Australia needs to step up its efforts to protect vulnerable and endangered species, including insects, to combat mass extinction and set an example for the rest of the world, the Greens say.

Reports of more rare and endangered birds being exported to Germany and into the hands of a convicted criminal must be investigated urgently, the Greens say.

The Liberal National Government must stand up to greedy corporate irrigators and the cotton industry by stopping them from taking more than their fair share, and support a Royal Commission, the Greens say.

Seismic testing is the first step to drilling in the Great Australian Bight and will have devastating outcomes for SA, the Greens say.

The Federal Water Minister must force the NSW and QLD Governments to urgently invoke their powers and embargo the cotton industry’s water extraction from the Murray Darling Basin after widespread fish deaths, the Greens say.

More reports of dead native fish floating in their thousands in the Lower Darling sends a dreadful signal on the health of the River.

The Greens have responded to the release of a secret Ernst & Young Audit report that has shown state governments, including South Australia have been mismanaging taxpayer funded environmental water throughout the Murray-Darling Basin, creating “unique fraud risks”.

“This audit shows the environment and taxpayers continue to be ripped off by both State and Federal Governments, including here in South Australia,” Greens spokesperson for Environment & Water Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

10,000 native fish found dead this week from a blue-green algae bloom in the Darling River is a dire warning of what’s to come after the Federal and State Governments refused last week to guarantee 450GL of water for environment flows.

“Our River system is dying and our environment is in collapse,” Greens Environment and Water spokesperson Senator Hanson-Young said today.

“Both the Coalition and Labor parties have failed to stand up to the corporate irrigators and are letting the River die.

The Australian Greens are calling for an immediate halt to the export of native animals, and an independent inquiry into how hundreds of endangered and rare Australian birds have been exported for sale.

Australia must strengthen environmental laws, backed up by real investment, if it is to heed the recommendations of last week’s UN Biodiversity Conference in Egypt.