Senator Whish-Wilson said that the decision by the NSW Government to adopt a container deposit scheme was a big win for community campaigners around the country, and makes it inevitable that Tasmania will eventually adopt a similar popular scheme.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “With NSW, the state with the largest population, joining in with South Australia and the Northern Territory in adopting a cash-for-containers scheme other states will fall into line like dominos.

Greens spokesperson for Consumer Affairs, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson welcomes the news that NSW has followed in the footsteps of the South Australia and the Northern Territory by announcing plans for a beverage container recycling refund scheme, and is calling on other states to quickly follow suit. [NB: Tasmanian specific comment at end of release]

The Government must strengthen protection for Western Australian reefs and reinstate marine parks to help combat worsening coral bleaching, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

"In estimates this week it was revealed that the review into marine parks won't be released until after the election, meaning it will be a significant period of time before our marine parks are operational, this is not good enough.

Chair of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures and Greens Senator for Tasmania, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the release of the Senate Inquiry Report into the CSIRO budget cuts.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “What is clear from this entire debacle is that both the Australian Government and the CSIRO management has at no stage placed any value on the work being done by the CSIRO climate scientists.

Greens spokesperson for Whaling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, says that the Turnbull Government is doing more to protect the Japanese whalers from public scrutiny than it is doing to protect minke whales from being slaughtered in Australia’s whale sanctuary. The Government has refused a FOI request from Sea Shepherd Australia and the NSW EDO.

The Senate has supported a Greens motion calling on the Government to address coral bleaching and reinstate our world leading system of marine parks.

“I welcome the Senate’s acknowledgment that Australia has some of the world’s greatest marine natural environments, with rich biodiversity and unique species”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

“When elected the Abbott Government abandoned our world-class marine parks, Mr Turnbull has done nothing to reinstate them.

The Environment and Communications Reference Committee will be holding a hearing in Adelaide TOMORROW as part of its inquiry, established by Greens Senator for South Australia Robert Simms, into oil or gas production in the Great Australian Bight.

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.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Today’s announcement sounds like the Government has merely softened the blow for devastating job losses across the climate and environmental science functions within the CSIRO. The majority of the planned job losses will still go ahead.

With increasing evidence that coral bleaching is occurring off the coast of the Kimberley Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert is calling on the Government to urgently reinstate marine parks.

“I have been worried for some time that coral bleaching would also be occurring off the coast of WA and now unfortunately we are starting to see the evidence of this bleaching. I’m deeply concerned that we might have bleaching similar to the scale of that occurring on the Great Barrier Reef”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said 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 Peter Whish-Wilson, who initiated the Inquiry, said, “Today, we have seen Senators from Labor, the Liberals and the Greens standing together calling for urgent and immediate action on marine plastic pollution.