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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Clark proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The need to urgently prioritise passage of reforms to strengthen national environmental laws and protections to defend nature and address the extinction crisis.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Urgently doing more to protect our natural environment is obviously a matter of critical public importance, and even more so right now, when Australia has one of the highest extinction rates in the world and our weak environmental laws are adding to this problem. No wonder my office has been inundated by constituents concerned about both the escalating extinction crisis in Tasmania and across the country, and about the state of our national environmental laws. No wonder that, over the last month, 41 Hobart schoolchildren have shared with me artworks of their favourite Tasmanian threatened species and reminded me that children look to us parliamentarians to ensure that our unique natural world thrives for generations to come.

Now, yes, the federal government's Nature Positive Plan does set out a goal of improving Australia's environmental laws to stop and reverse biodiversity loss—in other words, to finally address the extinction crisis. And yes, the environment department's website states that public consultation on all the relevant draft legislation will occur in the second half of 2023. Moreover, in June, when the crossbench engaged with the government on the passage of the nature repair market bills in good faith, we were assured that environmental law reforms would soon be introduced which would address our concerns about the accountability and integrity of that market. Indeed, on that same day, the minister said:

In the coming weeks, I will also be releasing the changes that we are proposing to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, including the first of the National Environmental Standards, for public consultation.

But, alarmingly, it's now September, and we've seen nothing—except, of course, the lousy sea-dumping legislation which enables carbon geosequestration out of sight, under the seabed, which essentially greenwashes the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels.

Don't get me wrong; I have great respect for the environment minister and appreciate it when she says that she wants to get this reform done and to get it done right. But at a certain point we must look at what is actually being done, not just at what is being said. The emerging pattern this year is a government which, on the environment at least, prioritises legislative tweaks and side projects but delays the hard and vital work of comprehensive reform. Plus it's mid-September and we face the very real prospect of a sneaky consultation period over Christmas when no-one is looking. All of this ignores the fact that we simply can't afford further delay because the extinctions are happening now. The forests are being cleared now and the community is demanding action now.

Frankly, we are in desperate need of a transparent, strengthened Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and related national environmental standards. These must adequately recognise and involve First Nations communities in project consideration and they must account for the climate impact of projects because conservation planning is obviously linked directly to climate change. For instance, approved coalmine developments and expansions this year alone are expected to add about 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere over their lifetimes which is patently appalling and surely can't be allowed to continue.

Moreover—this is critically important—we also need a strong, securely funded and genuinely independent national environmental protection agency—one that can give expert advice and act as a tough cop on the beat to ensure accountability and compliance with these new laws and regulations. Underpinning this we need greater public funding for conservation and environmental management to ensure we have the people and programs in place to protect, restore and repair our degraded ecosystems and threatened species.

In this parliament right now we have the largest crossbench in history made up of members who, by and large, reflect the widespread concerns about integrity, climate and the environment shared by communities right across the country. This is something to celebrate, but when debating the sea dumping legislation at the consideration-in-detail stage, the minister appeared frustrated at the proposed amendments from my colleagues and asked the crossbench to engage on legislation at an earlier stage. Well, Minister, here we are. We're ready with our sleeves rolled up and raring to go. We want these reforms to succeed. Australians want these reforms to succeed and our environment needs these reforms to succeed. Let's get on with the job and leave a legacy of stronger environmental protection for generations to come. I'll finish there and leave five minutes for an additional crossbench speaker.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too am very pleased to rise on this matter of very public importance. I acknowledge the member for Clark's long-term commitment to strengthening our environmental laws. That is an issue that is definitely shared by those of us on this side of the House and by many other members in this House. It is one that we are incredibly passionate about. Indeed, this is an issue that the Australian people voted for in last year's election because we had a decade of inaction prior to that. In fact, no government has done more on the environment and in terms of tackling climate change than the Albanese Labor government. We continue to take so much action, particularly because of the decade of inaction.

We are very proud of what this government is doing in terms of our targets for net zero and our Nature Positive Plan as well. For the first time in a decade we have a policy designed to reduce emissions, which is so vitally important, and make Australia a renewable energy superpower. We have been running fast and have hit the ground running on all of these measures together, along with our Nature Positive Plan, because of the inaction over the last decade.

I'll go through some of the action that we're taking and then get onto our Nature Positive Plan as well. Some of the actions include emission reduction targets of 43 per cent by 2030 and a clear path to net zero by 2050; $2 billion for green hydrogen; $1.6 billion for home and small business energy efficiency; passing the safeguard mechanism; $20 billion for Rewiring the Nation; establishing massive new offshore wind projects around the country; $3 billion on the National Reconstruction Fund for renewables and low-emission technologies; and, very importantly, setting up the new environment protection agency with much stronger laws, much quicker decisions and much better regulatory frameworks.

