Opposition Leader Tony Abbott should rethink plans to associate with Lord Monckton, Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"Monckton's despicable abuse of Professor Ross Garnaut can't simply be shaken off and accommodated as free speech," Senator Brown said in Canberra.

"Last year, Mr Abbott met Viscount Monckton of Brenchley and he will renew that association next week at a mining conference in Perth. I urge Mr Abbott to think again," Senator Brown said.

Greens Leader Bob Brown today urged federal parliamentarians to unite behind new laws to stop live exports of animals for slaughter.

"We've written to the government and opposition to urge them to make debate on live exports a priority when parliament resumes on 14 June," Senator Brown said in Hobart.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today he will move to strengthen legislation with the aim of limiting chief executives' salaries to 30 times the average pay within their corporation.

"The Greens support moves to give shareholders more say and have no intention of having the Corporations Amendment (Improving Accountability on Director and Executive Remuneration) Bill fail," Senator Brown said in Canberra.

The Labor government’s proposed reduction of the corporate tax rate from 30% to 29% will cost other taxpayers $2.4 billion in 2013-14 and $18 billion over the next decade, new figures released today by Greens Leader Bob Brown show.

“At a time of huge budget cuts in Australia, we will oppose the government’s proposed corporate tax cut for big business,” Senator Brown said in Melbourne, where he will deliver the keynote speech today at the ACOSS 2011 National Conference.

After the hottest and wettest year in recorded history, the seas off northern Australia are also currently warmer than ever before.  This heat has led to increased evaporation and so, rainfall.

 Sceptics and defenders of the coal industry may dispute this scientific data, but they don’t.  Instead, they are arguing that there should be no debate – not, at least, until some undefined time in the future when the cataclysm has passed and its injuries are behind us. 

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said the benefits of a foreign buy out of the Australian Stock Exchange need to be clearly proven.

"The ACCC's narrow mandate is no substitute for a responsible government decision," Senator Brown said.

 "The Greens will not support any move to exempt the 15% shareholder cap on the Australian Stock Exchange to allow it to be taken over by the Singapore Exchange unless benefits can be clearly proven."

Today's revelation in the Age that the Reserve Bank's subsidiary Securency funnelled $7.25 million offshore last year in suspect dealings warrants a Senate Inquiry. 

This is despite the police investigations already underway into earlier accusations, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said in Melbourne today.

"If these front page allegations are true, the Reserve Bank can be seen as a colossal failure in applying due diligence to its half-owned Securency subsidiaries," Senator Brown said.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown today announced new plans to legislate to put a 24 month freeze on banks being able to increase interest rates beyond the Reserve Bank rate. The new action also aims to ensure banks pass on decreases to official Reserve Bank rates to customers for the next 24 months.  

The new legislative action is in addition to a bill to make banking fairer which Greens MP Adam Bandt will introduce to the Lower House tomorrow. 

Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown has called on Australian banks to back Greens legislation to ban unfair mortgage exit fees.

The Greens bill, introduced to the Senate by Senator Brown in April, would cap bank mortgage exit fees at the actual and reasonable cost to the lender, and ensure that banks included plain English explanation of any exit fees in their advertising. 

"If the big four are fair dinkum about getting rid of unfair exit fees, they will publicly support my legislation to enshrine the reform in law," said Senator Brown.