The Greens, accused by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of posing a “real serious danger to Australia”, have today revealed plans to reduce military spending to bolster the foreign aid budget, fight climate change and promote gender equity.
Conservative Party leader Cory Bernardi has long called out the hypocrisy of the Greens over allegations of internal sexual harassment and bullying and is urging Australians not to vote for them and their toxic policies at the May federal election.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale has launched the party’s policy on “peace and demilitarisation”.
The Greens extreme plan would see Australia junk the US alliance, which has protected Australia’s interests for decades with Senator Di Natale arguing it should be renegotiated because Donald Trump is US President.
He told The Australian yesterday defence funding should be redirected to lift the foreign aid budget to achieve a target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income by 2030.
That would result in Australia walking away from the goal of lifting defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2020-21.
Mr Morrison yesterday, “The Greens have opposed us on almost every element of national security legislation we have put into this parliament. They have actively worked against the safety of Australians”.
The Greens policy also calls for the closure of all foreign military bases in Australia, the introduction of powers ensuring parliament has the final say on when we go to war and the establishment of an independent body to monitor the aid budget.
The announcement comes one day after the Greens unveiled a plan to phase out the burning and export of thermal coal over a decade — a move that would kill the $25 billion-a-year export industry and up to 150,000 direct and indirect associated jobs.
Other Greens policies include the introduction of a universal basic income — which some analysts have said would require an increase in public spending of $254 billion a year.
The party has also defended the abolition of offshore processing, scrapping of private health insurance rebates, phasing out of negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts as well as the junking of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
It has endorsed tax increases including a $20 billion super profits tax and the introduction of a $14 billion economy-wide carbon price. Greens policy would also decriminalise personal use, possession and non-commercial sale of drugs.
Assistant Minister for Treasury and Finance Zed Seselja yesterday said the Greens were “an extreme party whose policies would make Australians less safe and would destroy our economy”.
“Whether it’s their open border policies, whether it’s their policies to destroy entire industries such as coal or whether it’s their policies to tax Australians out of existence, they are an extremist party that have an agenda that can only be destructive for Australia,” he said.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce warned the Greens agenda was economically dangerous. “The Labor Party do not get in without the Greens,” he said.
Senator Bernardi has told Paul Murray Live on Sky News, the Greens are a blight on our politics.
