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Jimmy Barnes joins King Gizz to lead Aussie music supergroup on new release to save Scott Reef

Greenpeace Australia Pacific 3 mins read

SYDNEY, Monday 9 November 2026 — Australian music icons Jimmy Barnes AO, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Fred Leone, Gordi & Montaigne are among the more than 20 Australian artists who have joined forces to release a new song with an urgent message: save Scott Reef.

 

Download media assets here, and find lyrics and credits sheet here.

 

Released today, “If Not Now” is a reimagining of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s Environmental Music Prize-winning song “If Not Now, Then When?”, and is a collaboration between Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Green Music Australia, and p(doom) Records.

 

Scott Reef is a 15-million-year-old ancient coral reef located 270 kilometres off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. It is Australia’s largest oceanic reef and is home to thousands of marine animals and endangered species, but fossil fuel corporation Woodside plans to drill up to 57 toxic wells under and around the reef, threatening to turn it into an industrial gas zone.

 

“If Not Now” is the reef’s first and only release, out on all digital platforms and on limited edition 7” vinyl. The song is accompanied by cover art and visualiser from acclaimed Australian artist and ARIA-winning music video director Jonathan Zawada (Flume, The Avalanches).

 

Speaking about the track, Stu Mackenzie (lead singer, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard) said: "Why are we still digging up coal and gas? Why are we allowing this? Why is the Australian government so hell-bent on destroying our beautiful wild and untouched places? I’m proud that a King Gizz song was chosen to represent a growing movement of people who are asking these questions and applying pressure. Let’s shut it down and keep it beautiful."

 

Rock legend Jimmy Barnes AO said: "Scott Reef is one of the few pristine reefs left in the world and it happens to be on our doorstep. We're custodians of it — we're supposed to be looking after it. It's ridiculous. We must protect our country and look after what we value most, which is the nature and the beauty of this country.”

 

Hannah Schuch, Senior Campaigner for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “I’m filled with hope by the incredible musicians and artists who are using their voices and skills to amplify the voices of half a million Australians who are calling on the government to stop Woodside’s nature and climate-wrecking gas plans and save Scott Reef. Australian music has long been a powerful catalyst for change, so saving Scott Reef is a no-brainer for Australian music lovers.”

 

Contributing artists (in alphabetic order):

 

  • Alex Lahey

  • Brinkley Davies (marine biologist/freediver)

  • Birdland

  • Close Counters

  • DOBBY

  • Fred Leone (Artist of the Year at the 2026 NIMAs, singing in Butculla)

  • Gordi

  • Jimmy Barnes
  • John Butler

  • King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
  • Leah Senior

  • Mahalia Barnes

  • Montaigne

  • Ngaiire

  • NIDALA

  • Peppa Lane (Spacey Jane)

  • Ruby Rodgers (2026 Environmental Music Prize winner)

  • Terry Guyula (Drifting Clouds, singing in Yolgu Matha)

  • Tom Mahler (The Moving Stills)

  • Urthboy

 

Production cast:

 

  • Becki Whitton (G Flip, Allday, Stella Donnelly)

  • Stu McKenzie (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard)

  • Tay Blunt (FVNERAL)

  • Tim Shiel (Green Music Australia)

 

Three generations of the Barnes family, Jimmy Barnes, his daughter, Mahalia Barnes and granddaughter Ruby Rodgers, contributed to the track.

 

The release comes amid growing national pressure on the Federal Government to save Scott Reef from Woodside’s gas drilling plans. 

 

Last week, a leaked letter from WA’s environmental watchdog to Woodside revealed the agency deemed drilling risks to Scott Reef ‘serious, significant and irreversible’, while Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists occupied a major Woodside gas platform, and Perth communities delivered one of the biggest environmental petitions in Australia's history to Woodside HQ.

 

The Federal Government is expected to make a decision on Woodside’s Scott Reef drilling plans in the coming months.

 

-ENDS-

 

High res images and footage of Scott Reef can be found here (NEW) and here.


Contact details:

Emma Sangalli on 0431 513 465 or [email protected] 

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