Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We hear from the opposition again that it is an attack on jobs. I think it is really interesting that they would actually argue this point. It sounds a bit like the doomsayers who talked about the introduction of technology—in particular, computers—and how it was going to destroy our way of life, how people would lose jobs and how the whole of our society would fall apart. We are now fundamentally dependent on computers. We now have many, many wealthy people who have made a lot of money out of computers. We now have a whole different approach to the way that computers support our industry and our basic needs. This is the same sort of debate. This is about looking at how we can protect the future, create a sustainable environment, create a sustainable economy and not have this head-in-the-sand attitude to what is of fundamental importance.

This issue is also of great concern to our neighbours. I was talking at a human rights conference recently to members of the Pacific Islands. This is not an academic debate for them about a consultant’s report; this is about whether they have fresh, clean water in their creeks, rather than salt water because of rising sea levels. This is about land being reclaimed.

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