We've also doubled funding to national parks like Uluru and Kakadu to create jobs on country. We're delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, spending $1.2 billion to protect and restore the Great Barrier Reef, and proclaiming 10 new Indigenous protected areas and doubling the number of rangers. Under this government, the Albanese Labor government, Australia is leading the world again. We are working incredibly hard to clean up the mess the Liberals and Nationals left us, because we know how vitally important it is to protect and preserve our environment for future generations.

We are very proud to be reforming our very broken environmental laws. Under the previous government, under the Liberals and Nationals, they in fact trashed those environmental laws. We saw it time and time again, how they watered down the EPBC and took no action in this area. Professor Graham Samuel's 2019 review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act found:

The EPBC Act is out dated and requires fundamental reform.

It continues:

… Australians do not trust that the … Act is delivering for the environment, for business or for the community.

That is indeed true. Nature was being destroyed. Businesses were waiting too long for decisions. This has to change.

We responded to Professor Samuel's review and announced our nature-positive plan: better for the environment and also better for business. We want an economy that is nature-positive to stop the decline and repair nature. We are building towards this legislation using three basic principles: clear national standards of environmental protection, improving and speeding up decisions, and building trust and integrity in our environmental laws.

Our nature-positive plan will be better for the environment for a number of reasons: by delivering those stronger laws to protect nature; to protect precious plants, animals and places; and for the first time these laws will introduce standards. Decisions must meet the standards that describe the environmental outcomes we want to achieve. This will ensure decisions made will protect our threatened species and ecosystems and, importantly, let that new environmental protection agency make decisions and properly enforce them.

As I said, our nature-positive plan will be better for business as well, with more certainty and less red tape. This plan is indeed a win-win: a win for the environment and a win for business. It is incredibly extensive, and we have very positive responses to this plan from Greenpeace:

The reforms outlined are a very welcome and long-overdue step to better protecting Australia's extraordinary wildlife, forests and natural environment.

The Business Council of Australia said:

Business welcomes the government's commitment to implementing recommendations of the Samuel Review—

and many other groups have welcomed the announcement, like the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Environmental Defenders Office.

We are, and we have always been, committed to working with environment and business communities and First Nation groups to make sure we get this right into the future. As has been said before, the legislation will be released as an exposure draft by the end of 2023, and we are working constructively right across the community to make sure that we do in fact get this right.

Of course, another important aspect in protecting our environment is protecting threatened species. Unlike the previous government, the Albanese Labor government does not accept that extinctions are inevitable. What we accept and acknowledge is that we need to act. It's important that we do what we can to understand the threats to certain species and to use the most up-to-date advice in our capacity to protect them. Since we've been in government, we have been taking strong action to protect threatened species. We are investing over $500 million in directly helping threatened species in and tackling feral species too. There's over $224 million for the Saving Native Species Program, including $70 million for koalas; $440 million for the Natural Heritage Trust for programs to conserve threatened species; double the funding for national parks, which is so vitally important; triple the funding to clean up and restore urban rivers and catchments. There are many other policies as well, which include delivering our Murray-Darling Basin Plan and $1.2 billion for the Great Barrier Reef. We have had an extensive array of investment in ensuring we are doing all that we can to protect our threatened species.

As I said at the beginning, we are very proud to be acting on climate change because the Australian people voted for this. They were sick of the inaction of the previous government. That's why we've taken that strong action, particularly that investment in renewable energy, which is the cheapest form of energy, and that's why we've got, and are investing in, nation-building initiatives such as Rewiring the Nation. We know this is vitally important because we actually appreciate the value of renewable energy and the importance of that. I particularly want to add that, in regional areas like mine, not only is there great enthusiasm as we transition to renewables, but it is a massive economic driver for regional areas as well. People in the country absolutely recognise that and are very complimentary of what we're doing.

We have also legislated Australia's target of a 43 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050. As I've said, there's the offshore wind industry and Rewiring the Nation—a whole range of measures in place. That's what is at the heart of taking action on climate change: a whole series of measures, those massive investments supporting households and business, and legislated targets. In the time that we have been in government we have done a huge amount because there was so much inaction over those previous 10 years from the Liberals and Nationals. In fact, we know, those of us that were here, that there were more than 20 failed policies over that time. It seemed every week there was another policy that they just didn't land at all. There was no desire from them to address this pressing issue, unlike from those of us in the Labor Party.

Since that time, in the last year, the only policy we've seen from the Liberals and Nationals is the one they keep rehashing, and that is of course nuclear power. We hear it every couple of weeks. Whenever we talk about energy, what do they say? Nuclear power. As I've said many times in this House, many communities right throughout the nation, and particularly in my electorate, are completely opposed to the use of nuclear power for a whole variety of reasons. It is far too dangerous and far too expensive. We know that a small reactor would cost a massive $5 billion to build, and they need about 80 of them around Australia at least. Of course they won't tell us where they'll go, and we know these reactors would have to be near water. Communities like mine—in fact, communities up, down and around the country—would be little bit worried about what the plans are when it comes rolling out nuclear energy. And that is all we ever seem to hear from the Liberals and Nationals.

Those of us on this side have an absolutely huge, strong commitment to acting on climate change, protecting our environment and protecting our threatened species, and we are doing that by strengthening the EPBC Act, which is at the heart of this and gives us the basis to keep taking this strong action. This act, which was watered down by the Liberals and Nationals, is the one we are focusing on, through massive consultation, to make sure we get it right. We have to get it right. We have to get it right for future generations because this is our chance to protect our environment and our threatened species, and the Albanese Labor government is committed to doing that.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The problem with our current environment laws is that they don't protect the environment. Under our current environmental laws, the destruction of the environment is lawful. The bleaching of the iconic Great Barrier Reef is legal. The warming oceans caused by mining and burning of coal and gas is above board. The extinction crisis is consistent with the current statutes. The overextraction of water from the Murray-Darling, a lifeblood of the south-east of Australia, is lawful. The ripping up of ancient native forest to be turned into woodchips is government approved. Under our current laws, the destruction of the world is lawful. When the crossbench says, 'Let's get on with fixing our environment laws to tackle the No. 1 threat to our environment: climate change,' the environment minister flees the chamber and doesn't even come and attend to defend Labor's delay in fixing our environment laws. And we found out today in question time why.

We know that the leading cause of the climate crisis, and the biggest threat to our environment, is mining and burning of coal and gas, yet Labor keeps approving more. In this year alone, Labor has given the go-ahead to five coal projects. And today, in question time, when asked if the minister will stop approving new coal and gas projects, the minister said no. Today Labor nailed their colours to the mast and said that they will keep approving new coal and gas projects, even at a time when this country heads towards the worst forecast summer since the Black Summer, even as we hear that thousands—over 10,000 people—are missing in Libya because of climate induced floods and even as we have fires burning across the globe and threatening us again this summer. But, under the current laws, a coal and gas project gets approved even if it makes the climate crisis worse and threatens our environment.

This is the way that Labor wants the laws to be. It's no doubt why the environment minister is not here defending the status quo. It's because Labor and Liberal are more concerned with Woodside and Santos than they are with the Great Barrier Reef and the Lower Lakes of the Coorong. They're more worried about protecting the big gas corporations in the Beetaloo Basin than the people of this country. Like on so many problems plaguing this country, Labor gives too much power to the big corporations and the billionaires.

The Greens don't think it's too much to ask that laws designed to protect the environment simply protect the environment. We need laws that—wait for it—protect the environment. The environment—the reefs, the rivers, the mountains and the forests—needs protection from coal and gas corporations, from overextraction and from corporations seeking to damage them for profit.

These laws are urgent, and we need them now, but under Labor these laws have been delayed. What hasn't been delayed, though, or paused or put on hold is Labor's love for coal and gas. Labor has approved five coal projects this year alone but can't bring new environment laws to this parliament. These mines approved by the environment minister alone will create 150 million tonnes of pollution, contributing to more extinctions, death and destruction.

Real environment laws—laws which protected the environment—would have blocked these coal and gas projects. The minimum needed is no more coal and gas projects. Stop approving new projects. That's what the environment needs.

So, until that's done, we urge the minister to stop posing with koalas; stop bringing a watering can to a forest fire, while at the same time fuelling that fire by approving more coal and gas. We need a climate trigger inserted into our environment laws now. We need a ban on the needless destruction of native forests, these ancient and majestic carbon stores and critical habitats. They must be protected. We want an end to the extinction crisis. The public are fed up with big corporations getting the power to trash the environment, and they won't accept Labor breaking their promise to protect the environment. Koala selfies from a minister won't cut it. We deserve environment laws which protect the environment. We want a Great Barrier Reef which people want to come and see, not one bleached by coal projects. We want a Murray-Darling Basin which doesn't leave South Australia high and dry, and we reckon Tasmania's forests are worth more standing up. The minister needs to decide: is she the minister for the environment or the minister against it? Stop approving coal and gas projects.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a difference a year makes, colleagues. When we came to government, renewable energy was sitting at 33 per cent. It is now at 40 per cent, as we accelerate to 82 per cent in a mere 75 or 76 months from now. That is an absolutely massive task. Yes, while some coal mines may have been approved under the environment minister, let us not forget that this is the same environment minister who is the first one in Commonwealth history to have disallowed a coal mine due to its impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. That is something the crossbench love to forget.

In addition to this, we are also the government that has 104—when I last checked; it might be higher now—renewable projects in the pipeline. This has more than doubled, and it is sitting on the environment minister's desk for her to sign off.

So we are well on the way when it comes to our energy transformation, and it can't happen a day too soon. Why? Because, when we came to government, we inherited a mess. Those opposite were not only economic vandals but also environmental vandals. We inherited an economy that had had its shock absorbers removed. We had a housing crisis. We'd seen a collapse of bulk-billing—Medicare—which I'd devoted my life to supporting.

