Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the State of the Environment Report 2021 is an alarming story of environmental neglect and decline in Australia;

(b) the report found that:

(i) since 2016, more than 200 species of flora and fauna have been listed as threatened matters of national environmental significance;

(ii) Australia has seen the extinction of more species of mammal than any other continent, and has one of the highest rates of species decline in the developed world;

(iii) marine heatwaves have caused mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, 2017, and 2020;

(iv) the 2019-2020 summer bush fires burnt 80 per cent of the Greater Blue Mountains area, almost 60 per cent of our Gondwana rainforests, and more than 40 per cent of the Stirling Range National Park;

(v) at least 19 Australian ecosystems are showing signs of collapse or near collapse; and

(vi) waterways, beaches, and shorelines are in generally poor condition in areas near urban centres; and

(c) over the last decade, the former governments of Prime Minsters Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison presided over Australia's escalating environmental crisis by:

(i) failing to respond to Professor Graeme Samuel's independent review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act);

(ii) refusing to acknowledge and respond to the failure of their own threatened species strategy to meet its targets with respect to the most at-risk species;

(iii) delivering 95 per cent of environmental approval decisions late and outside statutory timeframes in 2018-2019;

(iv) issuing environmental decisions that contained errors or were non-compliant in 79 per cent of approvals; and

(v) refusing to release the State of the Environment report prior to the 2022 federal election despite formally receiving the report six months prior; and

(2) welcomes the Government's commitment to:

(a) making the nation's environment laws work better for everyone by providing a full response to Professor Samuel's review of the EPBC Act by the end of 2022; and

(b) establishing an environment protection agency to ensure compliance with environmental laws, improve processes for proponents, and centralise data collection and analysis—so there is consistent and reliable information on the state of the environment across the country.

The damaged and declining state of Australia's environment is not going to be addressed by an exercise in collective amnesia. It is outrageous that the Australia state of the environment 2021report was kept secret by the Morrison government. Why was it hidden? Because it tells a story of harm and damage and neglect. It tells a story about the consequences of inaction and incompetence. For nine years we had a coalition government that did not believe the health of our environment was a priority. They rolled five separate ministers through the portfolio and cut funding to the department by 40 per cent, and then they hid the truth about the consequences of their neglect. The truth is a story of significant harm, with a trajectory, sadly, of further decline.

In describing a report in an address to the National Press Club, the Minister for the Environment and Water rightly said:

But while it's a confronting read, Australians deserve the truth. We deserve to know that Australia has lost more mammal species to extinction than any other continent. We deserve to know that threatened communities have grown by 20 per cent in the past five years, with places literally burned into endangerment by catastrophic fires.

As the report itself says:

Overall, the state and trend of the environment of Australia are poor and deteriorating as a result of increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and resource extraction.

Unless we are reconciled to the further degradation of our environment and its biodiversity, we have to change our approach. Our national environmental protection framework—the EPBC Act—has been ineffective as a shield against that harm. That is the conclusion of Professor Graeme Samuel, the reviewer appointed by the previous government.

Labor has been clear in saying that we will undertake the necessary reform that the previous government failed to undertake. If we are not prepared to do things differently then only one thing is for sure: more and more unique Australian species will disappear, and more and more distinctive Australian ecosystems will collapse. There simply has to be an uncompromising element to environmental protection in future. There has to be a hard-eyed capacity to see cumulative impacts and to draw some lines in the sand around the protection of threatened species and ecosystems.

We know how and where the harm is occurring. The question is: what are we going to do about it? I say this to colleagues in the parliament as much as to the broader Australian community: we cannot go on like this and at the same time kid ourselves that our biodiversity can be maintained. We cannot have a regulatory approach that essentially condones the steady degradation of the Australian environment. We can't keep finding ways to conditionally approve forms of harm that in some cases are not acceptable, especially where conditions are not monitored and not met. And we can't, as a matter of habit, use offsets to fix projects that put threatened species or ecosystems at risk, when those offsets aren't properly recorded or audited and in effect allow a net loss of critical habitat. We can't subscribe to the view that any and every form of environmental impact can be approved, provided there is sufficient economic benefit. And, as I've said before, we can't fool ourselves with the concept of striking a balance, when the reality has been a profound imbalance against nature for a considerable time.

