CommBank was last week revealed to have continued a financial relationship with Adani Infrastructure in a transactional capacity despite publically ceasing their advisory role in 2015.

“Recent statements by CommBank are a deceptive attempt to reframe their continued facilitation of the Carmichael mega-mine as business as usual,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“There is nothing ‘day-to-day’ about being the transactional bank for a $1.6 million payment to secure a water license for the largest, and most controversial, coal mine project in Australia today.”

“Their attempt to slip it past as just another money transfer is an insult to the thousands of their own customers who have sent their complaints about this issue directly to the bank and the millions of Australians who want the Great Barrier Reef protected from this disastrous coal mine.”

The Commonwealth Bank last week responded to a Greenpeace media release and reports about their relationship to the Adani mine in Queensland saying that their role had been “misrepresented and misinterpreted”.

“Ordinary transactional banking accounts [are] used by thousands of Australian businesses and consumers,” a statement on CommBank’s website reads[1].

“Transaction accounts allow people and organisations to make payments using their own money. They are vital for Australian businesses and consumers to handle their day-to-day affairs.

“A transaction account does not equate to business lending or project finance.“

Casule said the bank needed to wake up to the nature of their involvement with Adani’s Carmichael mine and move away from the toxic project and fossil fuel projects in general.

“Despite their attempts to wriggle away from the truth, CommBank have directly facilitated the construction of the Carmichael mine,” he said.

“They have proved that they are still Adani’s bank in Australia and they have contradicted their public commitment to take action to limit global warming to no more than two degrees.

“We again call on the Commonwealth Bank to make an immediate commitment to no longer financing new coal projects, including the proposed Carmichael coal mine.

“If they are really serious about creating a better future for Australia, as their advertising claims, now is the time to prove it.”

Notes for editors:

[1] https://www.commbank.com.au/guidance/newsroom/myth-busting-transaction-accounts-201705.html

For interviews contact:
Simon Black, Senior Media Campaigner
Tel: 0418 219 086
Email: simon.black@greenpeace.org

Leaked details [1] of the proposal this morning revealed Adani, the operator of the mine, would initially pay just $2 million a year in royalties when the $21 billion project was up and running.

This concession would mean they would sidestep paying anywhere up to $320 million in royalties to the Queensland community.

“This morning’s revelation that the Queensland Premier has sold out her own constituents is a disgrace,” Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“This arrangement is only the latest in a series of insults delivered by a government that seems to be putting the interests of big polluting fossil fuel companies before the community.

“It wasn’t enough simply to facilitate the waste of $1 billion of federal taxpayers money on the rail line for this project and to grant unlimited water access in one of the country’s most drought stricken areas.

“Now Premier Palaszczuk is taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from Queensland taxpayers and handing it over to a billionaire mining company at a time when we need to take urgent action on climate change to protect natural treasures like the Great Barrier Reef.

“During the election Palaszczuk promised there would be no taxpayer money funnelled into this project. This royalty holiday is a broken promise to the people who elected her and to the communities that rely on her to champion their interests.”

Greenpeace are calling on the Queensland government to immediately withdraw any plans which stop coal mines paying their fair share of royalties to the Australian public and to commit to keeping public money out of fossil fuels by opposing any funds for the Carmichael project via the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

“This is money that could be used to fund any number of community projects from schools to hospitals to providing assistance to our farmers or aid to the victims of natural disasters like Cyclone Debbie,” Casule said.

“There are countless people and organisations more deserving of the money that should go to the people of Queensland than a billionaire mining company.”

It is reported the royalty rate will then increase after several years.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-18/queensland-government-gives-adani-royalties-holiday/8536560

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

New video released today shows crowds interacting with the standing exhibit, which was installed in central Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall in April.

The exhibit houses a three dimensional model iceberg with a polar bear perched on top and an invitation to interact.