We'd seen energy chaos, where those opposite had 22 energy policies. And what was their strike rate? Was it 50 per cent? Any takers? Perhaps it was 10 per cent? No. It was zero per cent. Zero. They couldn't land a single energy policy. It led to Australia being overexposed to fossil fuels. Of course, what then happened was the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, a black swan event, one none of us saw coming, which has left Australia a country with an unparalleled endowment of sunshine, wind and waves in an energy crisis. Australia, a fossil fuel giant, is facing an energy crisis. It's absurd. Why? Because those opposite, in their 10 years, failed to transition this country to renewable energy, something that we are now doing.

When it comes to the environment, we need to change our mental models. For too long, we have considered the environment as a resource to be pillaged and plundered. The problem is that, when you worship at the temple of GDP, nature always comes off second-best—always. I actually believe this is a completely false dichotomy. Economics is not privileged above biodiversity. In fact, the two are intertwined. Why? Because our economy depends on biodiversity. Where do you think our food comes from? Seventy per cent of our food production is reliant on nature's pollinators: the bees, the bats and the birds.

In addition to that, our economy is reliant on the stuff we dig up, for sure, including all those critical minerals that we will be needing for our net zero transition. But it's also reliant on tourism, like the Great Barrier Reef brings. What we have seen, however, is not just environmental degradation but environmental secrecy under those opposite. We inherited an environmental situation which was described in the State of the environment report 2021 as a 'poor and deteriorating state'. That was damning. That same report, which was released in 2021, was kept under wraps by those opposite because it was too damning to release. We have won the ignominious title of being the mammal extinction capital of the world.

Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's their legacy.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's right. Since colonisation, we have lost 100 endemic species. That means that these were species only found in Australia, like the thylacine. They're gone. We've got 19 ecosystems that are on the brink of collapse.

We as a government are well aware of this, and this is why we have adopted all the recommendations of the Samuel review and the work around reforming our EPBC Act is underway. The reason the Minister for the Environment and Water is not in the chamber is because she's actually trying to fix the EPBC Act. She is essentially rewriting that entire act, which has not been reviewed in 30 years. So there is a lot of work to do, and we are getting on with it.

Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Biodiversity has been seen as the poor cousin of climate change in recent years. The world's waking up to the impact of climate change and the need to respond. but declining biodiversity is also urgent and dramatic. It's not happening somewhere else; it's happening here, in places we know and love. The government knows that the 20-year-old Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is in need of a significant overhaul and has committed to doing this and ending extinctions. But it's taking a while. While I acknowledge that getting it right is essential, my community is begging for updates on when the new legislation will be introduced, and I don't want to keep telling them: 'Wait. Be patient. It will be here soon.' After years of inaction, the protection of nature is now urgent.

I come from a really special part of the world. The south-western corner of Western Australia, which includes my electorate of Curtin, was the first global biodiversity hotspot to be recognised in Australia and it's one of only 36 in the world. This means it has a high percentage of plants that are found nowhere else on the planet. More than half the plants in our south-west forests and woodlands exist nowhere else because they developed in isolation, separated from the rest of Australia by the wide Central Desert. They are irreplaceable. Once gone, they're gone forever. We have jarrah and marri forests and tall blackbutt in river valleys. The Tuart woodlands and forests of the Swan Coastal Plain are critically endangered. We have critically endangered fauna, including the numbat, the woylie, the exquisite red-tailed parrot, the squelching froglet, the yellow wart burrowing frog and the western swamp turtle.

So why does it matter if some obscure frog or turtle becomes extinct? Some would say that each species has intrinsic value and a right to exist. Others would talk about the delicate balance of the planet and the fact that everything is interconnected. Our ecosystems are complex and fragile. We know so little about the interconnectedness that we don't know if we can afford to lose a species without adverse impact on its ecosystem.

For these and other reasons, people in my electorate and across Australia are deeply passionate about protecting our environment and biodiversity. Within my Curtin community, we have many of Australia's leading experts in the field of biodiversity, including four members of the threatened species advisory group. At my regular community catch-ups and in speaking with constituents, the protection of our biodiversity comes up again and again.

Australia has become a global deforestation hotspot, with the worst rate of mammal extinction in the world. Over the last 200 years, one in 10 of Australia's endemic terrestrial species have become extinct. In comparison, only one native land mammal from continental North America has become extinct since European settlement. A further one in five Australian endemic land mammal species are now assessed to be threatened. Climate change makes it harder to protect these species, with modelling predicting severe to catastrophic losses in high-altitude tropical rainforests, alpine environments, tropical savannas of northern Australia and coastal areas. When you look at lists like that, it feels pretty dire.

So what's happening? The government's ambitious Nature Positive Plan, released in December last year, was a welcome first response to the comprehensive Samuel review. But that was more than nine months ago. We are all waiting for the department's reform task force to release a comprehensive exposure draft. I urge the government to do this soon and in a manner that provides for adequate and significant consultation. We urgently need to establish a new set of codified national standards with the stated purpose of achieving measurable environmental outcomes—not processes or checklists but outcomes.

