The Australian Greens have savaged Labor’s decision to vote with the Liberals today in the Senate to spend public money opening up massive gas fields in the Beetaloo Basin, saying the move raised questions as to whether Labor still believes the climate crisis is real.

If Labor had voted with the Greens and crossbench, the fund would have been abolished, given the numbers in the Senate. Labor is responsible for the continued existence of the $50 million Beetaloo Co-operative Drilling Program to open up new gas projects.

The Greens say an investigation is needed into the offsets for the Western Sydney Airport, after revelations that consortiums including advisors to the NSW government made millions from the development. 

An investigation by Lisa Cox at The Guardian revealed that over a quarter of all offsets sold in the NSW scheme were collected by the consortiums. 

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader, Adam Bandt:

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, says a new report on the impact of global warming on the Murray-Darling makes the fork in the road crystal clear.

“If Scott Morrison doesn’t accept we’re in a climate emergency and start phasing out coal and gas, nothing will save the Murray-Darling,” Bandt said.

“The Prime Minister must choose between crops or coal, because we can’t have both.

“Scott Morrison is failing to protect Australia’s farmers.

“Scott Morrison’s coal-hugging and climate-denial is threatening Australia’s ability to feed itself.

Despite Federal Government approval for the Santos Narrabri gas field, the community still has two years to stop the project and save Narrabri, Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP says.

Santos has until 2022 to decide whether to proceed with the project following an 18 month appraisal phase.

With the project not stacking up economically, environmentally, or against our obligation to stop global warming, the Greens say pressure must be kept on the government and Santos to not proceed.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader, Adam Bandt:

Today’s federal approval of Santos’ Narrabri gasfields will do untold damage to our ability to keep global warming to 2 degrees, the Australian Greens have said. 

Instead of accepting gas expansion through a flawed planning process, the Greens have called for a green recovery - with public investment in clean energy, renewables, and green hydrogen.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader, Adam Bandt:

The Australian Greens have called on the chief executive of Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Chris Salisbury, to resign or be sacked over the growing scandal regarding his company’s destruction of the sacred Pilbara site.

The Greens will also move for Rio Tinto and the Federal Environment Minister to be called before the Senate Environment References Committee. 

The Australian Greens have slammed Scott Morrison's cabinet reshuffle, which further cements the climate denialism of this government.

Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:

"Moving Keith Pitt, a nuke-loving climate denier, back onto the front bench makes the intentions of this government even clearer.

"We are in a climate emergency but this Prime Minister shamefully thinks it's appropriate to put on the frontbench a man who previously quit cabinet over opposition to the Paris Agreement.