Reef is fine, Hanson says after turning up 1000km from bleaching

Senator Pauline Hanson has slipped into a wetsuit for a party room meeting on the Great Barrier Reef to show the public the natural icon is alive and well.

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson listens to marine scientist Alison Jones a the Great Barrier Reef off Great Keppel Island, Queensland, Friday, Nov. 25, 2016. Source: AAP

Pauline Hanson has slipped into a wetsuit and made a splash on the Great Barrier Reef to highlight "untruths" being told about the natural wonder's health.

The One Nation Party leader went for a swim above the reef off Great Keppel Island where her team held a party room meeting on Friday.

Ms Hanson says the public is being told "untruths" about the state of the reef that are destroying the tourism industry and businesses.

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson leaps into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef off Great Keppel Island, Queensland, Friday, Nov. 25, 2016. Source: AAP

"When we have these agendas that are actually destroying our tourism industry and businesses ... we need to ask the questions and we want answers," she said.

"The Greens have no concern about people and jobs that we need here in Queensland, and the escalating costs that we are feeling from the effects of this."

One Nation senators Malcolm Roberts, who has long argued the case for global warming doesn't stack up, and Brian Burston were also on the reef trip.

Mr Roberts said people had stopped coming to the reef because they were being told it was dead and that Australia should not be reporting on its health to the UN agency UNESCO.

Conservationists are concerned climate change is putting severe stress on the reef, which experienced a massive coral bleaching event this year, and some have declared it's dying at an unprecedented rate.

The Climate Council today invited One Nation senators to go out on the reef to view the coral bleaching further north.

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson snorkels on the Great Barrier Reef off Great Keppel Island. Source: AAP

"We invite the One Nation senators to come with us, and other marine scientists, to where the coral bleaching has actually occurred. They would see the devastating impacts with their own eyes,” The Climate Council’s Professor Lesley Hughes said.

“If One Nation is worried about the Reef they are visiting the wrong spot. They are 1000km away from where the action is.”

The World Wildlife Fund said One Nation should have visited Lizard Island where

bleaching, caused by high water temperatures, has killed much of the coral.