Our approach to biodiversity protection must also be part of a holistic response to climate change. We only have one proven technology that removes carbon from the air. It's called the tree. We face some difficult trade-offs ahead between critical minerals development to replace fossil fuels and protecting biodiversity. We need a strong environmental protection framework in place to ensure that we make these decisions wisely and well. The hot summer and bushfire season ahead will provide a backdrop to the urgent work that needs to be done on the EPBC Act. We must do this now. Every day counts.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I see the member for Curtin's froglet and I raise her three handfish from southern Tasmania, three of the most critically endangered fish in the world. When you see these remarkable creatures, you'll know why. They've evolved over the centuries and millennia to travel with their little tiny hands on the bottom of the River Derwent. How they are still there I don't know. We love them and we are committed to keeping them.

After a decade of disaster and neglect under those opposite—and I don't include the crossbench there—the Australian Labor government is taking real action on environment. It's fair to say that no Australian government has ever done more on environment and climate than this one. I take the member for Clark's matter of public importance very seriously—it's a serious issue—but I think it has to be recognised that this government is taking this issue seriously. While we welcome the crossbench's support for what we are doing, we didn't need the crossbench to tell us about the importance of the environment, climate change, housing policy and an integrity commission. These are all Labor programs. They're all part of a Labor agenda. We welcome the crossbench's support. Often they make very constructive contributions to the Labor agenda. But this is a Labor agenda before this parliament. It's this government that is putting forward emissions reduction targets, that is putting forward climate change energy policy, that is rewiring the nation and so on and so forth.

We've set a goal of zero new extinctions to give a clear signal that we want to save our threatened species. We target to protect and conserve at least 30 per cent of Australia's land and 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030 to protect and restore habitat. We are investing more than $500 million to better protect threatened plants and animals and tackle invasive species. In March this government announced its Threatened Species Action Plan, developed with input from experts, the community, natural resource managers, scientists, conservation groups and First Nations peoples, which gives a pathway for conservation and recovery over the next 10 years.

We are investing $200 million to clean up urban rivers and waterways as part of the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program. This government's Urban Rivers and Catchments Plan will make sure that these waterways are home to nearly half our threatened animals and a quarter of threatened plants and make sure that we take action on that. The program will support projects that improve waterways in urban, outer urban and regional centres, and, as a member for a regional community, I take that very seriously indeed.

Projects funded will help conserve native plants and animals such as birds, platypi and native fish. They will also reconnect people with nature, improving access to the valuable spaces that waterways provide for our health and social wellbeing. So far this government has protected an extra 40 million hectares of Australian ocean and bush, an area bigger than Germany, and we are doubling the number of Indigenous rangers and investing in 10 new Indigenous protected areas.

I'll run out of time if I go on, but in my electorate of Lyons we have unique threatened species right on our doorstep. My electorate is home to a number of threatened species—the eastern quoll, the orange-bellied parrot, the red handfish, as I've mentioned, and the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish—and they will all be protected from further depletion and extinction thanks to our funding. The minister has outlined a time line for delivery of this legislation; I think it's by the end of the year.

I note the member for Clark is concerned, if that time line is kept, that the consultation will be over the Christmas period, which he's worried about. We've had a pretty full dance card, Member for Clark. This government has had a lot to get through in the first 18 months: wages legislation, housing legislation, aged care, national reconstruction, rewiring the nation, the integrity commission and robodebt. The Nature Positive Plan is important, but it's by no means the only arrow in our environmental quiver. We've already taken emissions reduction legislation and Rewiring the Nation to parliament, as I said, so it's just one element of what we're doing.

We are committed to it. The minister is working very hard, as the member for Higgins said. She is rewriting the EPBC Act to take into account the concerns of the Samuel's report. We are absolutely committed, and no doubt the member for Clark knows this. Just as he is committed to getting real action on this, we are committed too. I'm confident that the minister will meet her time line by the end of the year.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to table this document, but I'm told that I can't. I don't know why. That's quite extraordinary. The document is about the great Queensland dividing range scheme, which just revises the Bradfield Scheme. I represent an area where it rains all the time—above 100 inches of rainfall for most of the towns on the coast—and we just want a teeny-weeny little bit of that water to move it out onto the western plains onto an area called the Desert Uplands.

I greatly respect my crossbench colleagues and their concern for the environment, and I share that concern, but we have a treeless desert at the present moment that we're going to convert into a farming and agriculture but mostly industrial undertaking that will prevent 20 million tonnes of Australian carbon dioxide a year from going up into the atmosphere. That's close to five per cent of Australia's emissions. Why wouldn't you do this? Is there a single reason on the planet why you wouldn't do this? Part of the area that would be benefitting has 23,000 square kilometres of prickly acacia tree that absorbs no CO2—I'm not going to go into the reasons why—that has wiped out all native flora and fauna. Surely it would be better to grow something that will take CO2.

