17th Mar 2015, 4:05 PM – Senate Motions — Great Barrier Reef

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has repeatedly stated that the most serious threat to the reef is climate change,

(ii) the Abbot Point coal port expansion would facilitate the export of up to 180 million tonnes of coal per year,

(iii) nine global banks, including HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Citi, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have refused to finance the Abbot Point coal port expansion, and

(iv) the Australian Youth Climate Coalition's Dump Your Bank campaign is helping customers make sure their savings are not used to fund the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef and the climate; and

(b) congratulates former customers of the big four Australian banks who have divested because the big four Australian banks have not ruled out investing in the Abbot Point coal port expansion which would accelerate the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef.