The Greens have called for a review of the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation's processes as the Australian Federal Police investigate an Australian operation in Iraq backed by the body.

Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam said the AFP investigation had prompted a leading company lawyer to suggest Australian authorities had been lax in their approach to Australian businesses overseas.

TREASURY - SENATE QUESTION ON NOTICE
Notice Given: 21 October 2011 (Question No. 1222)

Senator Ludlam asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice, on 21 October 2011-

With reference to the High Court of Australia ruling handed down on 3 December 2008, Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth of Australia v Word Investments Limited [2008] HCA55, and the taxation treatment of not-for-profit or charitable housing organisations:

Extending the 40% producer tax offset to games developers, as foreshadowed by Arts Minister Simon Crean today, is a forward-thinking and job-creating step first proposed by the Greens in 2007.

However, claims that the film industry has been ‘saved' by the increased tax offsets are premature, with an urgent need to lift the location offset to match global standards in order to continue to generate jobs and investment, the Australian Greens said today

The Greens have released their SBS budget submission to Government, requesting a sustained funding increase in the 2012-15 triennium (read it here).

The submission includes a number of potential revenue measures that would pay for the funding increase, while still allowing the budget to return surplus.

Australia's second national broadcaster is at a crossroads. The 2012-15 triennial funding round provides an opportunity to reset the course of SBS and cement its position as one of Australia's most important cultural assets.

WA Senators Rachel Siewert and Scott Ludlam say today's historic carbon price vote is the start of serious action on climate change.

"The passage of the Clean Energy Future package through the Senate represents a new beginning for our economy, with new industries and new jobs being created," Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown, Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters, Senators for Western Australia Rachel Siewert and Scott Ludlam, and Member for Melbourne Adam Bandt spoke to the media about the Australian Greens National Conference in Fremantle, WA.

Topics included the allocation of preferences, the environmental threats posed by developments in the Kimberley, and the Nationals' call for a "discussion paper" on coal seam gas. 

Australian Greens spokesperson for communications, Senator Scott Ludlam, has called on the Government to reveal its hand on the campaign against whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks.

Senator Ludlam has formally asked the Government what assurances it has secured that, if extradited, WikiLeaks' Australian chief Julian Assange will face the charges of which he is accused in Sweden and will not be subject to the temporary surrender mechanism that could see him extradited to the United States.