I haven't got time to table another document here, the Hells Gates document, but in that you will see a farmer standing on dirt ground. That's at the start of the year. At the end of the year, there's nearly 13 foot of solid sugarcane biomass. You can imagine how much CO2 every hectare of sugarcane takes out of the atmosphere. I would be the first to question any program that jeopardises the environment. We've been fighting against Chalumbin wind farms. Queensland has felled more trees than any other state in Australia by the length of the Flemington straight, and I can tell you that a whole lot of those trees—I fly over them, and I never thought about it until Chalumbin came up.

I was at a meeting. They were all sort of greenies at the meeting. They said, 'This is a really weird meeting,' when I came in. The chairman, the professor, said that, in summary, what is happening in Chalumbin—and the Spectator magazine says it's going to be the Franklin Dam of this decade—is that a beautiful nature wonderland is going to be turned into industrial wasteland. Good call. Queensland can be proud that they have felled more trees than any other state in Australia. I might add, as far as coalmining—I'm all for coalmining. I'm the strongest pro-coalmining person in any parliament in Australia. I share my colleagues' view and I congratulate the Queensland government on opening more coalmines than any other government since Bjelke-Petersen. Look at the length of the hypocrisy in this place.

If you introduce ethanol, why are we one of the only two countries on earth—by heavens, if you pull out a 20c coin and have a look at it, it's got an English monarch on it. When is this country going to grow up? I am sorry, but we're not English anymore; we are Australian. We do not believe in aristocracy. We believe that every man is born free and equal. That's what we believe. So what I'm saying here is we've got to grow up and we've got to be intelligent and we have got to reduce. Why are we the only country on earth that hasn't got ethanol? Iemma, the ALP Premier of New South Wales, said, 'I can't go another day with people dying in Sydney who simply should not be dying.' So he introduced ethanol. No-one after him has been worried about 900 people dying every year in Sydney from smog from motor vehicle emissions. No-one else is worried about it. This place doesn't seem worried about it.

The ALP have been there, the LNP have been there and not one of them introduced ethanol. Yet every other country on earth has done it. Look at the map. Go and check it out. The EU agreement says everyone has to use five per cent. China is using five per cent. Half of Indonesia is using five per cent. India is going to five per cent. America is on 15 per cent. But let's use Brazil because this is the country most like Australia— (Time expired)

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm glad the member for Clark has given me the opportunity to stand up and talk about the environment, the work and the commitment of our Labor government, and everything that we're doing to protect our country. The environment is now finally at the front and centre of the federal government's agenda, and the election of the Albanese Labor government has not come a moment too soon for the environment, particularly in my hometown in the Northern Territory. Right now, bushfires are burning in the Barkly, with over a million hectares of land being touched by fires. Fires have sporadically been burning along the MacDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs. Our climate is changing and our environment needs to be protected, and this federal government is deeply attuned to that fact.

A key measure of protecting and supporting our environment, which is of huge importance in Lingiari, is the work we are doing to support Indigenous rangers. Rangers are a huge part of the Northern Territory's environmental and economic fabric. In a challenging economic environment, across sparse and diverse landscapes, rangers provide important and meaningful employment opportunities for remote communities. Through the Nature Repair Market, introduced by the Albanese government, I already know of many local Aboriginal corporations who are looking to invest in Indigenous ranger programs. Aboriginal people have tens of thousands of years of experience managing our land and sea country. With the environmental reforms, particularly the NRM, communities will be able to create industry and economic development out bush, utilising their ancient knowledge to navigate a modern economy.

One group in the Territory doing great work on this is the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, which is encouraging innovation and providing support to communities trying to diversify local economies. The Aboriginal Carbon Foundation is working with a number of groups and private industry to transform communities. The Nature Repair Market will provide a federal policy framework in which they can continue to expand this work. Land councils are doing important work in this space of environmental management and Indigenous rangers. I have been privileged to work with hundreds of our Indigenous rangers. The work they do on a daily basis is critical, and it's meaningful.

I was also lucky enough to travel to Groote Island and meet with the Anindilyakwa Land Council and the rangers there. The Anindilyakwa rangers are doing really important work, particularly when it comes to protecting sea country. While I was on Groote, I saw huge amounts of ghost nets and plastic being pulled from our oceans. These nets absolutely wreak havoc on our oceans, trapping and killing wildlife and destroying coral ecosystems. I was able, thanks to our environment minister, to announce grant funding for the Anindilyakwa rangers to expand their work, including for a cutting-edge new vessel. I know that the ALC and the rangers were extremely grateful to the Albanese government for their focus on and commitment to environmental protection and Indigenous rangers.

