Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Goldstein for her contribution to that. I must say, it's a real pleasure to hear a contribution that is considered, articulate and constructive. I'm not sure we'll end up agreeing with your amendments, member for Goldstein, but the tenor of the debate, I think, is improved by the way in which you've delivered your address. So thank you.

Australia's unique flora and fauna is a wonder of the modern world and the pride of our nation. Across our vast continent, species have adapted to our harsh and rugged landscapes and their environments over millions of years. They play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity and distinctive ecosystems. Our natural environment's significance extends to cultural significance, in particular for our First Nations people. There is an Aboriginal saying, and I'm sure there's a reference: if you look after the land, the land will look after you. Am I right, member for Lingiari? This is exactly what the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023 is seeking to achieve. If you look after the land, the land will look after you.

Under this bill, the Albanese Labor government makes it easier for people to invest in activities that help repair nature. We want to support our landowners, including farmers and First Nations communities, to plant more native species and remove invasive or adopted species. We want to invest in projects that protect and repair. We will enable farmers and communities to repair damaged riverbeds and make it easier for businesses and philanthropists to invest in these efforts. It's an all-in approach that ensures every person shares the responsibility of protecting and repairing our diverse environments.

The Australian government, through the passage of this bill, is delivering on its Nature Positive Plan with the establishment of the nature repair market. The market will be based on science and will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote their unique knowledge and culture in this space and on their terms. The nature repair market will encourage businesses, organisations, governments and individuals to invest in projects that protect and repair our natural environment by providing a market where anybody can participate, delivering long-term nature-positive outcomes through activities such as weeding, planting native species and the management of pest control. These activities can be undertaken on land or water, including in lakes and rivers as well as marine and coastal environments.

The market will be particularly important for regional Australians, a cohort of people I'm very proud to represent. This bill will support the regions by providing opportunities through participation and the creation of jobs and economic growth but also, of course, by repairing the environments throughout our regions. Operationally, the market will operate in parallel with the carbon market, which will be facilitated by having the same regulator. This alignment will encourage carbon farming projects that also deliver benefits for biodiversity and ecology. This approach will provide administrative efficiencies and a clear and accurate oversight of claims made in both markets, because our government is committed to listening, learning and improving both the new and existing mechanisms.

Integrity is non-negotiable. We are ensuring that this mechanism implements compliance requirements on the delivery of project activities and the progress of environmental outcomes. As a government, we have already committed to protecting 30 per cent of Australia's land and seas by 2030, and this same goal has been adopted globally under the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, ensuring that we meet our obligations as a global partner and a leader in environmental protection and repair. Everyone has a role to play in environmental protection, care and repair, and this was highlighted in the findings of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act review by Professor Graeme Samuel AC.

Increasingly across Australia, private companies, conservation groups, farmers and other landholders are looking for ways to achieve positive outcomes in nature, and there are a number of groups across my electorate involved in this, from the North East Bioregional Network to the Derwent Catchment Group. All the way through my electorate there are groups that are weeding rivers, taking out the weeds, trying to repair the environment and looking for ways to re-establish nature in old disused paddocks, and it's only right that a good government actively engages with them to ensure that these ambitions are turned into a reality.

In late April, visitors from around the globe make the journey to Tasmania to visit some of the most stunning sites on earth, including Mount Field and Lake St Clair national parks. The pilgrimage to these locations at any time of the year ensures the witnessing of stunning scenery, but in April visitors get to experience the turning of the fagus, Australia's only cold-climate deciduous tree. The leaves of the fagus at this time of year turn from a bold, burnt red to a stunning, shimmering gold. It's something you must add to your bucket list and witness firsthand. A visit in April will coincide with the Derwent Valley Autumn Festival, a must-visit in its own right. Another marvel of my electorate is the pandani, which is the world's tallest heath plant. It's a firework of thin, grass-looking leaves that can grow up to a metre in length, with the shrub growing up to a 12-metre tree.

