Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like I hope most MPs in this parliament have, I have a very engaged constituency. I receive a huge volume of correspondence from the people who I represent in this parliament every day. It's a great gauge of the issues that are hot-button in our community at the moment. I can tell you from four years experience now that the Great Barrier Reef is one of these hot-button issues. Australians are fiercely protective of the Great Barrier Reef. They love it. It is part of our DNA as Australians to identify with the reef and all that it represents for the Australian way of life.

This is bad news, I think, for the Turnbull government, because the common thread of this correspondence that I receive from constituents about the Great Barrier Reef is a distrust of the competence of the Turnbull government to manage both the micro-issues of the reef—the marine park management issues—and also the macro challenges of dealing with the bigger threat to the reef posed by man-made climate change. I always encourage my constituents to write to me. I enjoy it when I get letters from my school groups. They have been flooding in recently in response to changes to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park arrangements.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world and rightly one of the world's natural wonders. It is not only iconic but something Australians are extremely passionate about. You can go to almost any part of the world and people will comment on Australia's natural beauty. The Great Barrier Reef is part of our nation's brand overseas. Australians and many others dream of sailing to the reef and snorkelling and diving to experience firsthand its astonishing diversity of marine life. This is something that is handed down from generation to generation. My grandmother lived on Daydream Island as a young girl, and I was very happy to return to the region as a young child. It is something we hand on across generations in Australia.

The size of the reef is mind boggling at 344,400 square kilometres, the same size as 70 million football fields, or roughly the same area as Japan, Germany, Italy or Malaysia. It stretches over 2,300 kilometres and contains 600 types of hard and soft corals, 100 species of jellyfish, 3,000 varieties of molluscs, 500 species of worms, more than 1,600 types of fish, over 100 different varieties of sharks and stingrays, and around 30 species of whales and dolphins. The Great Barrier Reef is extraordinary in its biodiversity, and the interconnectedness of its habitats and species is unique and complex—and something that we ought to treasure and protect with great ferocity.

However, we face an enormous challenge to protect the reef. Coral reefs serve many important functions. They provide protection to coastlines from the damaging effects of wave action and tropical storms. They provide habitats and shelter for many marine organisms. They are a source of nitrogen and other essential nutrients for marine food chains. They assist in carbon and nitrogen fixing and help with nutrient recycling. Healthy ecosystems like this are essential for natural resources, the purification of air and water, and the creation of soil and the breakdown of pollutants. A diverse range of species allows for a larger gene pool, which can protect this diversity against environmental changes. Generations of Australians should be able to experience this natural wonder.

The sheer size of the reef means that we need a collaborative approach to manage this resource. This bill, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment Bill 2017, addresses issues associated with the sunset clause in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975, regarding revoking management plans. The bill proposes changes to prevent any automatic revocation and have no budgetary or policy consequences as such. Labor support this bill, as it's correcting technical issues with the current legislation. However, Labor's policies on the environment and on the reef go much further than simple protective provisions.

We recognise the environmental, social and economic benefits of the reef. Not only is it a national treasure but it is a crucial source of jobs for tens of thousands of Australians, particularly in regional Australia. A Deloitte report estimated that the reef is worth $56 billion, contributed $6.4 billion to the Australian economy in 2015-16 and supported 64,000 full-time jobs. The reef attracts two million visits each year from both Australians and people from abroad. However, the reef is deteriorating and its ecosystem is declining. With every passing day, the reef and the jobs it provides are being put more and more at risk.

The Great Barrier Reef Water Science Task Force report of May 2016 confirmed climate change is the single biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's assessment, produced every five years—the latest in 2014—is that the outlook is 'poor', having deteriorated significantly since 2009. According to the authority, the death of coral has been estimated at around half between 2016 and 2017, and the worst damage is in the remote northern sections, which were previously the most pristine. Data released by the Australian Institute of Marine Science reveals that, before the second wave of bleaching in 2017, coral cover on the northern third of the Reef had reduced from 20 per cent to less than 10 per cent.

At the last federal election, Labor committed to a Great Barrier Reef plan. The plan comprised three elements. The first is science and research to improve monitoring of reef issues to ensure the protection of the reef is based on the latest specialised science. This includes an additional investment in climate and reef science at the CSIRO of $50 million. The second is direct environmental investment: integrating direct investment to improve water quality, land management, agricultural and transport sustainability, and environmental impacts. The third is reef management: improving reef management architecture, and incentives to fix the fragmented and uncoordinated approach that has for too long characterised reef management and conservation.

Climate change, however, is the critical issue of our generation. It's happening right here, right now, and it's having real-world impacts on our country already. Ban Ki-moon eloquently pointed out that we are the last generation that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Urgent revisions of the Reef 2050 plan recommended by an expert independent panel led by former Chief Scientist Ian Chubb would enable mitigation, adaptation and management of the reef in the face of inexorable global warming. A Word Heritage Committee report released this month confirms global action is required to save the reef—

Debate interrupted.

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