2018-04-19
The stranglehold fossil fuel companies have over our political system is slowly killing off the Great Barrier Reef, says Queensland Greens Senator Andrew Bartlett.
Another study published today in Nature shows the Reef has been transformed by back to back mass bleaching.
“The Coalition government’s obsession with burning coal makes no sense until you consider the millions of dollars pumped into the Liberal and National parties by the fossil fuel industry.
“Burning fossil fuels impact lives and livelihoods.
“Records for high temperatures are being broken routinely, farmers on the front line are struggling to cope with harsher climate extremes, insurance premiums in northern Queensland are eye wateringly expensive, and in poorly planned poorer neighbourhoods we’re seeing temperatures hitting the mid to high forties.
“The Great Barrier Reef is being cooked by warming sea temperatures with wave after wave of mass bleaching.
“The only way to fix this is to ban new thermal coal mines and ban donations from the fossil fuel industry, so instead of working to maximise corporate profit our political system works to make sure there is a future for all of us”.
Media Release Environment and Biodiversity