Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for North Sydney for bringing forward this important topic. I absolutely respect her as a champion for the environment and someone who is passionate about the incredible biodiversity in this country, and it is so important that we work to protect that.

I agree that this parliament, as a whole, needs to do more to protect Australia's nature and biodiversity. I would hope that this would be an issue where the parliament could come together to get the action that we need to see. Certainly, from our point of view, from the government side, we have been working tirelessly to put together the bills that we brought forward to deliver a new, sensible, federal Environmental Protection Agency. I want to pay tribute to Minister Plibersek and to the work that she's done to bring that proposal forward, because that is what governments do in this place. We bring these really important reforms forward, and we seek the support of a parliament to pass them. And it is important to reflect on how we got to this disappointing place, where these sensible laws are not being passed by the parliament, when, in fact, all of us in this place do know that the current EPBC Act is outdated and does need reform.

Even those opposite had an inkling of this, when they commissioned the Samuel review. Yet, when the work was done, when Minister Plibersek put together these laws and brought them to the parliament, we had the typical reaction that we get, particularly from those opposite—obstructionist and negative, saying no. On this occasion, they were joined by the Greens political party. The Greens, the Liberals and the Nationals all worked together in the Senate to block our nature-positive laws. We have been here before, of course. This is, in some ways, history repeating itself, and I know that this has been said in this place before, but it is important that we learn from our past, and, as a parliament, that we learn from some of the mistakes we've made before, because we know that it was that same trio of political parties—the Greens, the Liberals and the Nationals—who teamed up to block the CPRS, and it led to 80 million extra tonnes of carbon dioxide being in our atmosphere.

The reality of this parliament, of how it is made up, means that if the coalition and the Greens both say no in the other place then a bill does not pass. That is what, unfortunately, has happened with our very sensible, very necessary nature-positive reforms. As I said, it is perhaps not all that surprising from those opposite who, in the main, spent almost a decade in government ignoring the needs of our environment, ignoring the pressing need to protect our unique biodiversity.

I think it is more disappointing from the Greens political party. For Greens supporters out there in communities like mine, I think there is a sense of disappointment and frustration that the Greens chose to also stand in the way of environmental reform and that they chose to say no to a strong new environmental cop on the beat, an environmental protection agency that could have done the work from a federal level to help protect our environment and our biodiversity.

I am proud of our government's efforts. We have engaged across the parliament to try and find a pathway forward, and I thank those on the crossbench who engaged in good faith in those discussions, who did try and help us find a nature-positive way through this parliament. This is my message to voters in my community, and communities right around Australia who value our environment and know how precious the biodiversity we have in this country is and understand how urgent it is: this is unfinished business for a Labor government, and by voting Labor, you are getting our commitment that this is unfinished business that we will complete and that we want to get done.

I know there's more to be done, but our government has brought a focus to the environment and to the need to protect our biodiversity that we haven't had in this parliament before. Just like the member for Sydney, I want my kids and my grandkids to be able to grow up and see a koala in the wild. My four-year-old son is particularly obsessed with koalas, so I'm putting that on his list.

We don't have much time left. We need to act now. I greatly appreciate all the people in my community who raise this really important issue with me, over and over again, and who urge us to keep doing the work that needs to be done. We have invested more than half a billion dollars to help protect our threatened species. This includes $224 million for our government's Saving Native Species program, which has done important work to protect 73 species, like the swift parrot and the Australian sea lion. We've doubled funding to our national parks. We've added more oceans under our country's protection—an area, in fact, that's larger than the size of both Italy and Germany put together. We've saved the Great Barrier Reef from an endangered listing, investing $1.2 billion to protect the reef with water quality projects, land restoration and much more. Again, I want my kids to be able to snorkel, dive and see the beauties of that incredible part of Australia and the legacy that is there.

We've legislated to establish the world's first national nature repair market, we're increasing recycling by 1.3 million tonnes a year and we're keeping more rubbish out of landfill. Last year, $7 billion in green bonds were issued in what was a first for Australia's sustainable finance market, backing projects right around the country that focus on nature repair and restoration as well as energy transformation.

We are investing in Indigenous rangers, which is a fantastic program doing wonderful work in so many communities—$1.3 billion, doubling the number of rangers. Twelve new Indigenous protected areas have been established, allowing traditional owners to manage these areas for nature conservation.

So there is a lot being done and, as I say, there is more to go. We do know that all of this work is at risk if the Leader of the Opposition and his Liberals and Nationals get the opportunity to be back on this side of the House after the next election. In fact, the one policy pledge in this space when it comes to the future of the environment, the climate and biodiversity in this country that we know those opposite are committed to is slow, expensive, risky nuclear energy, a plan for climate denial, really, dressed up with a risky $600 billion commitment to drive up the cost of Australians' power bills. That is all we have from those on the other side. All we get from those on the other side is denial and a failure to back laws that would have allowed us to do this work on a national level and put in place a sensible Environmental Protection Agency with that national focus, making sure that these unique and precious spaces and species that we have in Australia are protected.

We know that environmental action and climate action go hand in hand. That is why we are on track to meet our 2030 targets. It's because of the policies that our government have put in place. It's why we are bringing emissions down in the electricity and land sectors. It's why emissions have fallen to 28 per cent below 2005 levels. It's why again the Minister for the Environment and Water is approving projects for renewable energy—to get that renewable energy that we need into the grid. In fact, our government has boosted the wind and solar capacity in our system by more than 40 per cent compared to what it was in 2022 when we entered office. And it's why we've got our commitment to A Future Made in Australia—to unlock the jobs and the investment that also go with this commitment.

So I'm passionate about doing this work. I do want to see a future parliament pick this up and run with it. I say the way to get that done is to make sure that the Labor government is re-elected to this place so that we can make sure that we are protecting our climate, nature and our very important species and special places in this country.

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