Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to address a couple of issues there. Senator Macdonald, I am sorry if the remarks I made before sounded as though I thought the authority would be consulting before someone was appointed. That is not the point I am trying to make. When the authority makes decisions and considers important issues, it will consult widely—in other words, it will of course consult those who use the park. My argument is that you do not need someone with specific experience or expertise on the board of the authority because they will be consulted when these decisions are being made.

I believe there is a vast difference between the knowledge and experience that an Indigenous person brings to the park and someone who has a vested interest in it. I am probably going to upset some people in the tourism industry with these remarks, but some in the tourism industry are more exploitative than others. Unless you are going to define this person as being a certain type of tourist operator, it will be left up to the government to decide who that person will be and what sort of experience they will bring to the board. Some in the tourism industry are quite exploitative of the natural environment; others, of course, are very good and protect the natural environment. I think they bring a range of experience that the authority can consult when making its decisions. I do not believe it is appropriate to have on the authority a representative who has a vested interest in the tourism industry. You know very well that, next minute, we will have on the phone the mining industry and the fishing industry also wanting to be represented on the authority. We Greens do not believe that is appropriate. As I said, we believe that having an Indigenous person appointed as a member of the authority is important, because of their special relationship with the reef, and we support that in the bill. We do not support the amendment because we do not believe it is appropriate to have industry represented on this authority, but they will be consulted through the process. I want to clear that up for Senator Macdonald, and I apologise if it came across in another way.