What we need to do is change—and we can change. As the state of the environment report itself says:

Immediate action with innovative management and collaboration can turn things around.

And, as we look to creating the long-absent First Nations voice in our system of decision-making, the report notes:

Respectful use of Indigenous knowledge, recognition of Indigenous knowledge rights, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge systems working together will lead to positive change.

So let us be both resolute and energised as we face up to the task at hand. There are lots of examples of ordinary citizens and activists and scientists and public servants and Indigenous rangers putting their heart and soul into environmental conservation and restoration. Things are not good—but we can do something about it. It requires us in this place to do our job, to be the stewards of this remarkable continent and its oceans. It doesn't mean zero projects or zero clearing or zero impact, but it does mean supporting the reforms and resources that are necessary to stop the further decline in Australia's environment. The minister for the environment was absolutely right when she said:

… what our environment really needs is a changed system.

That's the message from the Samuel review.

That's the message from the State of the Environment Report.

And, I would say in conclusion, that is one of the clearest messages that the Australian people gave all of us on 21 May when they elected this the 47th Parliament.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I thank the member for Fremantle for moving this important motion regarding the Australia state of the environment report 2021. Having been on the Environment and Energy Committee with the member for Fremantle in the last parliament, I know his passion for the environment is incredibly strong.

The report's 'Key findings' begins:

Overall, the state and trend of the environment of Australia are poor and deteriorating as a result of increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and resource extraction.

Since 2016, the number of listed threatened species rose by eight per cent, and more extinctions are expected. Climate change is increasing that pressure on every ecosystem. There has been a continued decline in the amount and condition of our natural capital; native vegetation, soil, wetlands, reefs, rivers and biodiversity are all under pressure and declining; land clearing remains unacceptably high; and our coastline is in danger of being loved to death. The report has introduced new chapters dedicated to extreme events, as well as climate change and Indigenous stewardship of land. Environmental destruction costs our economy billions of dollars, with climate change and biodiversity loss representing both national and global financial risk. This is not a 'nice to have'; protecting the environment and our biodiversity is a 'must do'.

I welcome the commitment by Minister for the Environment and Water Plibersek to continue Australia's promise to protect 30 per cent of Australia's land and waters by 2030, under the '30 by 30' target. Australia has already gone well past the ocean goal, with 45 per cent protected. At present, around 22 per cent of Australia's landmass is protected in our National Reserve System. The problem, as the SOE report highlights, is that biodiversity loss and environmental decline in Australia have continued. In fact, they have accelerated, even as our protected areas have grown in recent decades. So, after years of underfunding, our protected areas urgently need proper resourcing and management. Without that, protected area targets just don't mean much. They won't work.

Environmental management is not well coordinated, and it is one of the biggest challenges to reversing the decline in our natural environment. In total, public protected areas like national parks have only contributed to around five per cent of the expansion of terrestrial protected area since 1996—only five per cent. Non-government organisation land purchases, Indigenous protected areas and individual private land holders have facilitated 95 per cent of the growth.

The coordination of environmental management is vital not only within the protected areas but also outside those areas. We're ignoring the drivers of biodiversity loss, such as land clearing, resource extraction and mismanagement, while drawing lines around poorly funded protected areas. Ultimately, this will defeat the environmental goals. As a case in point, the Albanese government's decision recently to open up 46,000 square kilometres of ocean to oil and gas exploration and seismic testing shows that the new government is big on talk when it comes to the environment but that is all it will be if you follow it with actions like this. You cannot continue that way. The release of new exploration must be cancelled.

The State of the environment report credits Indigenous knowledge and management with helping to deliver on-ground change. This includes traditional fire management. Partnerships between traditional owners and the federal government have produced 81 Indigenous protected areas, mainly on native title land. These cover some 85 million hectares, fully 50 per cent of our entire protected land estate. Independent ranger and Indigenous ranger groups are also managing country outside the Indigenous protected area system. Work must still be done to empower Indigenous communities and enable Indigenous communities and their knowledge system to improve our environmental and social outcomes.

Lastly, if we're talking about environmental protection, we must talk about Professor Graeme Samuel's review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It's very clear that we need strong national environmental standards. We need an environmental assurance commissioner, and we need to ensure that climate change impacts are included in all assessments of projects under the EPBC Act.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fremantle for bringing this very important matter before the House. Over the past decade there has been extensive debate and differences of opinion about global warming and climate change. If the predictions by the majority of climate scientists are correct, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade has become a race against time, and the consequences of not doing so would be catastrophic. Of similar urgency but, regrettably, with much less public focus has been the degradation of global biodiversity and the loss of so much flora and fauna.

Of course, global warming and biodiversity loss are intricately linked and have common factors. Both have a direct correlation to population growth and rising gross domestic product. In simple terms, as populations increase and consumption increases, the earth's environment is increasingly depleted. Land clearing, air and water pollution and climate change all contribute to environmental demise and biodiversity loss.

It is true that the natural environment is incredibly resilient. We have seen how quickly the environment can bounce back from droughts, floods and fires once conditions normalise. However, when flora and fauna are completely lost—when they become extinct—there is no bounce back. When regeneration does not occur, other animal and plant species are also at risk because the natural food chain has been disrupted. That ultimately has implications for the future of humanity.

That is why the Australia state of the environment 2021 report, which highlights the extent of environmental decline in Australia, was so important. This is not the first report, however, that has drawn attention to Australia's biodiversity loss and its poor environmental record. Last year, the Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year for 2003, John Wamsley, released an excellent research paper on species extinction in Australia. John's calculations show that in 2021 17.6 per cent of Australian species were threatened or lost, and the number was expected to double to 35.2 per cent by the year 2041. That's in 20 years time. Those figures alone should worry each and every one of us in this place.

I noticed, however, how quickly the sectors who stand to gain the most by their environmental recklessness were out discrediting the State of the environment 2021 report, and I noticed some members opposite doing the same. In other words: 'If the report doesn't suit our own agenda, we'll do what we can to discredit it in order that we can continue to cause the damage that has been caused for so long.' According to that 2021 report, Australia has the third largest cumulative loss of soil organic carbon in the world, behind only China and the USA. At least 19 Australian ecosystems are showing signs of collapse or near collapse. The destruction of Indigenous heritage continues at an unacceptable rate, against the wishes of traditional custodians, and since 2016, 202 animal and plant species have been listed as threatened and matters of national environmental significance.

Importantly, the report found that improving the environment required national leadership, integrated management between federal, state and territory laws, and better monitoring and reporting. I can recall how, when some EPBC legislation went through the last parliament, the last coalition government was quick to hand responsibility back to the states, and offload responsibility from itself. The truth of the matter is that all three levels of government and the community more broadly have to work together if we're ever going to make the difference that is required. If we don't, it won't be only countries overseas that will pay the price—we here in Australia will as well. Our own ecosystems and our own productivity will diminish as a result of that.

The Samuel review, I believe, was an excellent review which drew attention to all of this. I'm pleased to see that Minister Plibersek has brought a new focus to the government's responsibilities when it comes to the environment, and I welcome the Albanese government giving the environment the priority it deserves.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion about the State of the environment report 2021. As a South Australian, I want to address some commentary in the aftermath of the release of this report, and some broader concerns I've got about the new minister regarding the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. In particular, I found—and I'm sure the member for Riverina will agree with me—some of the suggestions and the diminishing of what has already been achieved through the implementation of the plan thus far absolutely appalling. I acknowledge that there are communities that have made real sacrifices as we have moved through the process of deploying that plan, and there are some difficult questions into the future—there's no doubt about that—but to belittle and demonise the work that has already been done is absolutely outrageous and appalling.

