Prime Minister should take control over catastrophic oil spill disaster

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown has called on the Prime Minister to remove Martin Ferguson as a Minister and take control over the catastrophic West Atlas oil spill disaster.

On August 23 Minister Ferguson said "the oil spill is not as big as first thought." He also claimed that "it is evaporating naturally".

"A full judicial inquiry should have begun from the outset. An independent watchdog would have ensured all the necessary expertise from around the world was employed to prevent and reduce the tragic environmental impacts of the spill," Senator Brown said.

"Leaving this clean-up operation to the drilling company is not good enough. It's time for Kevin Rudd to step in and do what the Minister should have done way back in August."

"This is the Minister that has rewarded the same company with massive new exploration licenses in the middle of this catastrophe," Senator Brown said.

Media contact: Peter Stahel 0433 005 727