Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has welcomed the support of the Senate in agreeing to establish an Inquiry into the impact of climate change on our fisheries and on marine biodiversity.

“The nation has been shocked by the now annual bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef from heating oceans. What everyone may not be aware of is that global warming is driving dramatic changes throughout Australia’s marine estate and this is having enormous impacts.

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson says that the last-minute-to-midnight decision to close of the Macquarie Island Station just before the Antarctic Summer season is a worrying sign of the budget pressure facing the Australian Antarctic Division.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Successive budget cuts, year after year, to the Australian Antarctic Division has clearly led to some bases like Macquarie Island falling into disrepair and this will have contributed to them making a snap decision to close the base.

“It is fantastic to see the class action by seaweed farmers in Indonesia over the Montara oil spill up and running”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

“I have been committed to seeing justice for those affected since the disastrous spill, which happened seven years ago.  This would have seemed like a lifetime of turmoil for locals.

“Having visited the seaweed farmers and fishers, I have heard firsthand of the concerns about impacts that the spill on seaweed farmers, fishers and the local economy.

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:

Greens spokesperson for Antarctica, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has today released the most comprehensive Antarctic science funding package ever put forward by a political party.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The work of Australia’s Antarctic scientists is pivotal in understand the risk of climate change. Nothing shows this more than the recent discovery that the East Antarctic ice-sheet giant isn’t as stable as we thought and is now starting to collapse. This alone could potentially add several metres to catastrophic sea-level rise.

Greens Senator for Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson, have today announced that the Greens will be seeking to use their position in the new Parliament to push for the establishment of a Cooperative Research Centre to investigate and find solutions to the scourge of plastics in our ocean.

Addressing coral bleaching, investment in shark research, and reinstating our comprehensive marine parks system have been announced as part of the Australian Greens marine package today.

Australian Greens spokesperson on marine issues, Senator Rachel Siewert said:

“As a nation Australia is incredibly proud of our unique marine ecosystems, yet they are at risk from climate change, overfishing, oil and gas production and other challenges.

Greens Senator for South Australia Robert Simms is calling on BP to abandon its plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight after its secret environmental plan was knocked back by NOPSEMA a second time.

"It's clear BP aren't respecting of the precious Great Australian Bight environment as once again NOPSEMA determine that BP's shoddy environmental plan requires modifications," Senator Simms said.

Greens Senator for Tasmania, and Chair of recent Senate Inquiry into CSIRO budget cuts, offers the following comments on redundancy notice issued to renowned sea-level rise scientist John Church while at sea south of Hobart on the RV Investigator.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “John Church is a giant of sea-level rise research and to treat him in this way is abominable, there is a real palpable anger in Tasmania's science community following this decision.