Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Queenslanders are lucky to have almost on our doorstep one of the seven wonders of the natural world, the Great Barrier Reef. While we know how precious the reef is, we also know how fragile it is. 2018 has been named the International Year of the Reef. This is a campaign to raise awareness of how each of us can choose to reduce the impacts of warming ocean temperatures and of the broader climate change effects on reef ecosystems worldwide. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will be hosting and facilitating events for this campaign throughout the year, and I'm sure the member for Herbert will be involved with that.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is an important body, established by the Whitlam Labor government in 1975. Its purpose was and continues to be to properly manage the marine park area and protect its biodiversity for future generations. For the last 40 years, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has done just that, and I thank the authority for its skilled and strategic service. It has been recognised internationally for its management of the marine park—so I was completely flummoxed when the Turnbull-Morrison budget announced that a $444 million grant to boost reef protection would be awarded to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and not to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Of course, I'm supportive of endeavours to protect our Great Barrier Reef. The reef's importance is beyond doubt, for our natural heritage, and for our tourism sector and the jobs associated with that, but any allocation of federal money should only be made with due diligence and full transparency, and with the national interest in mind, especially when this is the largest donation the Australian government has ever provided.

During Senate estimates, it was revealed that the Great Barrier Reef Foundation did not submit an application for the funding. A competitive tender process was not followed, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority may not have even been aware of the funding boost as recently as a week before the announcement. The government still has some questions to answer about this $444 million funding allocation. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation employs six full-time members and five part-time members. The revenue of the foundation for the previous two financial years was a mere $9.6 million and $8 million. The foundation itself has described this grant of $444 million as like winning the lotto.

In defence of the government's decision to make this grant, the environment minister reportedly said, 'The foundation has a strong board with a cross-section of eminent individuals from the academic, business and science community.' The board is chaired by a former chairman of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Dr John Schubert AO. Other board members include a former chairman of Goldman Sachs, a former president of the Business Council of Australia, a former CEO and managing director of Suncorp, other members with banking and corporation experience, as well as some scientists. However, in the past few weeks one member of the board of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Stephen Roberts, has stepped down while a criminal investigation is underway over a suspicious capital raising for ANZ in 2015. Mr Roberts was a former director of the Australian Bankers' Association.

So we have more questions for this government and we're not getting the answers. An FOI request has been lodged to find out what discussions the government had regarding the funding to the Great Barrier Reef foundation, and why work of this scale, which would ordinarily be overseen by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, has been outsourced to this foundation.

The Turnbull government has been disappointing in almost every respect, but their lack of action on climate change is arguably the most disappointing and will create the most long-lasting damage for our children and grandchildren. Prime Minister Turnbull famously said in 2009, 'I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am.' We know that climate change is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. Fragile coral reefs have been described as the canaries of the sea. They're the first to signal an impending larger problem. Coral bleaching can be the first sign of wider destructive global warming. Yet there is not a single cent in the 2018 budget committed to tackling climate change.

The Turnbull government is a disgrace when it comes to looking after the environment. Since they took office in 2013, carbon emissions have risen six per cent. Compare that to six years under Labor, where emissions dropped 10 per cent. This Turnbull government stands for nothing. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to look after our precious environment. As President Macron of France said, 'There is no planet B.'

A Shorten Labor government will prioritise tackling climate change. We'll encourage investment in renewable energy. We'll cut emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. We'll have zero emissions by 2050. We'll commit to 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. In this motion before the chamber we have a long list of speakers from those opposite saying the reef is not in danger; however, aren't we great for giving half a billion to a small organisation.

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