Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker Wallace, it's lovely to see you in the chair this afternoon, and it's a great pleasure to be able to speak on this important motion. When we think about the principles of liberalism that motivate me and our party, there are many things. We believe in people's freedom to be able to pursue their own lives and opportunities and in empowering individual citizens to be able to live out the fullness of their success; we believe in responsibility to each other and our sense of mutualism to make sure that we can live out our lives understanding our obligation to each other; and, critically, we also believe in stewardship of our natural environment to make sure that we pass on to future generations as good an environment as we inherited, if not better.

One of the great legacies of economic development and environmental conservation in this country is that, because we are a prosperous nation, we're able not just to afford environmental conservation protection but actually to go back and undo the damage of generations past. I would have thought that's something that we should be enormously proud of, and it's a core part of the focus of the Morrison government and its environmental policies in all sorts of areas.

In particular, today we're talking about conservation of our marine ecosystems. This is incredibly important to me. Deputy Speaker Wallace, I know you used to live in the Goldstein electorate. You've got that wry smile on your face. You know it to be true, even though you try and hide it in your bunker on the Sunshine Coast. When you lived in Goldstein, you knew—living in a suburb near the one where I live—that the beauty of the Goldstein electorate is that it is hugged by Port Phillip. Port Phillip is our greatest local natural asset. It includes, of course, a huge amount of ecosystems and biodiversity and, of course, it is also part of the recreational retreat that makes us the most livable community in the country—even if some people abandon us from time to time, Deputy Speaker!

Part of that is having the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary. The Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary is a local ecosystem which provides for lots of different aquaculture and diversity within our community, which enables people to go and see the full benefits of our local waterways. One of the things that we've done, as a local community, is focus on what it is we need to do to address the issues of pollution and run-off into Port Phillip, which has an impact on our local beaches. Late last year, we held a water forum—in fact, working cooperatively with the member for Macnamara, to his credit. He and I share responsibility for Elsternwick Park and Elster Creek, which flows into the Elwood canal, which becomes the pathway for the run-off that leads to environmental pollution in Port Phillip. We held a water forum to bring together the interest groups to look at what we need to do to fix the issues in environmental pollution and run-off into Port Phillip so that we have a healthier local environment. That's what we're doing at the local level, with a sense of stewardship and responsibility to the community that I love.

As part of the broader agenda, we're also focusing on protecting the Great Barrier Reef. I heard the earlier derisive comments by the Labor members who spoke about the fact that we've committed $450 million to the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef. I'm immensely proud that we've done that. In comparison, the previous Labor government did not prioritise the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef and were not mindful of the impact on future generations being able to enjoy our beautiful marine parks. We've made it a pillar and a focus of what we're doing. We've done so because we understand the contribution it makes to our tourist industry, though that isn't the sole reason. We understand what it does to our marine ecosystems and to the health and wellbeing of the surrounding territories, and we understand our obligation and responsibility, not just to the Australian continent and the Australian people but to the global community, to take care of our natural environment. But we also understand that it is critically important to take care of the Great Barrier Reef because it is a marine park that has so much going for it, and we want to celebrate its success. So, yes, we absolutely have committed $450 million towards its conservation, because we have had bleaching events and we want to address that and repair the damage that's been done in the past.

Of course, that's part of a long legacy of initiatives by the Liberal and National parties focusing on environmental stewardship. We have reduced pollution, and in fact John Howard's government was the first government to create an oceans policy, in 1998. It's consistent— (Time expired)

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