Inquiry into the Great Barrier Reef 2050 Partnership Program

Statement from the inquiry chair

The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee met today regarding the inquiry into the Great Barrier Reef 2050 Partnership Program.

The committee resolved to:

Greens Senator for Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson, is calling on the Federal Environment Minister to call in the proposed  Norfolk Bay fish farm move.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “These handfish are some of the most rare and unique species on the planet. The red handfish and the spotted handfish are both critically endangered. Where they exist, they essentially occupy a few hundred square metres of seafloor and rarely move. Each sub-population is isolated from the others.

Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, the Chairperson for the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications Inquiry into waste and recycling, provides the following comments on the release of the report ,“Never waste a crisis: the waste and recycling industry in Australia”.

The Inquiry was established in August last year following the expose by Four Corners, “Trashed”, into the then emerging waste and recycling crisis, that was later aggravated by China’s recyclables import ban.

Greens spokesperson for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, is calling on the Government to reverse its decision not to re-establish an Antarctic research institute upon the closure of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC), a decision that puts in jeopardy Hobart’s position as a global research centre.

Waste & Recycling and Healthy Oceans portfolio holder, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, today has launched the Greens’ response to the national recycling crisis and the growing problem of marine plastic pollution.

“Australians love their recycling. Around the country, households have been doing the right thing for years.

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the Greens decision to support a Senate disallowance of the new Commonwealth Marine Reserves Plans of Management.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The Greens have consulted widely with stakeholders and the environment movement and will support the disallowance of the Liberals’ woefully inadequate marine reserve protections. Additionally we will work to lobby the cross-bench to support the disallowance to make sure we get the numbers for these inadequate plans to be voted down.

Greens waste and recyling spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson provides the following comments on the evidence heard at the Senate waste and recycling Inquiry held in Sydney today.

[NB: Short audios for key witness statements can be found below.]

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “It is official now. Australia is in a nationwide recycling and waste crisis. A system of kerbside recycling that has been in place for decades is collapsing. "

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, says that the Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg has been proven wrong by a white shark population study and continues to misrepresent the data for base political purposes.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Josh Frydenberg said that ‘Blind Freddy’ could see that white shark numbers were increasing, but this report shows we what knew all along, that ‘Blind Freddy’ Frydenberg talks bullshit.