Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment Bill 2007 goes to governance arrangements for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The Great Barrier Reef is Australia’s greatest natural asset. It is unique. Nowhere else in the world do we see such an example of nature at her most diverse, her most enthralling, her most startling and, in my view, her most beautiful. The reef is not only magnificent in its natural beauty; the economic contribution of this natural phenomenon is phenomenal as well. The Great Barrier Reef not only evokes a sense of ownership within those of us who are fortunate to live beside it; all Australians rightly feel a strong connection with and ownership of it. But the bill that we have before us is about governance. This bill does nothing at all to address the real issues affecting the Great Barrier Reef. This bill does not include any element of a plan to maintain a healthy reef into the future. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment Bill 2007 seeks to implement recommendations of a 2006 review of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975. I want to pick up on the key aspects of that review and of this bill, but before I do so it is important to set the scene.

The Great Barrier Reef is an extraordinary natural wonder. It is the world’s largest World Heritage area. It is 2,000 kilometres of World Heritage wonder, with the world’s most extensive coral reef system, the world’s richest diversity of faunal species, 2,800 individuals reefs, 1,500 fish species, 175 bird species, 4,000 species of molluscs,1,500 species of sponge, 500 species of seaweed and more than 30 species of marine mammals.