Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Certainly. I stand corrected. Through you, Mr Chair, I say that when members of the former Howard government talk about debt they need to reflect on the social debt and the ecological debt of 10 years of indulgence and a failure to spend on community infrastructure and on the ecology. Mr Chair, I put to you the ecological debt of the loss of the Great Barrier Reef and its whole ecosystem. The coral reef scientists are saying that it is already too late for the world’s coral reefs. There is so much warming locked in that we are now going to see increased frequency of bleaching events, and with that increased frequency we will see a lack of ability for the reef system to recover. We are managing coral reefs around the world for decline.

The members of the Howard government were prepared to see massive investment in coalmines and coal ports guaranteeing a debt—a debt which cannot be overcome: the death of a magnificent World Heritage listed reef system. It is the same in Tasmania with our forests. There we are still seeing the ratcheting up of ecological debt as some of the world’s greatest carbon sinks are absolutely destroyed and all that carbon goes into the atmosphere. That is all ecological debt, contributing to climate change and loss of biodiversity.

Future generations will look back at these last 10 years and say to themselves: ‘How could that have happened? What were those people doing? Didn’t they understand that without environment there is no economy?’ People in the Murray-Darling system, now that they have experienced it themselves, would know that without environment there is no economy, there is no viability. That is why there is a discussion here today about exit packages for people on the Murray-Darling system—because without environment there is no economy. That is something that the Howard government never understood. Clearly the coalition still do not, judging by the interjections of people like Senator Brandis earlier, suggesting that the only debt he could consider would be on a balance sheet. He is not prepared to look at social debt, at the community’s debt, at the ecological debt.

In looking at addressing the global financial crisis we would have the opportunity to address the ecological crisis, the climate crisis and our dependence on foreign oil if the coalition were seriously interested in the vulnerability of the Australian economy. In the report Re-energising Australia I pointed out that our economy is vulnerable because we have hollowed out the manufacturing sector and failed to invest in skills and education to build a more sophisticated, diverse and resilient economy in the face of inevitable downturn in the resources sector. That illusion of prosperity was all about profits from the mining industry—that was the only thing that gave Australia the capacity to have those massive tax cuts in the last 10 years. Once the rest of the world withdraws the social legitimacy for exporting coal, we are in serious trouble in this country. So let’s not hear anyone even for a moment consider that the coalition is worried about plunging Australia into debt.

We are in serious ecological and social debt now, and the only way to get out of it is to address the financial crisis, the ecological crisis and our dependence on peak oil together. That is what the Greens have done in relation to this package. We have asked how we can begin the transformation to a low-carbon economy through a stimulus package, a green new deal. We did not get the visionary and bold plans that the Greens have had for a green new deal. We would have liked to have seen the retrofit of all of Australia’s housing with our easy scheme which we put to the government and they did not accept, but at least two million homes are to be retrofitted. We have now for the first time got the Commonwealth focused on the fact that Australia is behind even the United States, by two star points, on energy efficiency, without the most basic efficiency in our housing. That is largely thanks to the influence of the HIA. The Housing Industry Association have been a huge burden on this economy in terms of getting decent energy efficiency and more comfort in houses. The social housing, which will be more energy efficient because of the Greens input, will have a great social dividend in that it will mean permanent cost savings for the low-income earners who will be accessing those houses.

We also want a redesign of Australian cities, we want to get off our dependence on foreign oil and we want a massive investment in public transport. That is not in this package but it is something that we were arguing for. We want a massive investment in an intelligent grid so that this country is capable of bringing on the renewable energy revolution that the Greens feed-in tariff would deliver if both the government and the opposition would get behind it. It is no use having the technology if you do not have an intelligent grid that is capable of bringing it on. So there are a lot of things that are not in this package, but it is a beginning and we will be working very hard to make sure we get that delivery out into the community.

In terms of cycleways, it is certainly a beginning as well. It is the first time we have had a real injection of funds into giving people the capacity to improve their health, getting better air quality and amenity, getting cars off the road, lessening congestion and building community. Again, it was not just the lack of investment in infrastructure that has destroyed communities; it was the dog-eat-dog, individuals first, forget the community, put yourself before everybody else mentality of the last 10 years. In difficult economic times, one of the very few silver linings is communities coming together to help themselves and rebuild a sense of community. This package, through the Greens intervention, puts more money into rebuilding communities. There is a lot to be said for supporting this now.

If we do not address the financial crisis and the ecological debt then we will plunge this nation even further into debt—adding more financial crisis onto the ecological crisis that you have worsened.