There is the issue of 450 gigalitres, but it is incorrect to suggest that the plan is 450 gigalitres. It is 3,200 gigalitres. As for the 2,750 gigalitres—the initial amount in that plan—we are well on the way to fully achieving that water. That has been through good partnerships and a lot of hard work, and it's something we should be very proud of.

There are enormous challenges around the world at the moment when it comes to water management. A lot of people don't realise this but, globally, many see what we've done in this country as exemplary—a great example of how to take on these really serious challenges. It's happening with the Nile River in Africa. They've got huge issues with Lake Mead in the Colorado River in North America. The Rhine is basically running dry because of a very significant drought in Europe. And, of course, China's Three Gorges Dam has major operability challenges. We're very lucky that we've had good rains recently and over the last couple of years, but we fully understand and respect the that challenges are going to continue to be there in managing the Murray-Darling Basin and implementing the plan.

To suggest that we've achieved two gigalitres is outrageous. It is absolutely outrageous. That is looking only at the 450 gigalitre element and not looking respectfully at what has happened with the 2,750 gigalitres, which, of course, was the initial component of that. To briefly digress, it was the Howard government who legislated the Water Act 2007 on the back of the millennium drought, understanding that we needed to have an integrated way of managing the Murray-Darling Basin so it didn't collapse. None of us want to see that river system collapse. It's a great challenge of federation—one of the many challenges of federation we've come to understand more and more about in recent years—that waterways are not the purview of the Commonwealth government. That leadership in 2007 was about bringing together state governments and the ACT, the relevant constituent state and territory governments, within that basin to say that we have to come together to manage some of these challenges through establishing the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, which then developed the plan through the Rudd-Gillard era of 2011-12. That was adopted, and we are now at the point where the plan, if it's to be implemented in full and on time, has to happen by 30 June 2024. That is a very challenging thing to do, but Labor went to the election saying they would do it.

The Prime Minister came to my home state and said, 'If you vote Labor and elect the Labor government, then we will fully implement the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on time and in full.' We've since seen the curious situation of the appointment of a minister who didn't really want the portfolio and the tensions between a Prime Minister and an environment minister, possibly an appointment to set that minister up for failure. As a member representing a constituency in the city of Adelaide, which relies on the Murray-Darling for our water supply, I won't allow them to weasel out of this commitment. They knew exactly what the challenge was when they said to the people of South Australia, 'We're going to fully implement that plan on time and in full.' It is a difficult task. They came to South Australia and said they would do it. I won't allow any environment minister or any government that said one thing before the election to think they can get away with weaselling out of it afterwards. I'll be following this very, very closely and speaking at many more opportunities that I get in this place and in the chamber to make that point well and truly heard by this government.

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2019, the world's largest bushfire from a single ignition point swept through the Blue Mountains precious World Heritage area. The now infamous Gospers Mountain fire devastated 80 per cent of the World Heritage area, and you can still see the scars. It killed billions of animals alongside the other fires that burned across the country. In our region, it went through a million hectares. That bushfire and the other ones right around the country contributed significantly to the overall picture of environmental decline that we see in the 2021 State of the environment report.

In Australia, more mammal species have been lost than in any other continent. This is not something that's only happened in the bushfires; it's been happening for a long time. It was really disappointing that the previous government didn't reveal this information as soon as it had it in its hands, to be upfront with people and say, 'This is what we're facing.' They didn't want that grim picture of the nation's environment to be out in the lead-up to the federal election. But I'm very pleased that it was one of the first things we did in coming to government.

The report is one of the most important documents for those people living in sensitive areas like the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury who deserve to know the truth. While we can't undo all the damage we've inherited, we can recognise that the legislation that sets the rules, the EPBC Act, is not up to scratch and needs to change. I look forward to working with the minister in the coming months as we make those changes and find a pathway forward.

