Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's tourism sector provides an invaluable element of strength to our nation, and we here all have an obligation to protect it and to promote it. Therefore, we should all call out the recent misleading statement made by David Attenborough when he said:

I will never forget diving on the [Great Barrier] reef about 10 years ago and suddenly seeing that instead of this multitude of wonderful forms of life, that it was stark white, it had bleached white …

Well, it seems David Attenborough has forgotten that four years he actually filmed a documentary which was promoted with a description of the reef as 'the perfect coral reef'. He filmed the Great Barrier Reef in all of its magnificent glory. Promoting this documentary in 2015, he described the reef as 'fantastic. He said it was 'breathtaking, a dream'.

These misleading statements made by Attenborough not only harm the reef; they harm Australian tourism. Already Cathay Pacific have announced they are pulling out of Cairns citing lack of demand. No-one denies that parts of the reef are damaged from time to time by cyclones and bleaching. The science tells us this has been happening for hundreds of years. Today the reef is in good shape and a great place to visit, and we should all proudly say so. It's time that men like Attenborough apologise for their misleading statements that harm Australian jobs.

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