Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Corangamite for her question. We've had some great visits to the beaches in her electorate—they are really quite beautiful.

It's the Labor government's goal to leave a nature-positive Australia, leaving nature better off for our kids and our grandkids by protecting more of what's precious, repairing more of what's damaged and managing nature better for the future. While that applies to the land, of course it also applies to our oceans. The oceans in Australia are very close to our heart. Under the previous Labor government, we more than doubled marine protected areas—which, again, were cut by those opposite. We have the most beautiful beaches on earth and an ocean economy that is the envy of the world, supporting recreation, tourism and fishing. More than 85 per cent of us live within 50 kilometres of the shore.

Thanks to the strong action of the Albanese Labor government, it's been a great nine months for Australian oceans. Soon after the election, we committed to protecting 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030. That's a goal that is now supported by the entire world after a big push from Australia at the nature conference in Montreal last year. Just a few days ago, we saw another important international agreement, an Australian backed global treaty to better protect biodiversity on the high seas. This will allow the establishment of marine protected areas in international waters, covering about 60 per cent of the world's oceans. What an incredible advance that is!

Targets and agreements matter, but action matters more. On this side, we've got a plan to more than triple the size of the Macquarie Island Marine Park, adding an area the size of Germany to the highly protected oceans around Macquarie Island. It's the only place on earth where royal penguins live and breed. It's where 10 per cent of the world's king penguins mate. It's home to creatures like killer whales, elephant seals and wandering albatross. Of course, while we're massively expanding protections, we'll also allow the existing sustainable fisheries that have been operating there to continue to operate.

In the first nine months, we've seen a $1.2 billion investment in the Great Barrier Reef; our plan for plastic-free beaches; our support for blue carbon projects, mangroves and salt marshes, seagrass; and our new cuttlefish sanctuary right off the coast of Whyalla. We promised to leave nature better for our kids and our grandkids, and that's exactly what we're delivering.

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