Peter Whish-Wilson

We know that shark nets are indiscriminate killers of marine wildlife that don’t keep beachgoers safe (& may even attract sharks!).

These NSW trials are a positive first step towards getting nets off our beaches and investing in alternatives that actually keep people safe.

Popular Sydney beaches could soon join shark net removal trial Councils who run some of the most popular beaches in the country, including Bondi, have been asked to join a trial of removing shark nets by the New South Wales government.

That some of Australia’s most iconic beaches could soon be free from shark nets is epic news!

Finally – the NSW state government appears willing to listen to the mountain of evidence against these inhumane and ineffective nets.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Prime Minister you must act!

Declare the SA algal bloom a National Emergency so communities and researchers can get the resources and help they need.

And end the new fossil fuel projects that are driving these heatwaves – starting by revoking the North West Shelf approval!

We need to start treating marine heatwaves like the disasters they are.

The SA toxic algal bloom – driven by a heatwave – is just another example of the devastation they wreak on our wildlife & communities.

And we know they will only get worse as the oceans warm further.

The govt seems content to look the other way when environmental disasters occur underwater – out of sight, out of mind for so many.

Just look at the lack of action in response to the record beaching on Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef this summer.

And now South Australia.

The Greens are ready to work constructively across party lines to increase our marine protected areas. Importantly, we want more parks placed in ecologically significant areas of the marine environment & to include no extractive activities such as drilling for oil and gas!

This Treaty is critical for achieving the global 30x30 aim to protect 30% of oceans by 2030.

It's a positive step – one that only last week I called on the Govt to urgently take. But Australia still has much to do before we come close to being world leaders in ocean protection.

It is great to hear the Albanese government will introduce legislation to ratify the UN High Seas Treaty.

This Treaty will implement a framework to manage & protect international waters – which remain a lawless frontier where environmental destruction is often met with impunity.

Labor must reject not only this new plan by the QLD govt, but also work with the Greens in the next federal Parliament to strengthen our environment laws and close the loophole that allows the continued use of nets and drumlines on Australian beaches in the first place.

The QLD govt's $88M investment is not to protect our beaches, it's to protect politicians!

Sharks are being scapegoated to sow fear & division in an LNP culture war.

The use of destructive nets on Australian beaches is absurd when there are so many better alternatives!

We know lethal nets and drumlines are indiscriminate killers of marine wildlife & research shows they don’t actually reduce shark interactions. In fact, shark nets can attract sharks to beaches where they can feed on marine wildlife caught in the nets.

The QLD govt’s plan to expand its use of shark nets and drumlines is not shark control – it’s a shark cull!

The federal Environment Minister must reject it.

But clearly dirty fossil fuel profits are just more important in the eyes of the Albanese Government.

The approval of the North West Shelf extension is a complete betrayal by Labor – of our wildlife, environment, oceans, life on this planet and future generations.

Our oceans are cooking.

Just south of where Labor has detonated this climate bomb, Ningaloo Reef has suffered record mass coral bleaching due to warming oceans. And to the east the Great Barrier Reef has been hit with a seventh major bleaching event!

Do Labor not understand we are in a climate crisis, or do they just not care?

This climate bomb will release up to 6.1B tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

That’s well over the maximum 3.5B tonnes of emissions the govt can release while still achieving net-zero by 2050.

This week Labor approved some of the most polluting fossil fuel projects in Australia’s history & locked us into gas until 2070 by ticking off Woodside’s North West Shelf extension project.

State Government expands shark mitigation measures The State Government has partnered with Surfing WA to deliver $300,000 in funding for shark mitigation measures.

It’s great to see govts investing in modern, non-lethal shark mitigation!

We know that lethal nets & drumlines don't keep beaches safe & harm marine wildlife.

Surveillance, resource building and education in collaboration with community like this is the way to go. More of this!!

The evidence in this report is clear – there is no more time to waste.

The Greens call on both major parties to commit to mandating our nation’s waste reduction targets, banning harmful single use plastics, and legislating EPR schemes in the next parliament.

Like most environmental problems, plastic pollution is also a political problem.

It’s hardly surprising that policies have failed given successive governments have chosen to put the responsibility for waste on consumers, rather than hold big producers & retailers to account.

Australia is losing the war on waste.

The new Senate inquiry report into Australia’s waste reduction and recycling policies shows clearly that our current and historic federal policy framework has failed.

It is time for strong, political action on the waste crisis.

A Senate inquiry into marine invasive species recommended establishing and funding a long-spined sea urchin task force, and the Greens are eager to work with all sides of politics in the next parliament to make this a reality.

If our terrestrial forests were being decimated at the same rate as our kelp forests there would be uproar.

It’s predicted that half of all Tassie’s east coast reefs will be lost by the mid-2030s unless action is taken to protect the Great Southern Reef.

End AUKUS. It’s that simple.

Trump has proven himself over and over again to be nothing but dangerous & destructive.

That we continue to tie ourselves to the US and its military priorities is unthinkable.

Today should be our ‘Liberation Day’ – liberation from this toxic deal.

Just imagine how much more pressure we’ll be able to apply with more Greens in Parliament.

Next, let’s get dental into Medicare and end native forest logging!

Vote 1 Greens to keep Dutton out and push Labor to act.

Bandt says Greens policy ‘adopted’ by Albanese – as it happened This blog is now closed.

First GP for Free, now making supermarket price gouging illegal! After months of Greens campaigning, Labor has once again adopted another one of our policies.

Once again, this is proof that Greens pressure works!

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Dutton vows fast-track approval for Woodside's gas behemoth The opposition leader would move to facilitate approval for the WA gas expansion within 30 days, and crack down on appeals against approval decisions.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03...

It has never been clearer that Dutton’s nuclear plan is nothing more than a distraction from him locking us into even more filthy fossil fuels and emissions.

Meanwhile, Labor’s continued failure to reject this project is a complete betrayal.

This election, vote for change!

Extending Woodside’s North West Shelf project would be a climate crime that would facilitate the most polluting projects in Australia’s history & lock us into gas until 2070.

Dutton’s pledge to approve the project shows the type of horrors in store under a Government he'd lead.

Why stop there though? With more Greens voted into Parliament at the next election, we could push harder to get dental and mental health into Medicare.

Together, we can keep the pressure up to keep Dutton out and push Labor to act.

This commitment to fixing our broken bulk billing system is much needed. A recent report found there were no clinics at all in my home state of Tassie that bulk billed new adult patients!!

Now, thanks to Greens pressure, that is set to change.