The Rudd Government should not back down to mining industry and billionaires' bluster over a resource rent tax on profits said Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown today.

"This opposition is coming from some of the richest people in Australia, protesting that they will make slightly less profit," said Senator Brown.

"Australia's resources belong to all Australians and mining royalty returns have not kept pace with the enormous profit companies have made during the resource boom.

The Australian Greens will introduce new laws to guarantee consumers can access fee free basic bank accounts.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said news of a class action against banks over fee gouging showed the sector urgently needed to be reined in.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should reveal what role the Australian Government is taking to support President Obama's war on overseas tax havens which enable wealthy Australians to avoid millions of dollars in tax payments.

"International action is required to end rich tax cheats defrauding ordinary Australians of millions each year," Senator Brown said.

While the G20 meeting ended up in raptures about the future of growth economics, it turned its back on the plight of planet Earth's environment, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"The G20 found more than a trillion dollars to address the economic crisis but no money to address the environmental crisis," Senator Brown said.

"One paragraph leaving the onrush of climate change to Copenhagen in December was tacked onto the end of the communiqué as an afterthought. Yet the planetary environment and its biodiversity are in a downwards spiral."

Prime Minister Rudd should put a Tobin tax on the G20 agenda, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"The Tobin tax, a levy of one basis point (one one hundredth of one per cent) on international financial deals, would be a means of slowing down the speculative movements of capital that can destabilise economies - a calming measure during a crisis. Prime Minister Rudd should make sure a Tobin tax is on the G20 agenda," Senator Brown said.

Bob Brown addresses the media about his plan to cap CEO salaries, and the Senate Inquiry into the Government's financial stimulus package.

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

The Rudd Government is leading Australia into a deficit squeeze on spending with no clear plan to boost funding for education, hospitals, housing and public transport, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"With recession looming, the emphasis should be on public services and re-skilling for the age of green-collar jobs. President Obama is planning for 5 million jobs in his plans for an American Green New Deal. Prime Minister Rudd has no plan at all," Senator Brown said.

Greens Leader Bob Brown says Prime Minister Rudd's global commitment to curbing greedy executives' pay contrasts with his repeated blocking of efforts in parliament.

For example, Senator Brown's motion calling on the government to "ensure that, as a minimum, no financial institutions executives' pay will increase as a consequence of government ... guaranteeing deposits' was voted down by Labor on 14 November.

"Where is there any sign of any action to curb the executive largesse?" Senator Brown said.

In Washington overnight, Mr Rudd complained that:

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown has written to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd asking him to put the Tobin tax on the international agenda for making financial regulation more responsible to global needs.

The Tobin tax - a levy of one basis point (one one hundredth of one per cent) - on international financial deals could raise $100 billion per annum, and, for example, ensure every poverty-stricken child on the planet had clean water, enough food and a school to attend," Senator Brown said.