Closer inspection reveals the iceberg is melting. Drops of water are steadily eroding the polar bear’s home. When someone interacts with the display with their mobile phone, immediately the descending drops begin to slow down, until they are completely suspended in thin air, even reversing to flow back up into the iceberg. The effect becomes stronger as more people get involved.

“One of the challenges of climate change is that people find it difficult to see the effect their efforts have on such a huge, global problem,” Greenpeace campaigner Nic Seton said.

“With this installation, we hope to illustrate that a collective effort can indeed make a real difference. It is only by rallying together that we will be able to slow down, stop, and even begin to reverse the damage that has been done to our environment.”

 “As a passer-by gets involved, the melting starts to slow down.  And as more and more people get involved, their efforts make a visible difference in the fight against climate change.”

Greenpeace worked with Ogilvy & Mather Singapore to conceptualise and build the reverse climate change interactive display.

Join the collective action by signing the petition at: http://greenpeace.org/reverse

Video & high-res images for the media are available at: http://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJJPY8GQ&SO=Id

For more information or interviews contact:
Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner 0413 993 316 | rachael.vincent@greenpeace.org

They also released a new poll showing 65% of residents in NSW, VIC and WA supported a ban; with 79% support in states with existing bans (see below).

“The environmental and community verdict is in – it’s time for state governments to take action. The growing alarm about plastic pollution of the ocean is creating added urgency which can’t be ignored,” said Jeff Angel, Director of the Boomerang Alliance of 47 groups.

Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner, Simon Black, said: "Australians use tens of millions of plastic bags each day". 

"An estimated 50 million of the littered bags end up in our waterways and oceans each year. There is now an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of plastic contaminating our waterways.” 

"Much of it in the form of invisible microplastics which cannot be seen but kill marine life and contaminating our food."

Ian Kiernan, AO, Chairman of CleanUp Australia said: “We’re seeing more and more businesses and local communities ditching the plastic bag. There are plenty of alternatives. Governments should take their guide from this and enact state laws.”

Omnipoll 25 May - 5 June 2017

Support or not the ban in "STATE" of single use plastic bags given out at supermarket and store checkouts. 

Further information:

Jeff Angel, Boomerang Alliance - 0418 273 773

Simon Black, Greenpeace, 0418 219 086

Government representatives from the nearly 200 countries who are signed on to the Paris Agreement have gathered for high level talks in Bonn, Germany, this week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

While countries like China and India have been calling for tighter rules on business groups, at a meeting on Tuesday, the Australian representative vigorously defended the right of fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil and Shell—two of the world’s biggest polluters—to participate in the negotiations.

Fossil fuel lobbyists have long had backdoor access to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty and climate policy talks, effectively delaying, weakening and blocking progress for two decades. But unlike many other UN entities, no conflict of interest rules currently exist in the UNFCCC process.

“It is outrageous and disgusting to imagine representatives of the Australian government would defend such a flagrant conflict of interest. But it shows the kind of hold that fossil fuel companies have had on Australian politics for too long,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO, David Ritter.

“The national interest and the interests of the Australian people are not the same thing as the destructive vested interests of multinational fossil fuel companies.

“The Australian government should be calling for the same standards of propriety and fairness that we would ask of our own public service in Australia. Principles behind conflict of interest rules are well-known and universal and we should be striving to uphold them.

“It’s particularly egregious after having a reputation for going slow in international climate negotiations, that the Australian representatives would stoop to the new level of actively promoting the ongoing participation of vested interests determined to hold up progress,” Mr Ritter said.

A new report by Corporate Accountability International on the role of lobbyists at the UNFCCC, “Inside Job: Big Polluters’ lobbyists on the inside at the UNFCCC” was released in the lead up to the talks last week, on 1 May 2017. The reports examines six of the more than 270 business industry NGOs currently admitted to the climate talks, including the Business Council of Australia: https://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/insidejob

For interviews, contact:

Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Tel 02 9263 0354 Mob 0413 993 316

The reality is that current efforts fall far short of what is required to protect our most treasured natural wonder.

