New figures show China imported 42 per cent less coal in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same period last year, with analysts saying it's a signal demand for Australian coal will continue to fall.

"We need to leave it in the ground, simple as that," said Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne.

"Tony Abbott has got to stop propping up this polluting industry that is falling down around his ears.

With three French banks ruling out finance for Galilee Basin coal mines, the Australian Greens are calling on Australian banks to follow suit.

"These French banks are some of the world's biggest coal industry lenders and even they can see that investing in the Galilee Basin coal mines is environmentally and financially reckless," Senator Christine Milne said.

"It's time that Australian banks woke up and realised the environmental, climate, economic and reputational risks of investing in the Galilee Basin coal mines are dire.

Greens leader Christine Milne says dire projections for Australia in the new CSIRO climate change report must be a wake-up call for the Abbott government and big business, which are harming people and missing huge economic opportunities by refusing to minimise global warming.

"If the natural world is in trouble, then so are we, and the Abbott government's climate denial and policy destruction has got us in serious trouble indeed," said Senator Milne.

Amid reports that Shree Minerals' Nelson Bay River mine is under investigation for breaching its federal environmental permit, Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne says the Abbott government must not proceed with plans to hand protection powers over to the state.

It's believed the Tasmanian Government amended its permit to allow the Nelson Bay River Mine to produce 20 times more acid-producing waste rock than originally planned, but the Federal Environment Department was not notified or given a chance to model the impacts on threatened species.

The Australian Greens say tankers in the Great Barrier Reef pose an unacceptable risk, as storms of greater intensity batter the North Queensland coast.

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has come out and said we're no longer predicting the consequences of climate change, we're actually observing them," said Greens Leader Christine Milne.

"Our hearts go out to the people of North Queensland as Cyclone Ita approaches.

The Australian Greens Leader, Senator Christine Milne, speaks in the Senate on how the big coalminers of Australia have pulled the strings of the Abbott government to the detriment of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Australian Greens announced a new policy in Brisbane today to stop offshore dumping of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef, being dug up at record rates for new coal and gas ports.

"It's time Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott started treating the Great Barrier Reef as a natural wonder of the world and not as a dumping ground for the big mining companies," Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said. 

The Australian Government should reduce coal exports and take urgent action on the Great Barrier Reef if we are to save it for future generations, the Australian Greens said today.

A shocking new report released by the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences shows the Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its coral cover since the 1980s, and could lose half again in only ten years if it's business as usual.