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.

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.

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.

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 South Australia Robert Simms says shareholders should raise concerns with BP over its environmentally risky plan to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight.

BP is holding its Annual General Meeting today in London. A Climate Analytics report also released today stated an oil spill would be "devastating for South Australia's $442 million fishing industry and its tourism industries in coastal regions, worth more than $1 billion and decimate the rich and many endangered creatures of this ocean".

The Australian Greens welcome news the co-founder and project manager for ‘Shark Spotters’, a successful non-lethal shark mitigation program from Cape Town, has been crowdfunded to visit Australia in early March.

“It is disappointing that the Government and the ALP have moved to validate offshore petroleum titles in marine parks that were deemed invalid”, said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

“Due to an ‘administrative oversight’ between 2008 and 2015 leases were not subject to environmental approval process (as they should be) so were deemed invalid. The Bill was rushed through the Parliament to fix the error and has passed into legislation today.

The Australian Greens welcome Senate support for their inquiry into proposed drilling off the Great Australian Bight.

"BP must be held to account for its shocking environmental record and poor community consultation. BP's initial submission to drill for oil off the Great Australian Bight was turned down by the regulator, NOPSEMA and it is high time this issue was put under the microscope," Greens Senator for South Australia Robert Simms said.