Greens Senator for Tasmania and Chair of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, will use tomorrow’s hearing into CSIRO cuts to get to the bottom of the supposed final job loss numbers announced today.

Today the Senate Environment and Communications Committee has released a landmark report into the causes and impacts of marine plastic pollution in our waterways and oceans.

Greens Senator for Tasmania, and spokesperson for Antarctic issues, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, supports the comments by the University of Tasmania Vice Chancellor Peter Rathjen that Tasmania’s hard-won world-leading competitive advantage in climate and Antarctic science should not be given up lightly.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Peter Rathjen is right. Tasmania has worked hard to develop a global reputation in climate and Antarctic science and once you have earned this reputation you don’t just throw it away.

With the Geelong Star catching more seals and now also an endangered whale shark, Greens Fisheries spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, is calling for the Fisheries and Environment Ministers to intervene and send the factory-freezer vessel home.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The Geelong Star is seemingly trying to collect the whole set of endangered or protected species in its giant net: first dolphins, then seals, then albatrosses and now a whale shark.

Greens spokesperson for Antarctic issues Senator Whish-Wilson provides the following comments on the reported CSIRO job cuts:

“I am devastated to hear of the hundreds of jobs to be lost across CSIRO especially those 110 supposedly to be lost from the Oceans and Atmosphere division.

“The flagship for the Oceans and Atmosphere division is located in Battery Point, Hobart and is a critical component of Tasmania’s Antarctic and climate sector.

Greens spokesperson for Fisheries, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson says that with the Geelong Star leaving another trail of dead protected marine species it is time for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to send the factory-freezer vessel home now.

Greens spokesperson for Whaling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson says that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s vague mention of his ‘disappointment’ at Japan’s insistence on re-starting whaling in the Southern Ocean is the weakest position an Australian Prime Minister has taken on the issue in a generation.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “You express ‘disappointment’ when someone forgets your birthday, not when a nation ignores a binding legal action you won against them that cost the Australian taxpayer at least $20 million.

“Reports of slave labour sourced prawns being sold in Australian supermarkets is deeply disturbing and reinforces the need for better seafood labelling laws in Australia,” said Greens spokesperson for Consumer Affairs and Fisheries, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.

“Consumers in Australia have the right to know where their seafood comes from. We need to be able to have confidence that as consumers we aren’t perpetuating horrendous working conditions or environmental degradation across the region.

Greens spokesperson for whaling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, said, “The Liberal Government must remove Japan from the list of eligible bidders for the twenty billion dollar plus submarine contract while the Japanese government continues to snub Australia and the world in continuing its illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean.

“Japan is not listening to diplomatic whispers from Australia over whaling; it is time to pressure them with something that will make them think twice.