• Protestors rally for abortion legalisation October 1, City Hub

Greens overseas aid spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon has called on the Turnbull government to move quickly to restore aid funding to the Fred Hollows Foundation and other non-government aid groups to ensure people in low income countries do not miss out on vital care and assistance.

"The Lateline report on critical programs run by the Fred Hollows Foundation that restore the sight of young children should be a wakeup call to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to restore funding to the Australian NGO Cooperation Program," Senator Rhiannon said.

Greens NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon commenting on the latest scandal involving a private Sydney based college ripping off vulnerable young people, said similar abuses will continue as long as for-profit companies are given public money to run vocational education and training courses.

"Low integrity companies, like Unique International, get away with misusing public money because the current system does not put the needs of students and employers first," Senator Rhiannon said.

Australian Greens Leader Dr Richard Di Natale joined Greens spokesperson for international aid and development Senator Lee Rhiannon today to announce the Greens plans to fund international development.

“Australia’s foreign aid budget should be 0.7% of Gross National Income, and today the Greens are proud to announce an election commitment to achieve that by 2025,” said Senator Di Natale.

Labor has voted with the Coalition to block a Greens motion calling for greater transparency of the WestConnex tollway project.

"The Greens motion calls for federal Westconnex funding to be withheld until the full business case is made public and proper community consultation and planning approvals are complete," said Greens Senator for NSW Lee Rhiannon.

"The Labor Party joined with the Coalition to block this motion, despite worrying reports that large amounts of asbestos are unsafely stored at WestConnex sites putting the health of local residents and workers at risk.

Greens spokesperson for animal welfare Senator Lee Rhiannon has said fresh evidence of live export abuse aired on 7.30 is further proof that the Australian government's regulations are doing very little to end the enormous suffering of animals overseas.

"The unwillingness of the Australian government to administer criminal charges against offending export companies means we have seen yet another expose of animal cruelty on TV," said Senator Rhiannon.

The Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon has welcomed the decision of the NSW Premier Mike Baird to add his voice to the growing call for national uniform political donation reform.

"Now we have state premiers backing the call for political donation reform, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should ensure the changes are in place before the next federal election," Senator Rhiannon said.

"The High Court case handed down last week cleared the way for the quick passage of reforms.

Following the release of the BIS Shrapnel report on a government procurement plan for steel the Greens have renewed their call for the NSW and federal governments to immediately adopt procurement frameworks for all publicly funded projects.

BIS Shrapnel recommends a minimum requirement of 85 to 90 per cent Australian steel use in all government products. Their report shows that a procurement plan would rescue the Port Kembla blast furnace.

The Greens are calling on Prime Minister Turnbull to support legislation for a ban on political donations from select industries following former Newcastle Mayor Jeff McCloy's defeat in the High Court today.

"The High court's decision to uphold a NSW ban on political donations from the developer, tobacco, gambling and alcohol industries is good news for democracy," said Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon.