“It is fantastic to see the class action by seaweed farmers in Indonesia over the Montara oil spill up and running”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

“I have been committed to seeing justice for those affected since the disastrous spill, which happened seven years ago.  This would have seemed like a lifetime of turmoil for locals.

“Having visited the seaweed farmers and fishers, I have heard firsthand of the concerns about impacts that the spill on seaweed farmers, fishers and the local economy.

Addressing coral bleaching, investment in shark research, and reinstating our comprehensive marine parks system have been announced as part of the Australian Greens marine package today.

Australian Greens spokesperson on marine issues, Senator Rachel Siewert said:

“As a nation Australia is incredibly proud of our unique marine ecosystems, yet they are at risk from climate change, overfishing, oil and gas production and other challenges.

The Government must strengthen protection for Western Australian reefs and reinstate marine parks to help combat worsening coral bleaching, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

"In estimates this week it was revealed that the review into marine parks won't be released until after the election, meaning it will be a significant period of time before our marine parks are operational, this is not good enough.

The Senate has supported a Greens motion calling on the Government to address coral bleaching and reinstate our world leading system of marine parks.

“I welcome the Senate’s acknowledgment that Australia has some of the world’s greatest marine natural environments, with rich biodiversity and unique species”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

“When elected the Abbott Government abandoned our world-class marine parks, Mr Turnbull has done nothing to reinstate them.

With increasing evidence that coral bleaching is occurring off the coast of the Kimberley Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert is calling on the Government to urgently reinstate marine parks.

“I have been worried for some time that coral bleaching would also be occurring off the coast of WA and now unfortunately we are starting to see the evidence of this bleaching. I’m deeply concerned that we might have bleaching similar to the scale of that occurring on the Great Barrier Reef”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.

The Australian Greens welcome news the co-founder and project manager for ‘Shark Spotters’, a successful non-lethal shark mitigation program from Cape Town, has been crowdfunded to visit Australia in early March.

“It is disappointing that the Government and the ALP have moved to validate offshore petroleum titles in marine parks that were deemed invalid”, said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

“Due to an ‘administrative oversight’ between 2008 and 2015 leases were not subject to environmental approval process (as they should be) so were deemed invalid. The Bill was rushed through the Parliament to fix the error and has passed into legislation today.