Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I repeat, in an important report, the Great Barrier Reef outlook report 2009, which I released last month, there was confirmation of significant threats to the reef. As we know, the Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia’s and the world’s great natural assets. It is worth some $6 billion a year and supports over 63,000 jobs in fishing, tourism, and cultural and recreational industries. Critically, a two-degree rise is expected to cause serious damage to the Great Barrier Reef, with experts predicting a shift from hard coral dominated reefs to seaweed dominated reefs. Worryingly, from the Institute of Marine Science, research shows us that calcification rates in large boulder corals have declined some 15.2 per cent throughout the Great Barrier Reef since 1990. This is absolutely unprecedented, at least in the past 400 years. So there are significant risks to our environment, risks to our economy, risks to our unique ecosystems and our biodiversity, risks to productive landscapes and risks to industries. Report after report sends these alarm bells well and truly ringing.

That is why it is absolutely critical that Australia plays its part in reducing our own emissions. It is absolutely critical to recognise that we do not have any time to wait. The science is in and the risks are real and already very present. The only excuse for continuing climate change inaction, for continued delay, is if you do not accept the risks—if you continue to reject the evidence, if you continue to deny the science. If you do accept that Australia has so much to lose from dangerous climate change, then it follows that the sooner we take responsibility and transform our economy for a low-emissions future, the lower the costs and greater the benefits will be. That is what this government is bringing forward with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme—

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