The Australian Greens are the only party fighting to protect the Great Australian Bight by standing up to mining companies seeking to drill in the pristine marine environment. Greens Senators for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young and Robert Simms on Thursday announce their plan to protect the Bight.

Under the plan the Greens will:

The Australian Greens are calling on Family First Senator Bob Day to condemn the vicious anti-gay rhetoric printed in 100,000 pamphlets supporting his re-election.

According to the Advertiser, Senator Day is being supported by a group who regard gay people as "detestable," along with anyone who has sex outside of marriage.

"These views are extreme, deeply offensive and totally at odds with the views of the South Australian mainstream," Greens sexuality spokesperson Senator Robert Simms said.

The shambolic marriage equality plebiscite continues to be exposed as a wasteful and useless exercise after it was revealed some coalition members would abstain from voting on the matter, the Australian Greens say.

"Between some coalition members deciding to abstain from the vote and some choosing to ignore the will of the Australian people, this plebiscite has become a farce of epic proportions," Greens marriage equality spokesperson Senator Robert Simms said.

The Australian Greens say the marriage equality plebiscite has been exposed as a sham following revelations that coalition MPs may be free to follow plebiscite results in their individual electorates, rather than the national poll.

"This plebiscite is an expensive sham and a farce. Yesterday we were told it won't be binding and today we learn the Liberals are deliberately setting it up to fail," Greens marriage equality spokesperson Senator Robert Simms said.

The Australian Greens have renewed their calls for PM Malcolm Turnbull to dump the costly and divisive plebiscite on marriage equality following his admission this morning that no Liberal party member would be bound by the result.

"I think most Australians would be scratching their heads this morning. How exactly can the Prime Minister justify spending $160 million on what is in effect a giant opinion poll that isn't even binding on his own members," Greens marriage equality spokesperson Senator Robert Simms said.

This edition of Simms in the Senate covers Senator Robert Simms' recent work on promoting green jobs for SA, protecting the Great Australian Bight, standing with the community against a nuclear waste dump in regional SA, phasing out live animal export, and the latest campaign news on marriage equality, Safe Schools, tertiary education, and more.

Attorney General George Brandis must rule out giving public funds to the Australian Christian Lobby to facilitate a ‘no' campaign against the LGBTI community in any plebiscite on marriage equality, say the Greens, following the release of the ACL's election platform.

Greens higher education spokesperson Senator Robert Simms says the Prime Minister's comments in last night's leaders debate show the Liberals are still pursuing deregulation.

"After the budget, the Liberals would have had us believe that their deregulation agenda was on the shelf, but as we in the Greens predicted, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared in last night's leader's debate it is still in full swing," Senator Simms said.

Australia's whole stock of public and community housing would be retrofitted with solar panels to ease power bills for low income earners and make them more comfortable to live in, under a Greens plan announced today.

The nationwide upgrade of Australia's 421,000 public and community dwellings by 2030 would cost $2000 per house to install a 2Kw solar PV system,  energy efficient appliances, as part of a host of refurbishments to make the homes cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in.

The Australian Greens would cease taxpayer money being poured into the broken for-profit VET sector and fund a $400 million TAFE rescue package to ensure investment goes to where it is needed most: helping provide Australians with the opportunity to further their education and increase their skills in the workforce.

The Greens are proud defenders of a strong TAFE system. To help provide the high-level skills and workforce development that is vital to our economic future the Greens will: