Christine spoke about the brutality of Tony Abbott's budget and the Greens' plans to block budget measures.

Just over 80% of growth reported in today's new GDP figures have come from the mining sector, so Australian Greens say it's time to fix the mining tax to return a fair share of profits to communities.

"These GDP figures reinforce that there is no budget emergency. The Abbott government is choosing to let big miners off the hook, while trying to justify oppressive, cruel cuts," said Greens Leader Christine Milne.

Why won't you block 'supply'?

The Greens will block the budget measures. We can block Tony Abbott’s cruel budget without resorting to brinkmanship or playing dangerous politics. And we will.
 
But blocking supply will cause whole of government shutdown and the kind of crisis where people don’t get paid. We don’t need to block supply in order to block Abbott and kick his Government out.
 
We will send the budget measures back and we are ready to fight an election on it.

Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne says the Prime Minister's chief business adviser, Maurice Newman, must be deaf if he hasn't heard the Greens clearly identify revenue alternatives for balancing the budget.

"Keep the carbon price, keep and fix the mining tax and get rid of fossil fuel subsidies for big polluters," said Senator Milne.

"The Greens won't allow Tony Abbott's brutal budget cuts to impact on Australians who need our support, when there are such obvious revenue alternatives.

Greens Leader Christine Milne says the Abbott government is attempting to trick the states into talking about the GST, to distract from his brutal budget and the opportunities that still exist to raise revenue from his big business mates.

"My message to the states is: don't fall for Tony Abbott's GST ploy. The Prime Minister is trying to fool you and distract the community from his cruel budget cuts," Greens Leader Christine Milne said.

The Australian Greens say Tony Abbott's budget has been written for big business and will further divide Australia between the haves and have-nots, especially for sick, young and vulnerable people.

"This is a divisive and brutal budget written in the boardrooms of big business," Greens Leader Christine Milne said.

"Tony Abbott's rhetoric about sharing the burden is a lie. Big business has been quarantined. Young people, the sick and vulnerable take the biggest hit.

The Australian Greens will oppose a temporary so-called deficit levy but have left open the option for permanent increases in taxes on the wealthy if the Abbott government wants to get serious about progressive structural tax reform.

"Australia needs long-term structural economic reform for the future to address challenges like climate change and growing inequality," Greens Leader Christine Milne said.

"Both those challenges highlight the need for permanent revenue streams - not phoney temporary measures.