Another group I visited with the Minister for the Environment and Water was the Mutitjulu Tjakura rangers and the Kaltukatjara rangers in Katiti-Petermann and Mutitjulu. These ranger groups are doing really important work close to and alongside the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. They are removing buffel grass, undertaking cultural burns, monitoring threatened species and caring for country. One of the ranger supervisors told us of the difference these programs were making for men. But I also want to quickly acknowledge the Country Needs People association and the work, development and support they are doing with strong women on country, like the Thamarrurr women's ranger program in Port Keats, to look after country and provide employment for the women.

Labor knows Australia's environmental laws are broken. The coalition did the review in 2019. They sat on the outcomes of that report for five years and did nothing. The Minister for the Environment and Water and our government are committed to cleaning up that mess and making sure that we do everything that we can to bring in strong laws to protect our environment and our country.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Greg Mullins, former commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW, has acknowledged that some of the worst bushfire seasons have followed a triple La Nina. The prolific growth and regeneration that occurs during La Nina allows us to then have high growth when we go into El Nino, and then we have intense heat and dryness. This has put my community on high alert.

I think it's fair to say that there is a real concern that the government is not prioritising environmental protection legislation, which is closely linked to climate change mitigation. My electorate of Mayo has seen firsthand the devastation caused by bushfires that have followed a triple La Nina event. Not only that; my electorate is full of biodiversity and many threatened species. The State of the environment report has exposed a crisis that is facing not only my electorate but Australia. The modelling suggests that we will be exposed to more extremes. We must have a legislative framework in place to properly address these threats.

Some suggest we are about to face our sixth extinction crisis. What is this, you might ask? It's like what we had with the dinosaurs and big bangs, but what we're looking at now is biological annihilation—the increasingly fast degradation of our ecosystems and decline in species. Have we seen extinctions before? Yes, but this is the first that has been driven by humans and human development. Land clearing and habitat loss are the big drivers of extinction. Between 2010 and 2018, more than 3.5 million hectares were cleared across Australia. That is extraordinary. That is so sad. In the 2019-20 bushfires, we wiped out approximately one billion animals. The glossy black-cockatoo, which has an endangered red-tailed subspecies living on Kangaroo Island, in my electorate, was practically wiped out by land clearing during the last half of the 20th century, and the bushfires that Kangaroo Island faced only a few years ago destroyed almost four in 10 of their nesting spots. The government needs to ensure we have legislation that can mitigate such biodiversity loss.

Australia is committed to the '30 by 30' framework, which is a start. The framework includes the pledge to protect and conserve 30 per cent of Australia's landmass and 30 per cent of Australia's marine areas by 2030. This will hopefully slow species loss and reverse habitat loss. Then, hopefully, we won't face the sixth extinction. However, this needs to not just focus on middle Australia. There need to be protections that are proportionate to the needs of regional diversity. Other parts of the world are also pledging to meet the '30 by 30' framework. The European Union's strategy has introduced strict protections for areas with high biodiversity. It has proposed binding natural restoration targets and restoring degraded ecosystems. However, we need to do better than the EU, because we are not on target to reach the goals by 2030.

In 2021 US President Joe Biden issued an executive order to tackle climate crisis, which was then followed by California implementing the goals of the '30 by 30' objectives. California has included input from government agencies, local tribes, experts and other stakeholders in their strategy consultations. Other countries are moving at pace, and we really need to do the same. Where is the EPBC amendment exposure draft? We need to make sure we get this legislation through the parliament. We need a national framework. We need to act because we just can't afford to lose this. We know that people visit Australia because of our unique flora and fauna, but it feels to me like we're not taking it seriously, like we don't truly value what we have. Perhaps we won't value it until we've lost it. What a great shame that would be.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to speak on the MPI topic put forward by the member for Clark—the need to urgently prioritise the passage of reforms to strengthen national environmental laws and protections to defend nature and address the extinction crisis. I've been in the parliament with the member for Clark for a long time. Whenever he puts a proposition forward, it's always worth listening to, and I commend his passion on this topic. I say up-front: personally I'm very supportive of the fact that we do have to do more, as recommended by Professor Samuel's report, but obviously we need to do so methodically and correctly.

I commend all of the speakers who have made contributions, even the stream-of-consciousness efforts. I particularly want to call out one speaker, and that's the member for Lingiari—the birthday girl—for her contribution. We have so much to learn about caring for this country, and we saw practical examples of that. I think all of us, even if we're in an urban environment, like the member for Brisbane's electorate, have a connection to country that can be enhanced by listening to our First Nations people, and to the experts, the scientists and the like, and making sure we get the legislation right. Personally, I think we need to have the concept of caring for country in section 51 of the Constitution. That's not a Labor Party position; it's just something I think we should do to ensure that all decisions in this nation are made in the best interests of country. But, whether it comes to the city, the bush, the beach or beyond the breakers, we need to make sure that what we're doing in the context of working towards net zero is actually nature-positive.

