Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, 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 caring for our environment and heritage after a decade of neglect?

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

Our government is absolutely determined to protect more of what is precious, repair more of what has been damaged and manage nature better for the future. Nobody knows the state of Kakadu National Park and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park better than the member for Lingiari, formerly the Territory MP and now the federal MP for Kakadu. She spent 10 years as the head of the Northern Land Council. She knows it like the back of her hand. She knows that it has been neglected and let down by those opposite for more than a decade.

Those opposite hid the State of the environment report. You know why? Because they left the state of the Australian environment in a bad state and getting worse. In contrast, what are we doing? We are doubling funding for Commonwealth national parks—national parks like Kakadu, like Uluru-Kata Tjuta, like Booderee and like the marine parks—because we know that what has been happening is the slow decline of our national parks. In Kakadu, you've got crocodile signs missing. You've got campgrounds and tracks that are shut to tourists because they are not safe. We want to make sure that these properties are protected for the future.

We have invested $45.2 million in the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, because what we were left by those opposite was these properties in a state of disrepair. I visited with a number of local members to see the cracked seawalls and the convict-built architecture falling into the harbour. We can't afford to let our national estate decline in this way.

What you'll see from us tonight in the budget is a doubling of funding for those Commonwealth national parks. You'll see an extra $163 million for the Australian Institute of Marine Science. In Townsville, they had a whole wing of laboratories closed because the machinery is out of date, there's mould in the roof and the offices aren't safe for our scientists to use. So we're doubling funding for the Australian Institute of Marine Science as well, left unfunded by those opposite. This will create 100 extra jobs in Townsville. It will create 110 extra jobs in our national parks. Many of them, of course, will be held by First Nations Australians, and I'm very proud of that. That means a better tourism experience for people visiting our national estate, and, most importantly, it means that the places that are special for Australians and the plants and animals that are at risk will be better protected, for us, for our kids, for our grandkids.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

The House will come to order. I will hear from the member for Wannon in silence.

The Prime Minister will cease interjecting.