I want to talk a bit about the Blue Mountains and what's so special about that World Heritage area, just one example of it. It's been a really long and continuing battle to preserve the Blue Mountains environment. The story of the mighty Blue Gum Forest in the Grose Valley is a really good example. We have just marked the 90th anniversary of a group of bushwalkers saving this forest from the axe after they pooled resources and bought a lease to preserve it for future generations.

The Blue Gum Forest is a magnificent stand of eucalypts located within the Blue Mountains National Park, and it's only accessible via walking tracks. The New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service says that those who know it well speak of the forest in hushed tones because, once seen, it's never forgotten. While its preservation might not seem like such a big deal in 2022, when much of the Blue Mountains is protected by national parks and World Heritage, it was a seminal event back in September 1932.

Here's the story. Soldier settlers Clarrie Hungerford and Bert Pierce had cut a track into the valley in 1930. Hungerford planned to clear the extensive Eucalyptus deanei forest to plant walnuts on a 40-acre lease that he held. But a group from the Sydney Bush Walkers and Mountain Trails Club were horrified to learn of the plans after bumping into Hungerford and Pierce during a camping trip at Easter 1931. They set out to see what they could do to stop them. They formed a committee, with Myles Dunphy—a name a very well known, respected and loved in the Blue Mountains—as secretary. They raised funds and they purchased the lease off Hungerford for 130 pounds. The government proclaimed the reserve for public recreation on 2 September 1932. The forest was saved, and it has just marked its 90th anniversary.

As the Blue Mountains Association of Cultural Heritage Organisations says, the forest was to be the 'cradle of today's New South Wales conservation movement'. It would be swallowed up by the Blue Mountains National Park at the beginning of the 1960s—that's a whole other story—but the Blue Gum Forest remains a magnet for bushwalkers today. It's our responsibility, going forward, to make sure that our rules can protect its integrity so it's there for future generations.

Protecting our environment also means ensuring there are adequate preparedness, response and recovery mechanisms in place when national disasters like bushfires and floods hit. The Albanese government has announced the establishment of a new agency, NEMA, the National Emergency Management Agency, bringing two other agencies together. The communities that I represent in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury, which have been hit by natural disaster after natural disaster, know that we can coordinate this better. But not only should it protect people; it should also be looking at how we protect the environment.

Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to take a moment to thank the member for Fremantle for bringing this matter to the chamber. The State of the environment report—published in 2021 but only released, by the new environment minister, last month—was a shocking read. If the IPCC report was a code red for the world, the State of the environment report is a code red for Australia.

Marine heatwaves caused mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, 2017 and 2020. Waterways, beaches and shorelines are in generally poor condition in areas near urban centres, yet mostly in good condition in more remote areas. The impact of the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfires killed or dislocated between one billion and three billion animals. Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent and has one of the highest rates of species decline in the developed world. More than 100 Australian species have been listed as either extinct or extinct in the wild. Over the five years to 2019, nearly 290,000 hectares of primary forest and 343,000 hectares of regrown forest were cleared. Rivers and catchments are mostly in poor condition, and native fish populations have declined by more than 90 per cent in the past 150 years, a trend that continues. How did we find ourselves here? Sea level rise has affected many low-lying areas, including Kakadu wetlands. Saltmarshes across much of Australia's coast are losing territory to mangroves. At least 19 Australian ecosystems are showing signs of collapse or near collapse, and the destruction of Indigenous cultural heritage continues at an unacceptable rate. We must make change now, or the consequences will be devastating.

This Wednesday, 7 September, is National Threatened Species Day. I learnt that this date was chosen because, on this same date in 1936, Australia's Tasmanian tiger, the thylacine, slipped over the extinction line. But thinking about species decline on just one day a year, whilst a snazzy marketing idea, is just not good enough. Our natural environment laws must protect all Australian native animal and plant species that are facing similar fates to that of the Tasmanian tiger all year round. Professor Graeme Samuel could not have been clearer when he said that a strong, independent cop on the beat is required. Native animals don't pay attention to electoral boundaries or state borders. We must have a nationally consistent protection plan. We must have a nationally consistent protection plan. In addition to the long list of animals and plant species in decline, habitat destruction and clearing, introduced species thriving, diseases and invasive pests wreaking havoc on our land, the State of the environment report also made it crystal clear that our climate is changing.

