Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for her question. I know how keen she is to see us protect our environment and to see us have a clean energy economy for the future. And I think the Hansardshould record that her question about Kakadu National Park was met with jeers from the opposition, including, 'Who cares!'—who cares about Kakadu National Park. In this parliament, let me tell you who cares: the Australian people do. That is why, 20 years ago, Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke determined to add to the protections of Kakadu National Park, to add to the area of the park and to protect it from mining—a brave decision 20 years ago. That decision 20 years ago was trenchantly opposed by the opposition—by the Liberal Party and by the National Party. And, Mr Speaker, in words you might find eerily familiar, they were saying that they had to oppose this move by Prime Minister Bob Hawke because, unless they did so, the mining industry in this country would be dead. Those words are ringing in my ears: the mining industry in this country would be dead. They had to act to stop Bob Hawke protecting Kakadu because it would kill the mining industry. To use the words of the former opposition leader Alexander Downer, he went so far as to say, 'The decision'—believe it or not I am quoting this—'will do Australia irreparable damage in the mainstream of the capitalist world.' That is what protecting Kakadu National Park was going to do. It generated huge headlines: 'Coronation Hill to make or break the mining industry'.

Well, with the benefit of 20 years, let us just reflect on how accurate this fear campaign was. Let us just go through it. Are we damaged in the mainstream of the capitalist world because we protected Kakadu? I do not think so. Is the mining industry dead in this country because we protected Kakadu, with the most recent official figures saying there is more than $400 billion of investment in the pipeline? Here we stand 20 years later and here in my hands is a report about what could happen to Kakadu as a result of climate change. This is telling us that saltwater intrusion into Kakadu would change its ecology, would damage its tourism potential because you would not be able to get to all areas in parts of the year, would cut down on the amount of bush tucker that was available for Indigenous people and would also cut down on the tourism enterprises that they participate in. Twenty years later and here is this report on climate change and Kakadu.

As we go about addressing climate change, what do we hear again from the opposition? 'It is going to kill the mining industry. It is going to stop the Australian economy. It is going to stop jobs,' and so on and so forth. Twenty years gives you a bit of a perspective—a stupid scare campaign then and of course this is a stupid scare campaign now. In 20 years time people will look back on this Leader of the Opposition and those who sit behind him with the absolute wonderment and sense of disgust with which we look back now on the people who opposed protecting Kakadu.

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