2021-11-11
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.
Quotes attributable to Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:
“The Government’s ruthless determination to avoid climate action is brazenly stupid.
“You can’t just remove inconvenient truths about climate change without expecting inconvenient repercussions. But that’s something this short-sighted Government hasn’t quite seemed to grasp.
“If the world heats up over 1.5C, the Great Barrier Reef will die, so will marine ecosystems everywhere and the livelihoods that depend on them.
“In the past week, we heard the devastating news that only 2% of the entire Great Barrier Reef has escaped coral bleaching. Yet at a time where all efforts should be focused on resuscitating the Reef, the Morrison Government is deciding to pull the plug.
“The Government has put more effort into lobbying against disclosing the true health of the Great Barrier Reef than acting to fix it – this was made crystal clear during Sussan Ley’s ferocious international crusade to keep the Reef off UNESCO’s “in danger” list earlier this year.
“Time and time again the treacherous mob of fools in the Morrison Government prove they are more content with spinning and delaying climate action than actually fighting the challenges ahead. If the Great Barrier Reef is to be afforded any chance of survival, the Morrison Government needs to go.”