Greens urge Government to resist huge spending cuts

Greens Leader Bob Brown says that if a mini budget is handed down by the Government it should avoid large scale spending cuts because they are unnecessary.

"Australia is in the middle of a huge mining boom.  We are one of the richest countries on Earth at the wealthiest time in history," Senator Brown said.

"A mini budget should address the revenue options available to the Government such as increasing the mining tax, ending fossil fuel subsidies and abandoning the corporate tax cut for big business.

"Australians will react badly to Government budget cuts at a time the Government is going to give the big four banks  $4B worth of tax cuts (over the next ten years) via the reduction in the company tax rate from 30 to 29%.

"Additional revenue from a mining tax is needed to fund a Denticare program to help the 500 000 people on dental waiting lists in this country.

"This will be a political mini budget, not an economic mini budget," Senator Brown said