Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale and Education Spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi have today doubled down on their defence of public schools, declaring they "will not be silenced" by a well-funded Private Schools lobby group.

"The Morrison Government has sold Australian students down the river to silence a powerful lobby group ahead of the Wentworth byelection, but the Greens will always put kids in public education front and centre," Dr Di Natale said.

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has said that the new Education Minister, Dan Tehan, is not up to the job following his threats to withhold education funding to the States if they don’t accept the $4.6 billion ‘special deal’ with the Catholic and Independent sector. The Greens have consistently said that these billions must be diverted to the needy public school sector.

Senator Faruqi said:

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has called on Labor to join the Greens in working to ensure that the $4.6 billion special deal with the Catholic and Independent schools is redirected to public school funds.

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has slammed the Federal Government’s announcement today on Catholic and Independent school funding. The Government has announced an extra $4.6 billion for the Catholic and Independent school sectors which the Greens say is a special deal that is just "hush money" for them to stop campaigning against the Government.

Senator Faruqi said:

I've stood as an engineer and a sustainability academic at the front of lecture theatres more often than I've stood up to speak in parliaments. When you're teaching you spend an awful lot of time looking your students in the eye, as you might imagine. Now that I'm spending less time in the classroom and more time in parliament, I often wonder whether many members in this place wouldn't benefit from having to look some students in the eye every so often.

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has reacted to the latest Grattan Institute Report ‘Mapping Australian higher education 2018’ which shows that growth in professional jobs in Australia did not keep up with the growing number of graduates over the decade, especially in science. It has also found that Commonwealth funding for tuition subsidies will drop for the first time since 2003 and that almost one in four university academics are now casual.

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has called on the Federal Government to reverse its funding freeze for universities. Reports today reveal that Victoria University is pressuring employees to accept longer hours. Before joining politics, Senator Faruqi was an academic at the University of New South Wales.

Senator Faruqi said:

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has backed fair pay for early childhood educators and the ‘Big Steps’ campaign.

Australian Greens Education Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi,has said that need and equity, not desperate electoral strategies, should guide schools funding in Australia and has called on the Federal Government to reverse its Gonski 2.0 education cuts.

The Australian Greens today announced portfolio allocations for their Senators and MPs ahead of the upcoming Federal Election.

Australian Greens Leader Dr Richard Di Natale said a reallocation had occurred as a result of Mehreen Faruqi’s arrival in the Senate yesterday and Larissa Water’s imminent return.

“We’ve got to hold the big parties to account – and the Australian Greens Senate team will fight for the causes that matter to our community,” Dr Di Natale said.

“This new allocation of portfolios will make the most of each of our Senator’s strengths and passions."