Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water. How is the Albanese Labor government addressing nearly a decade of neglect and building a better future for our environment?

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

I thank the member for Newcastle for her question. She's a very keen bushwalker, and I know that she works very well with the environment groups in her electorate, including the Hunter Wetlands group. After almost a decade of neglect and vandalism of the environment by those opposite, we've got a big job to do, and that's why this Labor government invested $1.8 billion in environmental repair and restoration in this budget. This budget will protect the Great Barrier Reef. It will save our native species. It'll employ a thousand new Landcare rangers. It'll support new Indigenous protected areas and new extra Indigenous rangers.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.

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

It'll fund the Environmental Defenders Office for the first time in nine years and clean up our urban rivers and waterways.

Of course, we've only been in government for a few months now, but in that time we've already seen the difference that a government committed to the environment can make. We've legislated a more ambitious emissions reduction target with a clear path to net zero. We are rewriting our environmental laws to better protect the environment but also to give business faster, clearer decision-making. We're establishing a new Environmental Protection Agency, a tough cop on the beat. We're determined to prevent new extinctions. We're protecting our most precious environments by expanding the amount of land and ocean under protection to 30 per cent by 2030. We've signed the Leaders Pledge for Nature. We've released the State of the environment report, something kept secret by those opposite. We're establishing a new nature repair market to reward farmers and other landholders for their work in restoring and protecting nature. We're working with the states and territories to improve our waste management and build a more circular economy, including getting rid of problem plastics.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why won't you build more dams?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Groom!

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

Australians care very deeply about our environment—about the plants and animals and places that make us unique—and we are determined to protect, restore and manage our natural environment, because, under the Albanese Labor government, the environment is back. I notice, by the way, a lot of interjections about dams. Why are you too gutless to ask me a question if you want to know the answers?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Groom will cease interjecting and is on a warning.