Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm always intrigued when a member of the government stands up and tries to spruik their credentials when it comes to conservation, particularly when it comes to the Barrier Reef, because quite frankly you can't protect the Barrier Reef without talking and acting on climate change—and this is a government that don't. In part, I kind of understand the circumstances they're in. Since first forming the Liberal Party in 1944, they've never governed in their own right. They've always had to form a coalition, and a number of members of their coalition partner do not believe in climate change, so I understand the pressure they are under. We've seen that relationship teeter. We've seen all of that. But climate change is real, and we need a government that will act on it.

If you are talking about the Barrier Reef, you have to talk about climate change. You have to talk about the three devastating mass bleaching events in the last five years. You have to talk about that, no matter what you do. There's much to be done when it comes to the Barrier Reef in terms of run-off, including run-off from fires, which are becoming more devastating because of climate change. There are lots of things you need to do about the Barrier Reef, but the single thing you have to do for the long-term health of the reef, after you've done everything else, is care for the climate and worry about climate change. This is a government that can't even have a climate change policy. They've been trying for a while, and they can't. I guess they thought to themselves: 'Well, we can have an energy policy. We can at least do something about transitioning,' in the way that some of them know this country needs to, but they haven't managed to do that either. They've had 22 energy policies in the last eight years. They can't even settle on an energy policy. So to get up and talk about the Great Barrier Reef in this way, to talk about it as if the government is protecting it, when for seven years they've done virtually nothing except hand over $444 million to an oddly selected organisation that has essentially failed to do the job it was funded to do—this is a failure coming right at this government. And the reference to protecting the Great Barrier Reef in this motion is really quite absurd.

I also want to talk today about Petroleum Exploration Permit 11, known as PEP 11, which is a permit to explore for oil and gas in what is known as the offshore Sydney Basin. That's the little bit of ocean between Manly and Newcastle right off Sydney. When you stand on any Sydney beach, you're looking at it. This motion, this private member's business, says that the government opposes oil and gas drilling off the coast of Sydney. Well, the decision hasn't been made, and two people can make it: the minister federally and the minister for the state. So, if they do oppose it, it's time they made that decision. Of course it's nonsense to drill for oil and gas so close to the Sydney shore and Newcastle that you can actually see the rigs in the ocean. That would be absurd.

I can tell you that even though I don't live in one of the ocean-side suburbs that most of the speakers today live in—I live in Parramatta; we're kind of landlocked—I get more contacts from my community when we talk about marine health than anything else. It's the marine parks; it the Coral Sea, it's the PEP 11, it's the Great Barrier Reef—you name it. The people in Parramatta come out in droves—hundreds of them in a few days—if they believe there is any threat to this wonderful ocean that surrounds our country.

So I'd say to the member who's moved this motion that, if he genuinely believes the government opposes oil and gas drilling off the coast of Sydney, if he honestly believes that PEP 11 should be rejected, then let him convince his government to vote for this, actually vote for it. It's not good enough when you're talking about something this serious to get up here in this Chamber and pretend you care about it and not act. If you're in the government, you wear the government's actions. It's that simple. You don't get to walk both sides of the fence. This is an incredibly serious matter. Whether it's his first sentence about the Great Barrier Reef or whether it's about PEP 11, he should really put his vote and the government's vote where his mouth is. This is just not good enough.

Our oceans are incredibly important and the single act that protects those oceans from the federal perspective is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and we've got a government that's about to delegate that authority to the states. That's how much this government cares about this issue. (Time expired)

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