Australia has embarked on a “whole of government” diplomatic and ministerial lobbying campaign to correct “misinformation” and prevent the Great Barrier Reef from being placed on the UNESCO world heritage committee’s “in danger” list, a Senate committee has been told.
The Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, visited German Environment Minister and World Heritage committee chair Maria Boehmer in January, and Senate estimates heard on Thursday that ambassadors in all of the 21 countries on the committee had been enlisted in the lobbying effort.
“We have asked our ambassadors in countries that are on the world heritage committee, this is a whole of government effort, we will use our diplomatic resources to best effect,” said the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese, in response to questions from the Greens senator Larissa Waters. “There is currently a campaign to list the Great Barrier Reef as in danger; we are doing all that we can to ensure the campaign does not succeed,” he said. “...There are a number of assertions about the management of the Great Barrier Reef and its vulnerability which are not grounded in fact and which need to be rebutted.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“We have tasked several of our heads of mission and in the case of [New York consul general and former Howard government minister, Nick] Minchin, heads of post to make that clear to the investment community.” Guardian Australia reported last month that Minchin has been lobbying foreign banks reported to have ruled out financing the Abbot Point coal export terminal, adjacent to the reef.
“Those representations are not asking banks to endorse any particular project, they are setting out the views of the Australian government on the question of whether the Great Barrier Reef is in danger and ... the government’s approach to ... the effective management of the Great Barrier Reef.” “Mr. Minchin was not lobbying for any particular project ... he was meeting with investment bankers to make the point that the misinformation being circulated was inaccurate ... to the extent that investors are taking that into account to make judgements about projects they ought to be aware of it,” he said.
The attorney general George Brandis, who was representing the foreign minister at the estimates committee hearing, was incredulous at the Green senator’s line of questioning.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Surely you are not suggesting that it is not the role of Australian consuls general or department of foreign affairs employees generally to promote the interests of Australian business,” he asked Waters.
“I understand you have a particular view about this development that is not widely shared and certainly not shared by the Queensland public ... but it is the core role of our representatives overseas to promote the interests of Australian business,” he said.
“I see no reason at all why ... that might not extent to assisting them securing project financing ... for businesses that bring jobs and employment to the Queenslanders you are meant to be representing.” Minchin’s meeting requests came shortly after Citigroup and Goldman Sachs and other US financial institutions confirmed to a US environmental group, in letters cited in the Wall Street Journal, that they would avoid investments in Abbot Point.
This followed Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC, Credit Agricole and Deutsche Bank ruling out investments earlier last year.
Guardian Australia reported last year that government efforts to ensure the reef’s world heritage status is not downgraded are being coordinated by a special unit called the Great Barrier Reef taskforce.
A total of 21 countries provide representatives to UNESCO’s World Heritage committee, and the group is set to gather in Bonn in June to decide, among other things, whether the reef should be put on the endangered list. The 21 countries include India, Jamaica, Japan, Portugal and Germany. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015