She was in the city to support the Greens campaign to win the seat of Griffith, left vacant by Kevin Rudd’s retirement. "In the past 24 hours we have heard about cyclones brewing off the Queensland Coast, we have heard about the suffering in rural communities because of the extended and extreme drought," she said. "And know we have heard that the Abbott Government is prepared to dump three million cubic metres of dredge sludge into the reef." On Friday, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority permitted dredging spoil to be dumped inside the park, but only in an area where there was no coral. However Senator Milne said that was "sleight of hand" because the sludge shifted with currents.

"We know that this sludge can travel up to 80 kilometres," Senator Milne said. "You cannot dump three million cubic metres of sludge into the reef and think it won’t impact on water quality." Senator Milne said major parties were ignoring the preliminary warning signs of climate change and the implications that had for rural and tourism jobs. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee will rule in June on whether the Great Barrier Reef should be classed as endangered or not. "Risking an ’endangered’ listing for the Great Barrier Reef is an assault on the tourism industry, on the 63,000 jobs that are associated with it," she said.

"But more importantly, on the reef itself which is suffering because of the impacts of bleaching, acidification and now the human-induced damage simply to advance the coal industry and the gas industry in Queensland." On the weekend, the Federal and Queensland governments released a report which showed what it called the steps taken to improve the condition of the Great Barrier Reef. Greens candidate Geoff Ebbs said major parties had neglected the main issues facing Australia in the future. "There has been no action on climate change and there is no action on building an economy not based on fossil fuels," Mr Ebbs said. Labor, prior to the previous federal election, introduced a carbon tax to "penalise" carbon-emitting industries, while the new coalition government is set to introduce a "direct action" series of projects to absorb carbon dioxide and scrap Labor’s carbon tax.

Senator Milne questioned the long-term thinking behind that and pointed to Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce and his drought concerns for farmers. "It is not one-off," Senator Milne said. "What we ought to be doing is planning a long-term future for people on the land. "And that means factoring in the impacts of climate change, factoring in the changed agricultural practices that we need to manage land,’’ she said. "You cannot deal with droughts in Australia without acknowledging global warming.

"Senator Milne also questioned the federal government’s decision to shift sections of the Tasmanian forest from the World Heritage Area in order to log it. The federal government argues the jobs from logging will reinvigorate parts of Tasmania, but Senator Milne disagreed. "It is time that Australians really thought about what Tony Abbott is doing and held him to account." The Griffith byelection is being held on February 8.