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

I think that most people listening to parliament today will recognise that, firstly, climate change is an environmental issue and, secondly, we take the environment very seriously in this House, unlike those on the other side. I thank the member for Makin for his question. From Bondi to Broome, Australians love the coast—we are familiar with the statistic that about 80 per cent of the population lives in the coastal zone. The important report that the Prime Minister referred to today from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Climate, Water, Environment and the Arts entitled Managing our Coastal Zone in a Changing Climate: the time to act is now does bring home the real impact that climate change will have on this part of Australia that is much loved by all of us. I want to compliment that committee and the chair, the member for Throsby, for their very good work.

This coastal inquiry report notes that small rises in sea level can cause disproportionately large impacts. The report includes an alarming statistic that approximately 711,000 addresses are within three kilometres of the coast and less than six metres above sea level. It is important for us to realise that sea level rise is only one of the impacts that climate change can have on the coast—it interacts with other changes like the daily climate, increases in storm tides and flooding from heavy rainfall. It is the way that those impacts work together and trigger other changes that is cause for concern. It is a chain reaction of impacts and it is identified in this important report. I give one example: in the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park, which I have responsibility for, the extensive lowland wetlands are particularly vulnerable. As the sea level rises the salinity in these wetlands will also rise.

See this speech in context