“A short snorkel in an undamaged area of the Reef does nothing to show the true picture of the lack of effort by Government to - as Julie Bishop says - “conserve, preserve and manage the Reef,”” said Greenpeace Campaigner, Alix Foster Vander Elst.

“In fact, it masks the sad reality. Government inaction has already seen two thirds of the coral hit by back-to-back mass bleaching events.”

Ms Bishop has enlisted the support of optimistic marine biologists to tell the media that bleached coral can recover and rejuvenate “without any mass die-off.”

“But the sad fact is that while coral can recover from bleaching, the conditions need to be right … and conditions are not right. The longer it is stressed, the less likely coral is to recover,” said Ms Alix Foster Vander Elst

Recent reports by Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, show that record-breaking water temperatures have caused bleaching to over 1500km of coral over the last two summers, leaving only the southern third of the Reef unscathed. And it is widely acknowledged that already some 67% of corals have already died in the reef's worst-hit northern section.

The Reef is under very serious threat. But perhaps worst of all, the Government is actively contributing to exacerbating the greatest threat to the Reef: climate change.

“Just last week, the Foreign Minister’s own department sent an Australian diplomat to UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, where he shamelessly argued for the inclusion of the fossil fuel lobby - including two of the world’s biggest carbon polluters - in international climate negotiations,” said Ms Foster Vander Elst

“And the Government has continuously expressed its support for the proposed massive Carmichael mine in the Galilee valley, including a proposal to lend nearly $1bn of taxpayers’ money to the project, which will ship millions of tonnes of coal out through the Reef and directly impact its health by contributing to climate change,” Ms Foster Vander Elst said.

Bishop’s assertion that we are “leading the world in coral reef preservation and conservation” would be laughable if it weren’t so wrong. Australia’s Reef 2050 plan - which involves a $2bn commitment to improving the health of the reef over the next decade - falls lamentably short of what’s required.

Julie Bishop should direct our government to take her own advice and take realistic steps to “lift the local pressures on the reef”, and commit to a “concerted global effort” to prevent escalating climate change.

“The government should stop putting money into coal mines, commit to the Paris Agreement, take immediate action to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy which is booming internationally,” Ms Foster Vander Elst said.  

For interviews, contact:

Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Tel 02 9263 0354 Mob 0413 993 316

Editor’s notes:

For a truer picture of the state of the Great Barrier Reef, we recommend a look at these photos and videos, including drone footage of bleached coral off Port Douglas, only 60km north of Cairns, here: http://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJJD68E1

Footnotes: 

1. As reported by the Courier Mail today [here]

2. “Two-thirds of the corals in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef have died in the reef’s worst-ever bleaching event, according to our latest underwater surveys,” : 'How much coral has died in the Great Barrier Reef’s worst bleaching event?', 29 November 2016, The Conversation [here]

The mining giant’s chairman today gave his final investment approval for the multi-billion dollar Carmichael mine in central Queensland's Galilee Basin.

The company are yet to confirm financing or if a billion dollar loan from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility to fund the rail line between the proposed mine and the Abbot Point coal terminal has been granted.

“This mine will be a disaster for the climate, the Great Barrier Reef and frontline communities in Queensland and around the world,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.

“This toxic mega-mine is deeply unpopular with the Australian people and is not viable without massive handouts of public money through subsidies or loans from the NAIF and Queensland government.

“Any public assistance to the mine is a betrayal of the Australian public and the things they hold dear, like a healthy Reef and support for public services that lose out when billions of dollars are given to Adani instead of to schools and hospitals.

“Greenpeace are calling for state and federal governments to rule out any public funds being granted to this environmentally destructive and economically disastrous project once and for all.

“The people of Australia have overwhelmingly rejected this toxic project. The age of coal is dead and we need real leadership to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels for the Australian community.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

Released tonight by Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison, the 2017 Budget has no credible measures to battle global warming and fails to address the serious issue of corporate tax avoidance by the country’s largest polluters.

“At a time when companies like Chevron have been revealed to pay zero tax this government continues to put the interests of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the Australian people,” Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“It’s time for our leaders to look to the future and invest in renewable energy solutions instead of propping up yesterday’s industries in risky and polluting fossil fuel ventures.

“Despite the age of coal coming to a close Turnbull ministers continue to talk up Adani’s Carmichael mega-mine.

“If we’re to address climate change and stop disasters like the recent mass coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef we need to stop burning the coal we have now. Not dig up more.

“While the government cuts $2.8 billion from universities and continue to drastically reduce foreign aid it is still considering giving $1 billion to the Carmichael coal mine - a disastrous project that threatens the Great Barrier Reef.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

The Senate today voted to establish an inquiry into the NAIF and any potential conflicts of interest on its board. This came after revelations that one of the board’s directors, Karla Way-McPhail, also runs mining labour and equipment hire companies and had made “hyper-partisan comments” online in support of the coal industry.

“A compromised board consisting of mining executives, some of them personally familiar with, and recommended by the resources minister, is no way to decide how to spend $5 billion dollars of taxpayers money,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule said.

“For too long the NAIF board have been allowed to operate in the shadows, refusing to answer any and all questions put to them about how they were planning to spend billions of dollars of the public’s money.

“Former federal treasurer Wayne Swan has labelled the NAIF ‘a slush fund’ on more than one occasion and declared it would be a ‘disaster’ for Australia if it were allowed to continue to operate unchecked.”

Greenpeace welcomes today’s announcement, which should serve as an alarm for the Australian community.

“Facts which have recently come to light have shown serious questions need to be asked about the members who comprise the board and their agendas,” Casule said.

“This is particularly concerning when NAIF is currently considering a $1 billion loan to the rail infrastructure for the Carmichael coal mine: a project that’s an economic and environmental disaster.

“This inquiry must serve as a notice for the NAIF board and the dying coal industry that the country will not stand by while $1 billion dollars is used to prop up projects which would be a disaster for Queensland both environmentally and economically.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

The banner and its message ‘CommBank: Dump Coal! Invest in our Future’ faces directly into the CBA headquarters at 201 Sussex St, above one of Sydney’s busiest motorways, where the bank’s senior executives and CEO, Ian Narev, work.

Activists are also handing out pamphlets and engaging with CommBank staff and members of the public to let them know about the bank’s continuing support of fossil fuel projects including the Adani coal mine.

“Despite publicly committing to action on climate change, the Commonwealth Bank loaned a massive$3.886 billion to fossil fuel projects in 2016 - the most of any of the big four banks[1],” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner Dr Nikola Čašule said.

“Greenpeace is calling on CommBank CEO, Ian Narev, and the members of the CommBank board to make good on their commitment to the environment and to follow the lead set by fellow big four bank Westpac by ruling out any involvement in new coal projects or the expansion of existing projects.”

Last week Westpac committed to not finance projects in any new thermal coal basins.

“In recent months we have seen yet another mass coral bleaching event threaten the destruction of large areas of the Great Barrier Reef due to the effects of global warming,” Čašule said.

“Commonwealth Bank can take the lead to prevent tragedies such as these and help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.”

Surveys conducted by Greenpeace found that an overwhelming 73 per cent of Commbank customers wanted their bank to not invest in companies or projects that harm the environment.

“CommBank CEO, Ian Narev, has reassured the Australian people that he was listening when they told him actions speak louder than words. Yet last year his bank lent more money to fossil fuels than any other Australian bank and continues to facilitate the construction of the Adani Carmichael mega-mine in Queensland,” Čašule said.

“Greenpeace is calling on Mr Narev to live up to his promise to support a transition to a low carbon economy not only in words but with action. The Commonwealth Bank needs to pledge to end its funding of new coal projects and commit to a credible plan to reduce its exposure to fossil fuels to zero.”

The action is part of an ongoing campaign by Greenpeace Australia Pacific around coal financing in Australia.

What: 70-square metre banner reading ‘CommBank: Dump Coal! Invest in our Future’ facing directly into the CBA headquarters
Where: Pedestrian bridge connecting CBD to Darling Harbour, 201 Sussex Street
When: From 6am

For interviews contact:
Simon Black, Senior Media Campaigner
Tel: 0418 219 086
Email: simon.black@greenpeace.org

CommBank was last week revealed to have continued a financial relationship with Adani Infrastructure in a transactional capacity despite publically ceasing their advisory role in 2015.

“Recent statements by CommBank are a deceptive attempt to reframe their continued facilitation of the Carmichael mega-mine as business as usual,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“There is nothing ‘day-to-day’ about being the transactional bank for a $1.6 million payment to secure a water license for the largest, and most controversial, coal mine project in Australia today.”

“Their attempt to slip it past as just another money transfer is an insult to the thousands of their own customers who have sent their complaints about this issue directly to the bank and the millions of Australians who want the Great Barrier Reef protected from this disastrous coal mine.”

The Commonwealth Bank last week responded to a Greenpeace media release and reports about their relationship to the Adani mine in Queensland saying that their role had been “misrepresented and misinterpreted”.

“Ordinary transactional banking accounts [are] used by thousands of Australian businesses and consumers,” a statement on CommBank’s website reads[1].

“Transaction accounts allow people and organisations to make payments using their own money. They are vital for Australian businesses and consumers to handle their day-to-day affairs.

“A transaction account does not equate to business lending or project finance.“

Casule said the bank needed to wake up to the nature of their involvement with Adani’s Carmichael mine and move away from the toxic project and fossil fuel projects in general.

“Despite their attempts to wriggle away from the truth, CommBank have directly facilitated the construction of the Carmichael mine,” he said.

“They have proved that they are still Adani’s bank in Australia and they have contradicted their public commitment to take action to limit global warming to no more than two degrees.

“We again call on the Commonwealth Bank to make an immediate commitment to no longer financing new coal projects, including the proposed Carmichael coal mine.

“If they are really serious about creating a better future for Australia, as their advertising claims, now is the time to prove it.”

Notes for editors:

[1] https://www.commbank.com.au/guidance/newsroom/myth-busting-transaction-accounts-201705.html

For interviews contact:
Simon Black, Senior Media Campaigner
Tel: 0418 219 086
Email: simon.black@greenpeace.org

Leaked details [1] of the proposal this morning revealed Adani, the operator of the mine, would initially pay just $2 million a year in royalties when the $21 billion project was up and running.

This concession would mean they would sidestep paying anywhere up to $320 million in royalties to the Queensland community.

“This morning’s revelation that the Queensland Premier has sold out her own constituents is a disgrace,” Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“This arrangement is only the latest in a series of insults delivered by a government that seems to be putting the interests of big polluting fossil fuel companies before the community.

“It wasn’t enough simply to facilitate the waste of $1 billion of federal taxpayers money on the rail line for this project and to grant unlimited water access in one of the country’s most drought stricken areas.

“Now Premier Palaszczuk is taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from Queensland taxpayers and handing it over to a billionaire mining company at a time when we need to take urgent action on climate change to protect natural treasures like the Great Barrier Reef.

“During the election Palaszczuk promised there would be no taxpayer money funnelled into this project. This royalty holiday is a broken promise to the people who elected her and to the communities that rely on her to champion their interests.”

Greenpeace are calling on the Queensland government to immediately withdraw any plans which stop coal mines paying their fair share of royalties to the Australian public and to commit to keeping public money out of fossil fuels by opposing any funds for the Carmichael project via the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

“This is money that could be used to fund any number of community projects from schools to hospitals to providing assistance to our farmers or aid to the victims of natural disasters like Cyclone Debbie,” Casule said.

“There are countless people and organisations more deserving of the money that should go to the people of Queensland than a billionaire mining company.”

It is reported the royalty rate will then increase after several years.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-18/queensland-government-gives-adani-royalties-holiday/8536560

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

New video released today shows crowds interacting with the standing exhibit, which was installed in central Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall in April.

The exhibit houses a three dimensional model iceberg with a polar bear perched on top and an invitation to interact.

Closer inspection reveals the iceberg is melting. Drops of water are steadily eroding the polar bear’s home. When someone interacts with the display with their mobile phone, immediately the descending drops begin to slow down, until they are completely suspended in thin air, even reversing to flow back up into the iceberg. The effect becomes stronger as more people get involved.

“One of the challenges of climate change is that people find it difficult to see the effect their efforts have on such a huge, global problem,” Greenpeace campaigner Nic Seton said.

“With this installation, we hope to illustrate that a collective effort can indeed make a real difference. It is only by rallying together that we will be able to slow down, stop, and even begin to reverse the damage that has been done to our environment.”

 “As a passer-by gets involved, the melting starts to slow down.  And as more and more people get involved, their efforts make a visible difference in the fight against climate change.”

Greenpeace worked with Ogilvy & Mather Singapore to conceptualise and build the reverse climate change interactive display.

Join the collective action by signing the petition at: http://greenpeace.org/reverse

Video & high-res images for the media are available at: http://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJJPY8GQ&SO=Id

For more information or interviews contact:
Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner 0413 993 316 | rachael.vincent@greenpeace.org

They also released a new poll showing 65% of residents in NSW, VIC and WA supported a ban; with 79% support in states with existing bans (see below).

“The environmental and community verdict is in – it’s time for state governments to take action. The growing alarm about plastic pollution of the ocean is creating added urgency which can’t be ignored,” said Jeff Angel, Director of the Boomerang Alliance of 47 groups.

Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner, Simon Black, said: "Australians use tens of millions of plastic bags each day". 

"An estimated 50 million of the littered bags end up in our waterways and oceans each year. There is now an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of plastic contaminating our waterways.” 

"Much of it in the form of invisible microplastics which cannot be seen but kill marine life and contaminating our food."

Ian Kiernan, AO, Chairman of CleanUp Australia said: “We’re seeing more and more businesses and local communities ditching the plastic bag. There are plenty of alternatives. Governments should take their guide from this and enact state laws.”

Omnipoll 25 May - 5 June 2017

Support or not the ban in "STATE" of single use plastic bags given out at supermarket and store checkouts. 

Further information:

Jeff Angel, Boomerang Alliance - 0418 273 773

Simon Black, Greenpeace, 0418 219 086

Government representatives from the nearly 200 countries who are signed on to the Paris Agreement have gathered for high level talks in Bonn, Germany, this week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

While countries like China and India have been calling for tighter rules on business groups, at a meeting on Tuesday, the Australian representative vigorously defended the right of fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil and Shell—two of the world’s biggest polluters—to participate in the negotiations.

Fossil fuel lobbyists have long had backdoor access to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty and climate policy talks, effectively delaying, weakening and blocking progress for two decades. But unlike many other UN entities, no conflict of interest rules currently exist in the UNFCCC process.

“It is outrageous and disgusting to imagine representatives of the Australian government would defend such a flagrant conflict of interest. But it shows the kind of hold that fossil fuel companies have had on Australian politics for too long,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO, David Ritter.

“The national interest and the interests of the Australian people are not the same thing as the destructive vested interests of multinational fossil fuel companies.

“The Australian government should be calling for the same standards of propriety and fairness that we would ask of our own public service in Australia. Principles behind conflict of interest rules are well-known and universal and we should be striving to uphold them.

