The Greens say confirmation in the Reef Snapshot:  Summer 2021-22 of the sixth mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef lays bare the Morrison Government’s near-decade of failure on climate action.  

The Snapshot confirms the Reef has suffered the fourth mass bleaching event since 2016, and the first in La Nina conditions, with 91% of surveyed areas showing signs of bleaching.

Lines attributable to Greens deputy leader and Queensland Senator Larissa Waters:

With a likely sixth mass bleaching event now unfolding across the Great Barrier Reef, the Greens have called on the Morrison Government to cooperate fully and transparently with UNESCO’s 10-day monitoring mission, which begins next Monday.

Today in Cairns the Greens have announced a more than $2 billion plan to save the Great Barrier Reef and the workers who rely upon it for their livelihood, as the Reef remains at serious risk from the effects of climate change and poor water quality.

Last year the Reef narrowly avoided a World Heritage Committee “In Danger” listing after cynical lobbying by a Morrison Government desperate to avoid another PR disaster, but Australia was given just one year to pull up its socks on Reef protection.

The Greens have slammed the Morrison Government for its relentless destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, after it tried to remove reference to a 1.5C global warming limit in a new climate change policy for World Heritage sites.

The Morrison Government also lobbied for conversations about World Heritage sites damaged by climate change – including the Great Barrier Reef – to be put on hold when the climate change policy is debated at a UNESCO meeting in Paris scheduled in two weeks’ time.

The Greens say today’s report that more than 98% of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral reefs have suffered bleaching is a damning indictment of the Morrison Government’s climate inaction and exposes the sickening cynicism of its campaign to keep the Reef off UNESCO’s “in danger” list earlier this year.

Greens deputy leader and Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said:

“Climate change and pollution have already killed off half of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral cover, endangering this precious natural asset and the 60,000 jobs that rely on it.

The Greens have slammed the Morrison Government for the desperate measures it has taken to avoid UNESCO listing the Great Barrier Reef as "In Danger".

The Greens have slammed the government’s knee-jerk climate denialism as the world delivers yet another stark warning that we risk losing the Great Barrier Reef.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader, Adam Bandt:

“It’s coal or the reef, but you can’t have both. 

“The Great Barrier Reef is under threat because of the mining and burning of coal and gas. 

“We have ten years to save the Reef, but on the same day the Reef is put on death watch, Liberal and Labor support opening up new gas fields.

The ‘Implementation of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Partnership’ audit report has confirmed longstanding concerns from the Greens of a dodgy $443.3 million government grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF).

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:

“The audit report confirms long-standing concerns relating to the proficiency of the GBRF and its capacity to deliver on the grants objectives.

“The GBRF is essentially a private organisation with no track record in managing large scientific programs.

Yet another devastating climate change report details that the Great Barrier Reef is all but doomed without radical climate action. It begs the question: what will it take for our leaders to act?
 
Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said immediate transformative action to reverse climate change impacts on the reef is possible, but political will and determination is lacking.
 

The Coalition and One Nation have cemented their position as science denialists, having spent Monday badgering some of Australia’s peak scientific bodies over the validity of Great Barrier Reef health findings during a Liberal-called Senate inquiry, the Greens said. 

Co-Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, Queensland Senator Larissa Waters, said the inquiry is nothing more than a political ploy to attempt to advance the Coalition’s position ahead of the Queensland state election, and further its culture war against science.