Meanwhile, most major Australian cities are growing at a faster rate than other developed cities across the planet. The pace of growth has increased urban heat, congestion, pollution and waste and has put rising pressure on water and energy resources. We're experiencing more extreme high temperatures, more bushfires and more intense rain events. Sea temperatures are also continuing to rise. Each of these factors in turn affects the liveability of our cities. North Sydney is paying the price with more traffic congestion on our streets, more air pollution around our schools, a loss of more than 3½ thousand trees and 750 mangroves and seagrasses, and a loss of 15,000 square metres of green space from our parks and reserves, like Cammeray Park and Flat Rock Gully. While the North Sydney community will fight to protect and enhance our green corridors, which are fundamental to the nature of our community, by advocating to ensure infrastructure projects undertaken in our electorate provide solutions for the next century, we must have, and we need the support of, a national framework to underpin our arguments. We must have a nationally consistent planning process.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are closely interconnected and share common drivers through human activities. Both have predominantly negative impacts on human wellbeing and the quality of life. The State of the environment report makes it crystal clear. Planning processes must be consistent nationally, and we must address both issues with urgency.

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was one of the millions of Australians horrified by what the State of the environment2021 report contained, when it was finally released. This report was delivered to the former government last year, yet the previous government chose to keep it under wraps until after the federal election, and we now know why. It's a massive, carefully researched scientific document. It's also an extremely confronting read, but, regardless, Australians deserve the truth. That's why the Albanese government's Minister for Environment and Water released it in July this year, just weeks after coming to office.

This report puts our nation's environmental status under the microscope, and the results are sadly damning. It portrays the ugly truths about us and our environment. To be blunt, it's frightening. Many of our beautiful places, natural features and iconic flora and fauna are under severe threat. The State of the environment report reinforces this horrific picture. It tells us that Australia has lost more mammal species to extinction than any other continent. Threatened flora and fauna has grown by 20 per cent in the past five years, with places literally burned into endangerment by catastrophic fires. The Murray-Darling fell to its lowest water level on record in 2019. Australia now has more foreign plant species than native ones. In my own electorate of Corangamite, just as in many electorates across the nation, we are seeing the stresses on flora and fauna in wetlands and the impacts of rising sea levels on foreshore habitats.

As we see from the State of the environment report, the previous government was no friend to the environment. Too many urgent warnings were either ignored or kept secret. The previous government had a decade to fulfil the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. By the time the Morrison government left office, they had only delivered two of the promised 450 gigalitres of environmental water. The Morrison government made a series of pledges on recycling but had no real plan to reach them. In 2018, the former government cut the highly protected areas of Commonwealth marine parks in half, removing the largest area from conservation in Australian history. The Liberals and Nationals spent less than $17 million of the $216 million they promised to upgrade Kakadu National Park's infrastructure.

Almost two years ago, the Morrison government received an official review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. It was written by Graeme Samuel and its message was as blunt as the State of the environment report. Professor Samuel said the act was outdated and required fundamental reform. There's an almost universal consensus that change is needed. Again, the Morrison government chose to ignore that. Much of the destruction outlined in the State of the environment report will take years to turn around. That's why this government will take no time—we will waste not a day—in taking significant reform steps over the next three years. Legislating strong action on climate change is a crucial start. For this term of government, the environment minister has set out three essential goals: to protect, to restore and to manage Australia's environment.

To offer proper protections, we need to set clear national environmental standards with explicit targets around what we value as a country and what the law needs to protect. This will require much work. It will require environmental management which needs to return to trust and transparency. Decisions need to be built on good data, to show the public how we're tracking in real time. We also need certainty and efficiency; better environmental outcomes; and faster, clearer decisions. To help guide that change, by the end of the year the Australian government will formally respond to the Samuel review. We will then aim to develop new environmental legislation for 2022. We'll consult thoroughly on environmental standards. We'll make it easier for First Nations people to protect their cultural heritage.

