Greens spokesperson on Waste & Recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, responded to Monday’s 4 Corners program that exposed the crisis in Australia’s recycling industry.

“This problem has been a long time coming. The fall in commodity prices has demolished the previously successful business model based around co-mingled kerbside recycling.

“The response of government to this slow building crisis has been woeful. Millions of Australians have been diligently sorting their rubbish all for nothing. This is an outrage.

Greens spokesperson for Treasury, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, is calling on the Board of Commonwealth Bank to consider the position of Ian Narev today, and to cancel all senior executive bonuses in their meeting prior to the release of the annual financial results.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “If the Board of Commbank wants to start to rebuild trust in their organisation they need to make sure that no senior executive with any oversight of this alleged money laundering scandal gets paid one single cent in bonuses this year.

Greens Treasury Spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, says that Commbank money laundering scandal shows that the culture in the financial services sector is still suspect and only a Royal Commission or a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry will return public confidence in this critical sector.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The behaviour of Commbank that emerged during the Senate Inquiry into ASIC was what sparked the first call for a Royal Commission. I am sick of being told by overpaid executives that everything is ok in this sector, when it is clearly not.

 "In 1968 I was born in Singapore. My parents were there while my father was serving with the RAAF as part of the Australia’s Vietnam War efforts.

“Under Singapore law I could not have become a citizen of Singapore by birth unless one of my parents was also an existing Singapore citizen. Singapore also does not allow dual citizenships for adults.

“There is no circumstance under which I could have inadvertently become a citizen of Singapore.

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Peter Whish-Wilson provides the following comments on the green-lighting of the Tassal salmon farm at Okehampton Bay.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, "I'm bitterly disappointed, but not surprised, that the federal Liberal Government has chosen to stand by Will Hodgman in an election year, and refused to do a full environmental feasibility study on the the Tassal Okehampton Bay expansion.

The Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the release of HILDAs The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “These survey findings won’t be a surprise for young people but they should be a wake-up call for the Government.

“These figures are catastrophic. No matter how hard young people are working or how much time they are putting into study, the ability of a young person to own their own home is slipping away.

Greens spokesperson for Health Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson expresses his disappointment that both Labor and Liberal voted in the Senate to support the Okehampton fish farm expansion on Tasmania's east coast, and refused to recognise their record of poor regulation and mismanagement of this important industry.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Today Labor and Liberal showed their hand and put on record their support for the unpopular fish farm expansion at Okehampton Bay.

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has lashed out at moves in the Japanese Parliament to help Japan resume commercial whaling and calls upon Malcolm Turnbull to condemn the moves.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “For years and years Japan has conducted whaling on Australia’s doorstep in the Southern Ocean under the guise of scientific research but these moves in the Japanese Parliament to reinstate commercial whaling show that ‘scientific whaling’ is just a sham.