“It’s particularly egregious after having a reputation for going slow in international climate negotiations, that the Australian representatives would stoop to the new level of actively promoting the ongoing participation of vested interests determined to hold up progress,” Mr Ritter said.

A new report by Corporate Accountability International on the role of lobbyists at the UNFCCC, “Inside Job: Big Polluters’ lobbyists on the inside at the UNFCCC” was released in the lead up to the talks last week, on 1 May 2017. The reports examines six of the more than 270 business industry NGOs currently admitted to the climate talks, including the Business Council of Australia: https://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/insidejob

For interviews, contact:

Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Tel 02 9263 0354 Mob 0413 993 316

The reality is that current efforts fall far short of what is required to protect our most treasured natural wonder.

“A short snorkel in an undamaged area of the Reef does nothing to show the true picture of the lack of effort by Government to - as Julie Bishop says - “conserve, preserve and manage the Reef,”” said Greenpeace Campaigner, Alix Foster Vander Elst.

“In fact, it masks the sad reality. Government inaction has already seen two thirds of the coral hit by back-to-back mass bleaching events.”

Ms Bishop has enlisted the support of optimistic marine biologists to tell the media that bleached coral can recover and rejuvenate “without any mass die-off.”

“But the sad fact is that while coral can recover from bleaching, the conditions need to be right … and conditions are not right. The longer it is stressed, the less likely coral is to recover,” said Ms Alix Foster Vander Elst

Recent reports by Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, show that record-breaking water temperatures have caused bleaching to over 1500km of coral over the last two summers, leaving only the southern third of the Reef unscathed. And it is widely acknowledged that already some 67% of corals have already died in the reef's worst-hit northern section.

The Reef is under very serious threat. But perhaps worst of all, the Government is actively contributing to exacerbating the greatest threat to the Reef: climate change.

“Just last week, the Foreign Minister’s own department sent an Australian diplomat to UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, where he shamelessly argued for the inclusion of the fossil fuel lobby - including two of the world’s biggest carbon polluters - in international climate negotiations,” said Ms Foster Vander Elst

“And the Government has continuously expressed its support for the proposed massive Carmichael mine in the Galilee valley, including a proposal to lend nearly $1bn of taxpayers’ money to the project, which will ship millions of tonnes of coal out through the Reef and directly impact its health by contributing to climate change,” Ms Foster Vander Elst said.

Bishop’s assertion that we are “leading the world in coral reef preservation and conservation” would be laughable if it weren’t so wrong. Australia’s Reef 2050 plan - which involves a $2bn commitment to improving the health of the reef over the next decade - falls lamentably short of what’s required.

Julie Bishop should direct our government to take her own advice and take realistic steps to “lift the local pressures on the reef”, and commit to a “concerted global effort” to prevent escalating climate change.

“The government should stop putting money into coal mines, commit to the Paris Agreement, take immediate action to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy which is booming internationally,” Ms Foster Vander Elst said.  

For interviews, contact:

Rachael Vincent, Media Campaigner Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Tel 02 9263 0354 Mob 0413 993 316

Editor’s notes:

For a truer picture of the state of the Great Barrier Reef, we recommend a look at these photos and videos, including drone footage of bleached coral off Port Douglas, only 60km north of Cairns, here: http://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJJD68E1

Footnotes: 

1. As reported by the Courier Mail today [here]

2. “Two-thirds of the corals in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef have died in the reef’s worst-ever bleaching event, according to our latest underwater surveys,” : 'How much coral has died in the Great Barrier Reef’s worst bleaching event?', 29 November 2016, The Conversation [here]

The mining giant’s chairman today gave his final investment approval for the multi-billion dollar Carmichael mine in central Queensland's Galilee Basin.

The company are yet to confirm financing or if a billion dollar loan from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility to fund the rail line between the proposed mine and the Abbot Point coal terminal has been granted.

“This mine will be a disaster for the climate, the Great Barrier Reef and frontline communities in Queensland and around the world,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.

