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

Just last year, Senator Boswell, Geoscience Australia published a map which indicated the potential for exploration and drilling in this region. If you are saying that this is not on the government’s agenda then rule it out. This is another real threat, and one that Labor are committed to removing. The Great Barrier Reef deserves protection—protection not afforded by this bill. This is why I move the second reading amendment standing in my name:

At the end of the motion, add: “but the Senate:

(a)    affirms the object of the principal Act—the protection of the Great Barrier Reef—but notes that the future of the Reef is threatened by both short-term and longer-term factors, including climate change;

(b)    notes that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in 2007 that by 2050, 97 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef could be bleached every year as a result of climate change;

(c)    condemns the Government’s incompetent handling of the structural adjustment package for the Great Barrier Reef Representative Areas Plan, which has seen the budget blow out from $31 million to more than $87 million;

(d)    calls on the Government to develop and implement an action plan to help protect the Great Barrier Reef from the effects of coral bleaching and protect Australian jobs and industries dependent on a healthy reef, as part of a national climate change strategy; and

(e)    calls on the Government to prohibit mineral, oil and gas exploration in Australian waters adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park”.

This amendment identifies the potential, listed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, for significant bleaching of our reef in a short period of time. This will affect the economies of our region. The second reading amendment condemns the government’s incompetent handling of structural adjustment, particularly—and I am sure Senators Boswell and Joyce will agree with me on this—the structural package for fishers and those who depend on fishing. The amendment calls on the government to develop and implement an action plan to help protect the Great Barrier Reef from the effects of coral bleaching and protect Australian jobs and industries dependent on a healthy reef as part of a national climate change strategy. Finally, the second reading amendment calls on the government to prohibit mineral, oil and gas exploration in Australian waters adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.