations Charter and Declaration of Human Rights, and adherence to effective global environmental governance, must underpin  foreign policy.

We support the immediate withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq, with a commitment to provide significant aid for Iraqi national reconstruction.

We support a real peace process for Israel and Palestine.

Such a process would be based on the establishment of an international commission under the auspices of the UN to effect a settlement of the conflict and the implementation of peace negotiations facilitated by the commission leading to a schedule for the implementation of the following goals:

• the removal of Israeli settlers and Israeli security and military forces from the Palestinian territories;

• the termination of the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the establishment of a secure and viable state of Palestine alongside Israel, based on 4 June 1967 boundaries with both states sharing Jerusalem as their capital;

• a just and practical negotiated settlement of the claims of the Palestinian refugees that provides compensation for those who are unable to return to their country of origin, Israel or Palestine;

• the right of each state to independently manage its own affairs, including foreign relations and economic development, without the dominance of one state over the other;

• the equitable allocation of shared resources, including water;

• the promotion of a culture of dialogue, harmony, peace and reconciliation between the peoples of Palestine and Israel, both in the Middle East and in Australia, fostered through educational, cultural and other institutions; and

• full equality before the laws of each jurisdiction, for every citizen of that jurisdiction, irrespective of ethnic origin, religion or belief, race or gender.

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The Australian Greens support the Millennium goals.  We believe that Australia’s overseas aid should be focused on working with developing countries to realise the millennium development goals. Greens’ policy commits to increasing our aid budget to at least 0.7% of GNP by 2010.

The Greens support a non-commercial aid program – our aid should be focussed upon poverty elimination, not subsidising Australian business.  We further believe that combating climate change is an integral part of poverty elimination – the world’s poorest who are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.  We want Australia to play a leading role in securing global contributions to the UN and other international appeals for funding, expertise and logistical support to respond to humanitarian emergencies.