Greenpeace is exploiting the Great Barrier Reef to make money, Queensland Senator Matt Canavan said today.

“The Great Barrier Reef doesn’t need Greenpeace but Greenpeace needs the Great Barrier Reef,” Senator Canavan said. “Greenpeace is a multinational corporation that exploits the Great Barrier Reef for millions of dollars a year in public donations.
 
“Greenpeace constantly claims the GBR is in danger, urging people to donate to Greenpeace to help save the Reef. The Reef will do fine without Greenpeace but Greenpeace stands to lose millions when people realise the Reef is okay.
 
“Greenpeace is prepared to trash the reputation of the Great Barrier Reef and Australia – and threaten jobs in tourism and related industries – for the sake of making cash.”
 
Senator Canavan was responding to revelations Greenpeace is advertising in London for urgent donations to protect the Reef.
 
“The Greenpeace billboard shows a multi-clawed dredge bucket poised over a coral outcrop, with the words ‘Don’t let it be destroyed’. It’s straight-out scare-mongering for the sake of raising money for Greenpeace. It’s a disgrace.”
 
Last month, Senator Canavan accused Greenpeace of false advertising that would put much-needed Queensland jobs at risk by substituting a photograph of a reef in the Philippines damaged by typhoons in an advertisement about the Great Barrier Reef.
 
He has also called for Greenpeace to be struck from the list of organisations able to receive tax-deductible donations because the organisation has repeatedly and blatantly broken the law.
 
Senator Canavan said, in Australia alone, Greenpeace raised more than $19 million in public donations last year and employs some 60 permanent staff.