The Niki party announced on Tuesday morning that it has removed its MP Nikos Vrettos from the parliamentary inquiry into the OPKEPE scandal. The decision came shortly after the first session of the inquiry and follows Vrettos’s support for New Democracy’s proposal for the inquiry’s president. According to the party’s statement, the move followed what it described as Vrettos’s “arbitrary initiative” to support the New Democracy candidate. Vrettos reportedly explained his vote by saying he did so “because New Democracy has the right to elect the President of the Committee.” The party says this action ran against Niki’s official position on a matter it considers very serious. In addition to his removal from the inquiry committee, the party has initiated the internal process defined by its statutes to refer Vrettos to the Ethics Committee with a request for his expulsion. The statement notes that this latest deviation adds to earlier instances in which Vrettos diverged from the party line on important bills and other key issues in recent weeks. Niki’s announcement also reiterated the party’s view of the OPKEPE affair as a grave matter. The statement called the scandal “a crime against our country” and said those involved or covering it up should be treated accordingly. The party emphasized that the OPKEPE inquiry is not a place for political games but a setting to seek accountability and protect the nation’s interests.

In Short The Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait have experienced six bleaching events since 2016, including back-to-back occurrences in 2016-17 and 2024-25. Experts are urging a greater focus on water quality, as increasing flooding creates “flood plumes” that harm reef ecosystems. The Current State of the Great Barrier Reef It is no secret that the world’s largest coral reef is under significant pressure. Coral bleaching, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, cyclonic weather events, and rising sea temperatures frequently make headlines regarding the health of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. This February, freshwater flood plumes reached reefs up to 100 kilometres off the coasts of North and Far North Queensland, underlining a pressing concern: water quality. On Orpheus Island, approximately 3,000 giant clams perished due to floodwater from the Herbert River catchment. Marine biologist Dr. Richard Braley, who spearheaded a significant restoration project in the 1980s, expressed his dismay: “These organisms are stenohaline, meaning they can’t handle a broad range of salinity changes. It was a sad event; they survived there for 40 years without a problem.” Floodwater brought sediment that lowered salinity by about 70 percent. Jenni Calcraft, manager of James Cook University’s Orpheus Island Research Station, reported observing “clam bodies” floating away: “The tissue bits were just washing up on the beach,” she said. “Essentially, they had this two-to-three metre lens of freshwater sitting on top of them for so long that their tissue disintegrated and they didn’t survive.” Efforts to Improve Water Quality In response to these challenges, TropWATER, an organization working with wetlands and aquatic ecosystems in North and Far North Queensland, has made significant strides in recent years. Professor Damien Burrows, the organization’s director, highlighted recent successes in helping farmers and landholders adopt environmentally friendly practices. TropWATER collaborates with cane farmers to monitor nitrogen levels in their fields and prevent runoff into local catchments. They also focus on wetland restoration and replanting riparian zones to mitigate runoff into waterways. Professor Burrows noted, “Nutrients and sediments can create flood plumes during the wet season, blocking light and affecting the growth of seagrass and coral.” He emphasized that while global warming is beyond local control, improving water quality is achievable: “It’s a very solvable problem from that point of view.”…