30-04-2025
Here's what the Greens will prioritise in a minority Labor government
Under a dream scenario for Australia's leading left-wing party, a future Australian government would be dominated by red and green.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly ruled out any deal with the Greens, scarred by the Gillard-era crossbench deal, which involved the minor party.
But the Greens' mission remains clear: wield the balance of power in a Labor minority government to secure progressive policy reforms.
"The housing, cost of living and climate crises are getting worse," Greens leader Adam Bandt told the ABC.
"People are realising we can't keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result."
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Mr Bandt is set to launch the party's national campaign in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Brunswick East on Wednesday night, alongside Wills candidate and former Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam.
The party's policy wishlist is long and ambitious.
So what are their key priorities?
Affordable dental care
There's a reason Mr Bandt has been carrying a giant red toothbrush around for the past few weeks.
The Greens want to expand Medicare to cover dental services for adults.
Adam Bandt has been wielding an oversized toothbrush during the election campaign.
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Supplied: Facebook
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Parliamentary Budget Office analysis suggests the average adult who accesses the scheme would receive about six or seven dental services, each valued at about $141, in the first year (2025-26).
Services would include treatments such as fillings, tooth extractions, cleaning and X-rays.
The Greens say families could save $2,642 in the first year of the expansion, with a four-person family benefiting by up to $29,322 over a decade.
Young people under the age of 17 can access Medicare coverage for basic dental services, but this benefit doesn't apply to adults.
The plan is expected to cost a whopping $195 billion over 10 years.
Housing tax reform
The Greens want to phase out tax concessions for people who own more than one investment property in a bid to address chronic housing unaffordability.
The party is lobbying to scrap negative gearing, which allows property investors to deduct the costs of running a rental property against their taxable income.
Housing has become one of the defining issues of this election.
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AAP: Diego Fedele
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Three homes with red roofs and bushes nearby
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They also want to wind back the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount, which allows property investors to only pay tax on half the profits they make when selling rental properties.
The Greens argue these two tax breaks are exacerbating Australia's housing crisis by making it easier for wealthy property investors to outbid first home buyers at auctions.
Under their proposed reforms, landlords will be able to keep their existing negative gearing and capital gains tax benefits for one investment property they already own, as long as it was purchased before the policy commences.
Labor has repeatedly ruled out changes to negative gearing and the capital gains discount ahead of the election.
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Ban new coal and gas projects
The Greens have pledged to thwart fossil fuel expansion by blocking federal approval of new coal and gas projects.
The party has been scathing of the Albanese government's approval of more than 30 new coal and gas projects since coming to power in 2022.
Young voters have expressed growing anger over inaction on climate change.
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ABC News: James Carmody
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They've vowed to push the federal climate minister to use the safeguard mechanism to put a "hard cap" on pollution from new projects under the scheme, which requires major carbon emitters to progressively reduce or offset their emissions over time.
The policy is a key plank of the Albanese government's efforts to reach a 43 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030, and net zero by 2050.
The Greens will also seek to cancel exploration permits for oil and gas projects.
How will they pay for it?
Dubbed their "Robin Hood Reforms", the Greens plan to fund their ambitious policies by collecting more tax from big corporations and billionaires.
Their plan involves introducing a 40 per cent tax on the excess profits of big corporations, which the Greens say will raise $557 billion over the medium term.
Excess profits are earnings above a company's normal or expected returns.
"Under Labor and Liberal, one-in-three big corporations pays no tax," Mr Bandt said.
"Just by taxing the massive profits of the top 0.1 per cent of Australia's biggest corporations, we can raise $585 billion to fund the services everyone needs."
The Greens also plan to introduce a 10 per cent tax on the net wealth of Australia's billionaires, which they say is expected to raise $23 billion over the forward estimates and $50 billion over the decade.
Turning dreams into a reality
Although Mr Albanese has said he will not negotiate a deal with the Greens, his choices could be limited if Labor falls well short of the 76 seats required to govern in majority.
History has shown it won't come easy.
Borne out of Australia's environmental protest movement, the Greens have previously shown reluctance to compromise with the government on their agenda.
While that resolve may appeal to some progressive voters, the party has faced criticism for using its power to block or delay bills for seemingly little gain.
Photo shows
Two young children reach for sandwiches, grapes and carrots from colourful lunch boxes at school.
Greens leader Adam Bandt will spend his week in Queensland, seeking to sandbag the party's three seats of Griffith, Ryan and Brisbane and announcing the Greens would push to establish an $11.6 billion free school lunches program in the next term of parliament.
The Greens have also been lashed for pushing idealistic policies the government says it can't afford.
"They can be policy pure and they can lord that over the Labor party," ANU's Australian Studies Institute director Mark Kenny said.
"That's because they never really have the breadth of base that you need to be in government."
The Greens' sweeping policy platform includes ending native logging, making all public transport cost 50c, wiping all student debt and providing universal mental health care with unlimited sessions.
Other policies include cancelling the AUKUS agreement, providing free lunches to every public school student and making childcare free.
Professor Kenny said the Greens' plan to fund its agenda could backfire and hurt the Australian economy.
"Taxing corporations and taxing billionaires in the way [the Greens] are talking about … may have implications as to whether those corporations and billionaires continue to operate in Australia at all," he said.
"That might be a good thing in the case of some of them, and it might be disastrous in the case of some communities that rely on those corporations, whether they be big mining companies or resources companies."
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