Of course, I can't speak about the wonders of Tasmanian flora without a special mention of the Tasmanian pepperberry, a cool-climate plant producing berries that, once dried, have a pepper taste, as you'd expect, and are being more and more used as a pepper replacement. New recipes are on the way, and I suggest Ashgrove's pepperberry cheese, which is made in my electorate in the Meander Valley. Of course, pepperberries are also being put in chocolates to make a sweet but spicy snack. The advertisement is over, but try the pepperberries from the electorate of Lyons.

Tasmania is not only home to beautiful flora, there are also unique fauna which call our island state home. The eastern quoll, considered extinct on the mainland in 1963, is safely at home in Tasmania. If you're lucky, you can spot one while tramping through the bush across our state. And if you're careful at dusk, one will scoot across in front of your car—hopefully, in front of your car. And, of course, there's our state's most famous and well-recognised marsupial, the Tasmanian devil. Extensive conservation work has occurred across the state to protect our native mascot, to ensure that it doesn't face the same fate as the thylacine, the Tasmanian tiger. There has been very encouraging progress in combating the facial tumours that have afflicted our gruff little marsupial.

Despite these unique species of flora and fauna, the 2021 State of the environment report, which the previous government hid under a carpet and was only brought to light after Labor came to government, set a very sober analysis of the environmental issues we face across Tasmania. Lyons, my electorate, has about half the landmass of the state and is home to 194 threatened species. These include flora such as the miena cider gum and the Midlands wattle, and fauna on the list include much-loved bird species such as the Oriental plover and Gibson's albatross, and other icons such as the pygmy right whale and the Tasmanian giant freshwater lobster. It's heartbreaking, frankly, that my electorate has the 10th-most-listed threatened species in Australia. That's why this bill is so important, and I commend the minister for bringing it forward. We must work to improve the environment and to ensure that threatened species in my electorate and across the country are protected.

Natural disasters in Tasmania have become more frequent, and it would be remiss of me not to reflect on the impact that events such as bushfires and flooding have had on our natural heritage and ecosystems in Tasmania. Indeed, just a couple of years ago, we had the bushfires that raged through the Central Highlands of my electorate, up in the alpine regions. There were places up in the highlands that had never experienced bushfire in recorded history. Flora was burnt—mosses and other low-lying plants—that had never known bushfire. There were very rare species that were absolutely decimated, and they have not yet recovered because they have never evolved to recover from bushfire.

Last October, flooding affected much of our state, including communities in the Meander Valley, Kentish, Northern Midlands, Central Highlands and Break O'Day councils in my electorate. These flooding events impacted communities and ecosystems, with chemicals and debris swept down rivers; trees and other plants torn from banks; and, of course, livestock drowned. This is why speedy recovery and repair after an event are so integral, and that's exactly what this bill and the subsequent nature repair market will ensure. It's also worth noting the excellent work being done by emergency services minister, Senator Murray Watt, whose agencies have provided rapid relief to communities affected by disaster. He is, rightly, well regarded across the parliament for his leadership in the challenging portfolios of agriculture and emergency services. There is a segue between them, of course, with biosecurity, and he is doing an absolutely stellar job. In Tasmania we're still recovering from the floods of October last year. It may take years to fully repair the environment, but I know the job will be made easier once the nature repair market is established.

As a government, we have already taken strong steps to improve our environment. In the 2023-24 budget, the Albanese government invested $1 billion in biosecurity. This investment is integral to protecting what we have and to ensuring that invasive species and diseases, such as foot-and-mouth, are kept off our shores. I know this concerns everyone in the agriculture sector, and I note that the Leader of the National Party is in the House; I know that foot-and-mouth is of particular interest to him. Investments such as this and our investment in the nature repair market through this bill have the added bonus of unlocking previously untapped markets for our economy which could be worth $137 billion by 2050.

Our government is taking the strong action that's needed to seize this great economic opportunity. The goals of these bills to increase investment in environmental protection and repair, and to meet our global obligations, reinforce the findings of the 2021 State of the environment report, which told a story of environmental degradation, loss and inaction. It showed Australians, as many have known for years now, that for a decade the Liberals completely failed the environment. We are committed to ensuring a strong future with a clean environment for our children and grandchildren, and we will ensure a healthy environment right across Australia. I commend the bill to the House.

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