Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

The motion brought to this chamber today by the Greens is just another act of self-serving, promotion-seeking, attention-seeking, publicity from the Australian Greens that seeks to harm our economy and our tourism industries. If you listened to the contributions from Senator Milne and Senator Waters, you would be of the opinion that we are on the cusp of losing all of Tasmania's native forests and that the reef is going to be gone instantly almost. This seems to be the type of hysteria that they are trying to whip up, and of course it is all about creating this 'the end is nigh' type approach. They say the end is nigh so they can try to claim the supreme moral ground, which is what we get from the Greens all the time. In doing so, they can try to block any type of economic activity from any of the regions that might be in question. What the Greens are telling the chamber today does not reflect the reality. The reality is that there is enormous work being undertaken to protect Tasmanian forests and the Great Barrier Reef, and to ensure that their World Heritage status—which we as a government support and value—is protected for the future. We will continue to make sure we do that.

My colleague Senator Colbeck has touched significantly on the Tasmanian forests issue. In relation to the Great Barrier Reef, the management system put in place to protect the outstanding universal value and integrity of the Great Barrier Reef is one of the most rigorous and modern systems in the world. The 2014 State Party Report on the state of the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area demonstrates that Australia is on track to meet all of the committee's recommendations within the requested time frame of June 2015. So—despite the fear we hear from Senator Waters—the work of the Australian government, the Queensland government and all relevant parties has us on track to meet recommendations to make sure we continue to protect the Great Barrier Reef. The draft decision on the Great Barrier Reef is currently being considered by the World Heritage Committee in Qatar, Doha. It welcomes Australia's progress in protecting the Great Barrier Reef, especially with regard to the improvements in water quality, focusing on port development in priority port development areas, and protecting greenfield areas from the impacts of port development. Good, positive steps are being taken, and reforms are being delivered by this government and by the Newman government in Queensland.

Just last week we had further commitments of work and effort to support the Great Barrier Reef. The Commonwealth and Queensland governments committed sums of money towards a whole range of initiatives for its long-term protection. There were investments from the new Reef Trust: a $5 million dugong and turtle protection plan; $2 million for crown-of-thorns starfish control; $5 million to improve water quality from run-off in the wet tropics region, in particular of nitrogen; and $3 million to improve grazing management practices in the Burdekin and Fitzroy regions to reduce sediment run-off. The Queensland government in their recent state budget committed another $35 million a year to reduce run-off and improve water quality. That is significant investment and action from our government and the Queensland government, because we put the Great Barrier Reef at the top of our list to make sure it is protected. We want to make sure we deliver the necessary protections to preserve this iconic tourism destination for all Australians and for all visitors to Australia to enjoy well into the future.

The Greens are not alone in trying to run fear campaigns when it comes to the Great Barrier Reef. They agitate as part of a global movement that seeks to ensure they get the maximum publicity, whether it is out of motions like this or out of the deliberations in Doha that Senator Waters alluded to. The Greens make sure they seize every possible opportunity to be on the front pages. They rope in world stars to join in this cause. Today we see publicity of what is happening in Doha, from that renowned marine scientist and marine biologist Leonardo DiCaprio. Leonardo DiCaprio has come out in relation to his concerns about the Great Barrier Reef. He is there in Doha. He, of course, obviously, will make sure that the World Heritage Committee is well informed, I am sure, when his considered opinions are taken into account.

Seeing the stance taken by Mr DiCaprio really made me think and took me back to that classic 2004 movie Team America and the way it portrayed how actors like to put themselves at the front of such causes and influence what is happening in the world. Janeane Garofulo was portrayed in Team America saying:

As actors, it is our responsibility to read the newspapers, and then say what we read on television like it's our own opinion.

That does seem to be the Hollywood way. The Greens are very adept—I congratulate them on this—at dragging their Hollywood stars in to make sure that they can get extra publicity for their fearmongering and their scare campaigns in relation to things like the Great Barrier Reef. The classic line from that Team America movie in relation to how actors are used in this regard was the Alec Baldwin parody:

By following the rules of the Film Actors Guild, the world can become a better place that handles dangerous people with talk and reasoning. That is the FAG way. One day you will all look at the world us actors created and say, 'Wow, good going, FAG. You really made the world a better place, didn't you, FAG.'

It is not about what the Film Actors Guild thinks. It is not about what the Greens think. It is of course about what the science shows and what the evidence shows, and we have faith in the work we are doing as a government, in the advice we are taking from scientists, in the work the Queensland government are doing, in the advice they are taking from their scientists and in all of those different agencies—that that will make sure that we protect the Great Barrier Reef, that we deliver for the Great Barrier Reef the type of policy framework and protections that will preserve its World Heritage status, that will preserve the iconic status it deserves as a unique, precious and valuable site in Australia and a location of great biodiversity and environmental significance as well as great tourism significance and great value to our economy.

What we do not need are people like the Greens coming in here, going out there in public or being joined by their Film Actors Guild colleagues like Leonardo DiCaprio whipping up some hysteria or some frenzy that only serves to damage Australia's reputation and only serves to hurt the tourism industry in Queensland. Senator Waters, as a Queensland senator, should be hanging her head in shame at the fact that she is harming the Queensland tourism industry by creating this scare campaign and suggesting the Great Barrier Reef is a lesser place to visit. It is not, and we will make sure it continues to be a great place to visit.

Debate interrupted.