2016-06-13
The Turnbull Government's $1 billion Reef Fund is effectively a cut from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and is undermined by the Adani coal mine.
Qld Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and climate change spokesperson, said:
"This is a sneaky attempt by the Turnbull Government to try to distract from the damage it is doing to the Reef by approving coal mines to export out through the Reef and cook its corals.
"All of this money is taken from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the government hasn't specified how much will go to clean energy and how much will go to water quality.
"Putting an unspecified extra amount out of $100 million a year over ten years into Reef water quality is so far short of what the Reef needs and it comes at the expense of clean energy funding.
"The Greens have pledged a legal cap on water pollution, and a $2 billion fund over 5 years, including $500 million in new grant funding, which supports vital work like revegetation, wetland restoration and combating gully erosion.
"It's startling that Turnbull Government is trying to sell this plan to cut money from clean energy while pushing ahead with coal mines as somehow being a plan to save the Reef.
"The 69 000 people who rely on the Reef for the their job won't be fooled by this sneaky attempt by the Turnbull Government to cover up the damage its fossil fuel donors are doing to the Reef.
"The Greens have the courage and vision to protect Reef jobs by transitioning away from coal with assistance for coal workers who are already losing their jobs and by providing new clean energy jobs," Senator Waters said.
The Greens' plan for saving the Great Barrier Reef: http://greens.org.au/save-the-reef