The Australian Greens today said that Universities Australia’s report, which showed that two thirds of university students are living below the poverty line, shows why the Greens’ plan to increase Youth Allowance payments by $50 a week is a matter of urgency.

“Young South Australians shouldn’t be living in poverty on $29 a day when they’re working towards a brighter future,” Greens’ spokesperson for youth Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The 2013 Labor Budget will do little to ease the stress on country South Australians, say Australian Greens Senators Sarah Hanson Young and Penny Wright.

"Labor has spent more time listening to mining companies, the big banks and their factions than the people in rural and regional communities," Senator Hanson-Young said.

"The Greens stood up for regional South Australia during the Murray Darling Basin debate while our colleagues in the old parties and those upstream tried to sell us down the river.

The Australian Greens have announced today that they plan to amend the Coalition’s paid parental leave scheme to reflect a fairer and more affordable model.

“We need a paid parental leave scheme that is both fair and affordable, but so far we haven’t seen that from either of the old parties,” Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“The Greens will move to amend Tony Abbott’s paid parental leave scheme to bring it into line with the Greens policy, ensuring all parents get the time off that they need while keeping it affordable.

The Australian Greens are launching a new National Youth Survey today, coinciding with National Youth Week.

The survey for 15 to 25 year olds can be found at www.nationalyouthsurvey.com

"The voice of Australia's young people is too important to ignore," the Greens youth spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"Too often our youth become disillusioned with modern politics but the Greens are here to listen to what they have to say.

After the release of an Australia Institute report that shows more than one in three families are struggling with the cost of childcare, the Greens are calling for direct funding to childcare centres to easing cost of living pressure on parents.

“The fact that so many families are struggling to pay for childcare is a problem that cannot be ignored,” the Greens’ childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Greens will continue their push for a much needed inquiry into the childcare sector tomorrow, calling on the Senate to order the Productivity Commission to produce a report on the best way of funding childcare in Australia.

The Senate passed a Greens motion calling on the government to establish a Productivity Commission inquiry into the sector in May of last year and it is well beyond time for that investigation to begin, the Greens say.

Direct funding to childcare centres is an essential step to easing cost of living pressure on parents, the Australian Greens said today.

“Breaking the childcare debt cycle with direct payments to childcare centres is a simple step that will go a long way to helping ease the cost of living pressures being felt by Australian families,” the Greens’ childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

After paving the way for the creation of the position, the Australian Greens have today welcomed the appointment of Megan Mitchell as the National Children’s Commissioner.

“Children are some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” the Greens’ youth and early childhood spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“It is only right that we created the essential role of National Children’s Commissioner.

The Australian Greens have said that it’s time for the Labor Party to get serious about parental leave, making it an enforceable workplace entitlement with proper pay.

“If we acknowledge that pregnant women need more rights at work, including time off, then we should go all the way and legislate to make adequate leave a workplace entitlement with pay,” the Greens youth and childcare spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.