Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I actually like him. He had a great sight gag when he said, 'I want to talk to you about the science.' For people listening on the radio—as I am sure he had good ratings while he was speaking—I can tell you that as he flicked through the pages he then had some blank pages in the middle so he could say, 'Oh, there was no science!' I then asked for the scientific studies, many of which were commenced under the Howard government, on which this work was based to be brought into the chamber so that people can see exactly what the opposition is claiming does not exist.

This is the scientific work that has been going on, some of which was commenced shortly after this process began. We are talking about a process which has been going for 20 years, a process that continued for the whole of the life of the Howard government. Many of these documents that I have brought into the chamber at the moment are documents which are simply large references for other documents which are not here but go further with the scientific rigour. After all of this, I am not sure what we have to do to avoid an accusation from the opposition that there is no science—and I am glad I am tall; otherwise I would now be out of the camera frame. This pile of documents represents the first cut of the scientific information on which these maps were based, where we identified the bioregions, where we looked at what was the environmental outcome to properly protect the oceans in Commonwealth waters around Australia. Yet those opposite still have the audacity to come in here and, I have to say, in the face of a mountain of documents like that, to lie and claim that no such documents exist.

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