"It's like looking down on an unclaimed bag in a subway," Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said today after flying over the coal tanker stuck fast on the Great Barrier Reef. Just one other small vessel is nearby.

From the air the pristine blue ocean dotted with coral ringed emerald lagoons of the Marine Park dominates, but the Shen Neng 1 sits below like an environmental time-bomb.

"I congratulate all those who are insisting no measure is too expensive to help rescue the Reef and coast from this threat," said Senator Brown.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown says the Federal and Queensland state governments share responsibility for the Chinese coal carrier Shen Neng 1 being without a pilot when it ran aground east of Great Keppel Island late yesterday, threatening the Great Barrier Reef.
"Despite calls for all such ships to have pilots aboard, both Canberra and Brisbane have bowed to the coal and shipping companies to avoid this common sense requirement," said Senator Brown.
"The failure to insist on pilots has been reckless.

The Government and other naysayers say it can't be done. The Greens say it must be done, so it will be done.

Christine Milne spoke today at the National Press Club in Canberra, televised nationally on ABC1, setting out the Greens' vision for a safe climate and setting that against what the Government is proposing with the CPRS.

You can read the speech here and please use this as an open thread to discuss the issues it raises!

Thank you for your warm welcome. I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the land.

Gandhi once said, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."

We have reached a point in human history where 'what we do' on this planet imperils our survival. Now is the moment to re-imagine and reconsider 'what we are capable of doing'.

The Greens today reiterated that emissions targets of 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels are the starting point for any negotiations on the Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation.

“Unless the world, including Australia, adopts such targets, the risk of catastrophic climate change will be too great,” said Greens spokesperson on Climate Change, Senator Christine Milne.

“Without such emissions targets, Australia risks losing the Great Barrier Reef, the Snowies and the Murray-Darling Basin.

Prime Minister Rudd's attempt to green-wash his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme with a 25% conditional target has been exposed as disingenuous by China's top negotiator, Su Wei, Australian Greens Deputy Leader Christine Milne said today.

(Question No. 1288) Senator Ludlam asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, upon notice, on 6 February 2009:

(1) Can an indication be provided of when the Australian Labor Party's election promise to incorporate a ‘greenhouse gas trigger' in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) will be implemented.

 I rise today to comment on this urgency motion and note that it is really an opportunity for senators to make a pitch in the Queensland election. It was not written that way, but we have had a clear example that that is what this is about.