Public schooling in Australia must be the gold standard so parents do not feel they have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for their children to get a good education, as shown in today’s ASG Planning for Education Index research.

The Liberal Government’s plan to give tax cuts to big corporations to follow in the footsteps of Donald Trump makes as much sense as the revelation that 732 big corporations paid no tax in 2015-16, The Australian Greens say.

Today is a dark day for the Murray Darling Basin in light of Queensland national MP David Littleproud taking on the water portfolio, and Victoria and NSW attempting to block delivering 450GL of desperately-needed environmental water, as previously agreed upon.

“South Australians who have been crying out for a change, and for the environmental needs of the Murray Darling Basin have been let down today by the Federal, Victorian and NSW governments,” Greens water spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.  

South Australians will not stand for the Government encouraging oil and gas exploration in our pristine marine environment and will continue to fight against drilling in the Great Australian Bight until it is fully protected, the Australian Greens say.

The Australian Greens are calling for an end to the State and Federal Government blame game on NAPLAN results and restore value to the education sector to improve results. 

“Another NAPLAN report has come and shows what we’ve been shown over and over again; standardised testing does not improve educational outcomes,” Greens education spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said. 

“While it is important to monitor student progress, it seems counter-intuitive not to actually address the issue that our education system is stagnating.

The Australian Greens will move to disallow the Government’s plan to strip the southern Murray Darling Basin of 605GL of environmental water once Parliament resumes next year.

“The Murray Darling Basin Authority hoped no-one would notice when they released a statement late on Friday afternoon saying they’d seek to strip 605GL of water allocation to the southern basin, but in South Australia we are watching," Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Barnaby Joyce returning to the water ministry is devastating for Murray Darling Basin communities, downstream states, and the future of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, the Australian Greens say.

“Malcolm Turnbull is rewarding bad behaviour by handing back the keys to the water ministry to a man who stuffed up his own paperwork and delegitimised the Murray Darling Basin Plan," Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens are renewing calls for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to keep the keys to the Water Ministry out of the hands of Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals.

“Just because Barnaby Joyce has settled his citizenship blunder and has been returned to Parliament, does not mean we can forget the stuff up after stuff up at the helm of the Water Ministry,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.