The Greens Senator for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the passing of Ian Kiernan.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Ian Kiernan was a giant of the environment movement. He used the profile he had gained from his yachting success as a platform to fight for the environment. We all found his love of the ocean an inspiration.

“As founder of Clean Up Australia he rallied the Australian community and then went on to rally the world against plastic pollution.

Australian Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has joined animal rights groups in criticising the Queensland Government's response to two recent shark bites.

"I've been a long-standing critic of the Queensland Government's attitude towards shark culling. My own state of Tasmania has a very different approach to shark interactions.

Australian Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, warns advocates for the sinking of a naval vessel in Skeleton Bay not to get ahead of themselves with it likely that the environmental approval process still has years to run. Senator Whish-Wilson has sought and received confirmation that no approvals have been applied for yet under the Dumping at Sea Act or the EPBC Act at this stage.

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.