Australian Greens

Principles

The Australian Greens believe that:

1. All peoples in the world have the right to ecologically sustainable economic development.
2. Global economic systems must be ecologically sustainable, democratic, transparent and accountable.
3. Global economic systems and institutions must promote and respect human rights and enhance the right of communities to democratically determine their own future and priorities.
4. Public debt crises in developing countries flow from a number of causes including gross income inequality between and within countries and are the responsibility of both debtor and lender nations. Governments and international institutions should introduce policies to avoid excessive levels of net public debt.
5. International financial institutions should not force national governments to resolve economic crises primarily through cuts to social and environmental programs.
6. Global trading rules should promote fair trade to ensure developing countries are adequately and fairly rewarded for their productive output.

Aims

The Australian Greens want:

7. A global economic system that promotes environmental sustainability, human rights and a decent standard of living for all.
8. International financial institutions that are democratic and that promote sustainable trade and development. This would require reform and democratisation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO), or failing that, their replacement.
9. The elimination of poverty, an end to the exploitation of children and other vulnerable people, and promotion of the trade of goods that have been produced through fair trade principles.
10. Preference to be given to multilateral trade agreements, except where a bilateral trade agreement favours a developing country.
11. Support for Australia’s membership of financial organisations that promote human rights and environmental sustainability.
12. The global implementation of an international financial transactions tax (Tobin Tax) to discourage global currency speculation and to provide an independent revenue base to address global issues such as climate change and poverty alleviation.
13. The provision of incentives for developing countries to pursue economic development strategies that encourage self-reliance and prioritise the sustainable production of goods and services from local sources.
14. Compliance by Australian companies operating internationally with international human rights, labour and environmental laws and standards.
15. The creation of a United Nations sanctioned regulatory environment to govern the operation of transnational companies, tax havens and flags of convenience.
16. Continued advocacy for fair trade over free trade agreements.
17. Promotion of debt cancellation for least-developed countries when the debt repayment conditions result in increased poverty and social, environmental and economic injustice.
18. Resistance to the development of international trade regimes that seek to extend the concentration of control over intellectual property.
19. Reform of international trade agreements to enable national governments to fairly regulate in relation to labour or environmental standards of production, health standards, or other matters of legitimate public interest.
20. The alignment of taxation legislation to secure appropriate tax revenues from transnational corporations. This would occur in collaboration with taxation agreement partners and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members.
21. To ensure that national governments do not allow the pressures from the globalisation of trade to override the democratic preferences of their citizens.