Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Back in 2001, an election commitment—among a raft of election commitments—was made in relation to coastal policy. The government said at the time that a new national coastal policy would be developed to address coastal management issues. More than that, in July 2005 on ABC Radio, the then Minister for the Environment and Heritage promised the community a 30-year coastal plan. He said:

... what we need if we’re going to save the coast is a 30-year plan. Let’s put a plan down so developers know where they can develop, where Governments know where their future hospitals and schools need to go, but ultimately a plan that sees the coast in very good shape in 30 years time.

Admirable sentiments, but what has happened to those promises? Where is the 30-year plan to protect our coastline? It seems on this issue, along with many issues that we have raised in the last two days in sittings here, that the government has been characterised by inertia and a lack of action on very critical issues. Coastal policy is becoming more critical by the day, as the impact of global warming is felt from coast to coast, with rising sea levels and erosion affecting many coastal communities.

It is not as if the government was not warned. In 2003 its own Australian Greenhouse Office warned:

Projected increases in tropical cyclone intensity ... along with sea level rise, would have major impacts—notably, increased storm-surge heights...

And just two years ago, the government’s own Climate change risk and vulnerability report warned that climate change related increases in the ferocity of tropical storms could:

Put some of our significant population and tourist centres like Cairns, Broome, Darwin and Townsville, as well as remote communities, at considerably increased risk.

That report argued the need for climate change adaptation strategies for coastal areas, but none have been forthcoming. The report noted, I think quite reasonably, that ‘planners need to anticipate future climate pressures and build the capacity of systems to cope with these pressures if the adverse implications of climate change are to be minimised.’

As I have said, there has been a total lack of urgency on the part of the government to take measures to protect our coastline from such impacts. The government’s so-called new coastal protection plan—not the 30-year plan that we were promised—is just a rehash of the previous framework approach to integrated coastal zone management. It certainly lacks urgency. Let me give you one example. According to this framework document, it is going to take some five years for an interim report to build a national picture of coastal zone areas that are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts and—wait for it—10 years for a more detailed report. We just cannot wait that long.

Coastal erosion is already having a devastating effect. The Mayor of Byron Shire—where I visited—has instituted a planned retreat policy, as homes on the Belongil beach sandpit are under threat from the encroaching sea. The mayor has warned that the planned retreat policy will eventually affect nearby Suffolk Park as well as the coastal areas of South Golden and New Brighton. She says, quite rightly:

Coastal erosion is happening everywhere.

People keep saying this is a Byron greenie agenda. They have their heads in the sand.

Cairns—well known to all of us—is another example of a low-lying coastal settlement which is highly susceptible to flooding and surges associated with cyclone activity. Extreme weather events pose a serious threat to its infrastructure and magnificent coastal resorts. The erosion is already impacting on local beaches, particularly at Clifton Beach, as I witnessed on a visit there.

There are no climate change adaptation strategies in place for Australia’s coastal zone. The Howard government has provided no leadership on this really important issue. The nation needs a national framework to lead coastal policy, to establish strategic responses to population growth in coastal regions and to support and resource regional and local coastal planning initiatives. More severe cyclones and higher incidence of flooding from rising tides and storm surges will leave many areas—many of them developed areas—at risk of inundation. In contrast to the government’s inertia, a Rudd Labor government will ensure that these issues are taken seriously. (Time expired)