Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Moreton Island is a place that I know well. In fact, my house was one of the closest houses to Moreton Island. If I stood on my front veranda, there was no other house between me and Moreton Island, so I know it well. I have been over there many times and sailed around Moreton Bay. What has happened should never have happened. I do not know why anyone would try and take a ship into a category 5 cyclone. It has always been my impression that when there is a cyclone coming you go the other way and you get right out of it. No doubt, why a ship went into a cyclone with a 200-odd kilometre an hour wind will be revealed in the inquiry.

When this did happen, the ship was carrying 50 containers of ammonium nitrate, 31 broke loose and went over the side and no-one can discover them; they do not know where they are. The boat was then ordered into Moreton Bay. The Environmental Protection Agency ordered two tonnes of fertiliser to be hosed off the boat into the waters inside Moreton Bay. That needs to be queried as well. There has been an environmental disaster. The beach worms have gone, and whether they will come back again no-one knows. The pippis have gone. The culture in the mangroves has disappeared. Whether these will come back naturally or whether they will have to be induced to come back some other way is to be determined.

There is no question that this is politics. Under the Westminster system, when a disaster occurs the minister takes responsibility. That has never happened in Queensland. We have had disaster after disaster and we have never seen a minister say, ‘Well, it is my fault; I am responsible under the Westminster system. I will leave and I will resign.’ Where was Mr McNamara? He was in his electorate. He was the Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation and he did not seem particularly concerned. He did not worry particularly about it. He said, ‘Oh well, someone else is in charge, and I’m only going to get in the way if I go down there, so I won’t worry about it.’ The Premier took about a day and three quarters before she did anything. Paul Lucas, the member for Lytton, took the rap, as he always does. He takes the fall for Mrs Bligh. So he went over there and made some comments. But the point is that it took a day and a half before anyone did anything. No wonder Anna Bligh had said that only three ministries are safe, and I do not blame her. Her job, Paul Lucas’s job and the Treasurer’s job are the only ones that are safe if she is re-elected. I hope that she will not be re-elected because this is typical of what happens. Whether it is health, roads or traffic, it has been three years of disaster. Someone has gone in with a huge surplus and turned it into a $1.6 billion deficit, lost the AAA rating and now cannot put in a program that will be able to alleviate these oil spills.

Brisbane has two oil refineries. There are millions of tonnes of oil that go in and out of Brisbane every year that is refined into petrol and fuel that go out in tankers. There has to be a contingency plan. Where was that contingency plan? Why was it not activated? Why didn’t the Environmental Protection Agency enact that plan? It was there but no-one seemed to take any responsibility. Under the Westminster system, a minister takes responsibility. If he will not, then the Premier or the Prime Minister sacks them on the spot. That is what should have happened, and it should have happened many times in Queensland.

Ironically, this Environmental Protection Agency that allowed two tonnes of ammonium nitrate to be hosed off the boat into Moreton Bay, that did not activate a plan and that allowed oil spills to run for 20 miles up and down the Queensland beaches, was the same agency that closed the fishing industry—50 per cent of the fishing area in Moreton Bay for professional fishermen and 16 per cent of the area for recreational fishermen. These are the people saying, ‘We are going to protect the bay for future generations.’ Well, they did not do it too well! This Environmental Protection Agency should be investigated as the ones that dropped the ball. They are the ones that allowed two tonnes of ammonium nitrate to be hosed off a boat just off the green zones. Then they allowed the boat to come into Moreton Bay. And then they allowed the oil spills to kill the pipis, beach worms and cultures up and down the beaches. These are the people who should be taken to task. They have destroyed the fishing grounds for the prawn industry—31 containers have gone overboard. No-one knows where they are. When these containers leach out there will be blue-green algae blooms on the seabed. This is a disaster that we are only learning about now. As Senator Brown said, it is going to take maybe seven, eight, nine or 10 weeks to understand what damage has been done. No-one will be able to establish the extent of that damage for maybe another eight weeks.

I would like to take up Senator Macdonald’s point. I do not know how the Greens can preference a party that allows these disasters to happen. The National Party and the Liberal Party are in a formal coalition—we work together and develop policy together. There is no question in my mind or anyone else’s mind who observes politics that the Labor Party and the Greens are in coalition as true as the National Party and the Liberal Party are in coalition. The Greens lead the Labor Party around by the nose and you people genuflect when they suggest anything. You need their preferences; you have let them get stronger and stronger. You have been weaker and weaker in letting them take the attack.

How can you, Senator Brown, endorse a party that has let the environment down so badly? If it had been the Liberal Party or the National Party you would be screaming and naming everyone as being environmental vandals with no care. But you let the Labor Party off. You hit them over the wrist with a feather duster. You will not stand up against the Labor Party. How can you can go up to Traveston Crossing and Gympie and float down the Mary River in a canoe and then say to Labor, ‘I’m with you’? I can tell you: if the Labor Party win because of your preferences you will be tarred and feathered if you ever go into Gympie again—and I will make sure that it happens. I will make sure that you will be made most unwelcome if you ever—