I go for a walk in my electorate every morning through some bushland where there are koalas and echidnas, even though I'm in an inner-city electorate. I know how uplifting that is for me and for everyone, whether they're wandering around Mount Isa or Innisfail, like the member for Kennedy can do—incredible parts of this country. We are all better for having that connection to some bit of Australia, be it urban, rural, remote or wherever.

I think every MP in this House and every senator—or nearly every senator—would agree that we should have that connection to the areas that we represent but that we need to do it in the context of science. Sadly, I saw on the weekend that the Nationals are still debating whether climate change is real. The world has moved on. They need to go and talk to their insurance companies or insurance brokers to understand how much the world has moved on and accepted the science. It's sad to see that there are still representatives debating that.

Obviously there are many things that we can do in the context of a government committed to reducing emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, which is just around the corner. It will take a lot of work, but we can also do our bit for the environment, as laid out in this motion by the member for Clark. There are things that we can do that will be a legacy for our grandchildren when they ask, 'What did you do in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan?' I know that we've done more in the last 12 months and provided more environmental water in the last 12 months than occurred in the previous nine years. We've doubled the funding to national parks like Uluru and Kakadu so that we're creating jobs on country, which gives purpose, gives dignity and changes lives. We're setting up this new Environmental Protection Agency to make sure that we've got a good, strong cop on the beat but also one that makes decisions more quickly so that business has certainty and things aren't lingering and being fought out in the courts. They'll make a decision and move on.

One thing I'm particularly concerned about, as someone that deals with their yellow bins and their green bins and the like in the city, is making sure that we're boosting recycling so that people are making decisions early on in the process about design and how things can be recycled appropriately so that we conserve prices but also make sure that we conserve these scarce natural resources. There's more to be done in that area, obviously.

Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia's environment laws are broken. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, or EPBC Act, in particular, needs urgent reform. We desperately need a climate trigger and to stop new coal and gas in its tracks. Currently, our environment laws do not require the minister to consider the climate impacts of new projects, resulting in big polluting projects failing to be assessed for the emissions they create. As we know, this year alone, the environment minister has approved five coalmines, including the Isaac River coalmine, the Star coalmine, the Lake Vermont coalmine and the Ensham coalmine. The Ensham coalmine in itself will be responsible for a whopping 106 million tonnes. Then we have the most recent approval, the Gregory coalmine, a mine that the government has approved to operate until 2073 and that will add 31 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. That's equal to six per cent of Australia's annual emissions from one mine.

Every new coal and gas project risks the future. They risk the future of our reef, the future of the Murray and the safety of current and future generations. The approval of these five coalmines will create almost 150 million tonnes of carbon emissions combined. The minister has promised to fix our environment laws this year, and that must include making sure environment laws account for climate change when assessing projects, at the very least.

In 2023, in the midst of a global extinction and climate crisis, there is no excuse for Australia to keep logging our great forests. Just last week, a critically endangered greater glider was found dead as a result of native forest logging. If we are to halt the extinction crisis in Australia, the government must do everything in its power to stop the destruction of our forests. We cannot protect our threatened wildlife while we continue to log their homes. If the Albanese government is serious about fighting the climate crisis and protecting our environment, it must follow the lead of Victoria and other state governments and stop all native forest logging across the country.

There is no doubt that the climate crisis fuels extinction. Australia was the first country to record a mammal extinction as a result of climate change, and we cannot afford any more. Yet, around the country, Australian wildlife like the koala, greater glider and the southern emu wren continue to face extinction. In fact, just last week, on Threatened Species Day, another 48 species were listed as endangered. This is a national shame. If this government is serious about its zero extinction target, they must prioritise laws that stop destruction of threatened species habitat for forestry and coalmines.

Reform of environmental laws was supposed to be a priority for this government, yet meaningful change continues to be delayed. The EPBC, in particular, needs urgent reform. While we wait for these reforms, the government has, as I said, approved five new coalmines; tried to pass its green Wall Street Nature Repair Market Bill ahead of any EPBC changes or any funding to achieve zero extinction; and introduced a sea dumping bill that provides the means for fossil fuel companies to expand their operations at the expense of our climate and oceans. All the while, the EPBC remains neither effective at ensuring environmental protection and biodiversity conservation nor efficient in its regulation of business.

The public wants stronger action in addressing climate change. The Climate of the Nation report released just today shows that close to half of the country does not believe the government is doing enough to address climate change. Two-thirds of people said that the government should plan to phase out coalmines and 53 per cent supported a moratorium on new coalmines. It is abundantly clear that we must prioritise reform in these areas. Australia's environment laws must, at a bare minimum, stop destruction of native forests and assess new projects for their climate impacts. In other words, we urgently need a climate trio.

We've been promised progress on strengthening our environmental laws for well over a year now, and it seems that nothing is on the horizon. Each day we wait is another opportunity for the government to approve more and more fossil fuel projects. Our climate and wildlife cannot afford further delay.

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

The time allotted for discussion has now concluded.