In 2022, Australians voted resoundingly for the environment. They voted for action on climate change. After a lost decade, a decade of going backwards, we can't, and won't, waste another minute. Our planet, our biodiversity and our very existence are at stake.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

RMACK () (): After listening to the member for Corangamite I should feel so relieved, because everything that the Labor Party seem to think that they, not the Australian people, have inherited is going to be fixed! They're not going to waste a day, we hear.

I take issue with the member for Corangamite, because a lot was done under the previous government. There were practical solutions such as Landcare. Around $1 billion was allocated to Landcare for the period between 2018 and 2023. That money is going to go to solutions on the ground, not stripping miners of their jobs or stripping away water through buybacks from farmers. When you enter Griffith, there's a billboard that proudly declares, 'Riverina winemakers —one in four glasses of wine made here.' That's not just one in four glasses for the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area; that's one in four glasses of Australian wine produced in and around Griffith. How do they produce that wine? They produce it because they get valuable water from the Murray-Darling, which is then used to grow all manner of things, let alone vineyards.

The point I make here is that I well recall, on Friday 29 October 2012, then Prime Minister Julia Gillard standing on the wharf at Goolwa and declaring that an additional 450 gigalitres of water were going to go to the environment—all well and good. We all need the environment, and farmers get a bad rap. They are the best environmentalists in all the world. Make no mistake: they have to be. They have to protect land and water. They have to make sure that their future is going to be secure. I get just a little bit tired of listening, as we have in this debate, to people such as the member for Warringah—and good luck to her. I know she's trying to best represent her people who sent her here, as we all do. But, when you get an electorate of 68 square kilometres, like the division of Warringah—

An opposition member: Tiny.

Tiny—extremely tiny. But the member for Warringah is trying to tell Australians, particularly regional Australians, how they should live their lives when they are doing the hard yards when it comes to making sure that we've got such things as solar farms and those dreaded wind turbines and that all of the environmental advantages that we're going to do to lower emissions are being done. The burden is being carried by regional Australians.

I listened to the member for Macquarie. Yes, I commend those people who saved that forest. I do. Far be it from me. I appreciate that he gets a bad reputation sometimes, but the work that Matt Kean did with the Wollemi pines in the last lot of bushfires, those dreadful Black Summer bushfires, saved those dinosaur trees, as they're called. It was a great effort by the New South Wales coalition government to make sure that they protected those trees, but the Sugar Pines Walk at Tumbarumba was, indeed, largely destroyed by those fires.

I take umbrage with what was being declared as though this was the first-ever fire that happened in Australia. We've had terrible fires before. Nobody likes fires. Nobody likes fires at all, but they do happen, unfortunately. When members opposite come in here and try to seek political advantage by declaring that this happened on our watch because of the policies we were putting in place, I call that nonsense, because it is a nonsense. Whilst they can say that all will be alright now because we've got a Labor-Greens government in play in Canberra—well, good luck, because you're going to have more droughts, you're going to have more floods, and you're going to have more fires. It's not just because of climate change; it's a natural event that occurs in Australia. If you don't believe me, read Core of My Heart, from 1904, by Dorothea Mackellar. It has happened since time began, and it will continue to happen.

I appreciate the member for North Sydney mentioning the thylacine. On the topic of bringing back the thylacine. there is a podcast out saying that science is going to reproduce the Tassie tiger, last seen in 1936. I commend that to her. I appreciate the member for Fremantle coming into this place, putting in place the State of the environment report and making out that nothing happened under the coalition government. There was record funding. The Great Barrier Reef is in good shape now. Murray-Darling—got along with a lot of good there. We will continue to do that, and we will continue to prosecute the opposition and to make sure they too can have as good a record as we had.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.