The Australian Greens have today released Parliamentary Budget Office costings that show removing structural unfairness in the tax system through the discount on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) could generate as much as $74 billion over the next ten years, rising to $127 billion when negative gearing reforms that have warped the housing market are taken into account.

Under questioning from the Greens Spokesperson for Finance, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, the Treasury Secretary John Fraser said that, for Sydney and parts of Melbourne, the housing market was ‘unequivocally’ a bubble.

When Senator Whish-Wilson later questioned the Reserve Bank, Assistant Governor Malcolm Edey added that “…a lot of people do think it’s a bubble – serious people think that – and we agree that this is a situation where the market is strong, it’s overheated, it’s a risky situation…”

The Asset Recycling Bill appears to be dead, buried and cremated, the Australian Greens said today.

The Senate has given Tony Abbott's backward-looking agenda another reality-check by insisting on substantial amendments protecting essential services from privatisation, and substantially increasing accountability measures. The House subsequently rejected the amended Bill.

The Greens succeeded in getting the Bill renamed the Encouraging Privatisation (Asset Recycling Fund) Bill.

‘Profiting from crisis' a report into the use of investment treaties in struggling European economies by the Transnational Institute and Corporate Europe Observatory (March 2014) 

American Conservative think tank the Cato Institute explores ISDS provisions (March 4 2014)

The Australian Greens say Tony Abbott must come clean about his cruel cuts before voters go to the polls in elections around the country.

"How can we trust a Prime Minister who deliberately withholds information before an election?" asked Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne.

"Tony Abbott is deliberately hiding his true agenda for cruel cuts. He is being mean, tricky and secretive.

"It's completely obvious the PM is holding out until after the upcoming elections in an attempt to pull the wool over voters' eyes.

Delivering free trade deals are a top priority for the Abbott government and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) currently being negotiated is the biggest free trade deal in this country’s history, impacting all walks of Australian life.  The Australian Greens stated it is likely to also turn into this government’s biggest headache. 

Prime Minister Abbott should immediately stop the clock on negotiations over the secret text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which threatens to further extend the power of foreign multinational companies.

In the event that Parliament ever resumes, the Australian Greens will move for the Joint Standing Treaties Committee to urgently review what the Abbott Government is proposing to sign us up to.