“This toxic mega-mine is deeply unpopular with the Australian people and is not viable without massive handouts of public money through subsidies or loans from the NAIF and Queensland government.

“Any public assistance to the mine is a betrayal of the Australian public and the things they hold dear, like a healthy Reef and support for public services that lose out when billions of dollars are given to Adani instead of to schools and hospitals.

“Greenpeace are calling for state and federal governments to rule out any public funds being granted to this environmentally destructive and economically disastrous project once and for all.

“The people of Australia have overwhelmingly rejected this toxic project. The age of coal is dead and we need real leadership to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels for the Australian community.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

Released tonight by Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison, the 2017 Budget has no credible measures to battle global warming and fails to address the serious issue of corporate tax avoidance by the country’s largest polluters.

“At a time when companies like Chevron have been revealed to pay zero tax this government continues to put the interests of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the Australian people,” Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“It’s time for our leaders to look to the future and invest in renewable energy solutions instead of propping up yesterday’s industries in risky and polluting fossil fuel ventures.

“Despite the age of coal coming to a close Turnbull ministers continue to talk up Adani’s Carmichael mega-mine.

“If we’re to address climate change and stop disasters like the recent mass coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef we need to stop burning the coal we have now. Not dig up more.

“While the government cuts $2.8 billion from universities and continue to drastically reduce foreign aid it is still considering giving $1 billion to the Carmichael coal mine - a disastrous project that threatens the Great Barrier Reef.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

Released today, the Steeling the Future report shows that Australia deliberately "sought and won its position as the world’s pre-eminent facilitator of the dirtiest steelmaking process" with nearly half of all coal exports now used to make steel.

“The coal industry are fond of pretending that you cannot have steel without coal,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner, Nikola Casule, said.

“This report demonstrates that not only is that simply not true but coal is, in fact, standing in the way of cleaner steelmaking techniques.”

The report found that Australian metallurgical coal exports produce nearly half a billion tonnes of CO2 offshore - 88 per cent as much greenhouse pollution as we produce domestically.

“This cannot continue if we want to try to protect national icons like the Great Barrier Reef and make good on our promise as part of the Paris climate accords to curb global warming for future generations,” Casule said.

“Coal is a dirty and outdated method of producing power and a dirty and outdated method of making steel.”

The report urges the Australian government to learn from the lessons of thermal coal and to make a planned transition away from metallurgical coal.

“Coal communities across Australia have already been left in the lurch by the Federal Government’s failure to anticipate or accept the decline of thermal coal,” Casule said.

“We cannot afford to make the same mistake with communities who currently rely on the metallurgical coal industry.

“The government must immediately plan and implement a just transition away from all forms of coal and shift to cleaner steel production.

“We have the opportunity for Australia to become a leader in clean steel production while also ensuring that it makes a meaningful contribution to global efforts to combat climate change.”

Notes for editors:
“Steeling the Future” can be accessed at the below link: http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/what-we-do/climate/resources/reports/Steeling-the-Future/

For more information contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org

The program heard from former workers who claimed as little as seven per cent of the donations were actually passed on to the desired charity, with the rest going directly to the Appco Group.

“The behaviour on display by Appco staff is disgusting and shows a company taking advantage of the generosity of the Australian public,” Greenpeace Deputy Program Director, Nic Seton, said.

“While Greenpeace Australia Pacific have never had any dealings with Appco we are nonetheless disgusted that executives in that company would see using a charity’s good name to gouge the public for donations.

Greenpeace use a number of different service providers to connect with the public for charitable donations all of which go through a rigorous due diligence process.

“Agencies are constantly reassessed as part of this due diligence process and any suppliers who show the lack of ethics and frankly predatory behaviour that Appco had on display will be terminated,” Seton said.

“We believe in protecting the environment and assisting impacted communities and every single dollar that we raise is budgeted to best maximize our impact.”

For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org