Obama pleads for our reef - Bishop criticizes comments

Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister,
Julie Bishop, who has criticized
 Barack Obama's reef comments.

Barack Obama took advantage of his visit to Australia for the G20 Summit in Brisbane to plead for the preservation of the Great Barrier Reef just off Queensland’s coast.

The U.S. president told a packed auditorium at the University of Queensland that he hadn’t had time on this visit to stop off a see the reef, but he wanted it there in pristine condition which would allow him to bring his daughters and their sons and daughters to see it.

Chairing a New York meeting of the UN Security Council, Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop, used that platform to criticize Mr Obama’s comments.

Her observations were reported today in an Age story headed: “Julie Bishop criticises Barack Obama over Great Barrier Reef comments”.