Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most outstanding coral reefs on earth. It is, however, one of the most fragile and complex ecosystems in the world. That is something that has been made very clear by anyone in this place who saw Sir David Attenborough's fascinating and extensive documentary that really peeled back the issues currently facing the Great Barrier Reef. It peeled back its structure, its past, its entire ecosystem and indeed its uncertain future. Unfortunately, that uncertain future is an international tragedy that is happening before our eyes. It is very clear that the changing global problem of the reef, with the rise of acidification and the rise of the ocean temperature, is killing the coral within it. It is killing this beautiful outstanding coral reef that we have on this earth, and in the face of it being in such grave danger it is up to us to do our utmost in this place to protect it.

Now, of course, it is those in government, particularly the minister, who should be doing their utmost. One may think that Minister Greg Hunt has the problem under control. What assurance on earth can we be given by Minister Greg Hunt to understand that he has that problem under control? I certainly do not have any assurance because, unfortunately, the record of the current minister in being the Minister for the Environment is absolutely lacking in every way, shape and form.

If carbon pollution is the root of the problem—and it is the root of the problem, because evidence has been provided by scientists, including by the Bureau of Meteorology and by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority itself that climate change is the problem, therefore carbon pollution is the problem—then how can this minister approve a coalmine that will add carbon pollution and exacerbate the current problems facing the Great Barrier Reef? Leading scientists have made it very clear that this is the worst mass coral bleaching event for the most pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef.

Last year I went to Cairns and went out to the Great Barrier Reef. I spoke to those stakeholders who work tirelessly in the protection of the reef—and they include tourism operators. Indeed, they told me about the effects of coral bleaching, climate change, acidification and run-off, and about all of this having a dire consequence on our reef.

The biggest and most crucial part of all this is that it is irreversible. These are irreversible consequences that are occurring on our reef, and yet here we are in 2016—on the back of all of this and on the back of the fact that the World Heritage Committee gave us the closest shot of actually listing the Great Barrier Reef as endangered—approving a brand-new coalmine that is going to exacerbate the problems. Not only will it exacerbate the problems for the reef but also it will not lead us to achieve the Paris climate commitments that we have signed up to.

There is one shining light, and of course that is the global market. At the moment it does seem that the company, Adani, that is the proponent of this new Carmichael mine does not seem to be able to find the finances that it needs to get it off the ground. So it does not seem like it is going to be a practical reality. We may be saved in that sense. Of course we all know that around the world the market is moving away from fossil fuels and moving into renewable energy, which is exactly why Labor wants to encourage and support this transition through our commitment to 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. I understand, therefore, that Adani has put this project on hold, stating that the global coal market, which no-one expects to recover in the foreseeable future, makes the project commercially unviable. Anyone could have told Minister Hunt that. Anyone could have told Minister Hunt the scientific evidence in relation to the approval of this mine. But, all of that aside, he in fact went ahead and gave the approval for the process twice—twice!

In the meantime, the big three coal markets in the world—the US, China and India—account for about three-quarters of coal consumption, and all of it is in steady decline in those three nations. Indeed, even in India itself, which is the country to which the Carmichael mine hoped to export, the energy minister, Piyush Goyal, has said himself that he wants to move India out of imports within three years. Within three years—so where then would the Carmichael mine find its export market?

But this all goes back to a bigger issue, and that is what is at stake. And what is at stake is, as I said at the outset, an outstanding coral reef on this earth that happens to be located in northern Australia—in Queensland—and we all have a job to protect it. Indeed, in the words of the former Liberal leader John Hewson—and I would not usually agree with him—the Adani coalmine is a 'massive mistake' for this country. I have to agree with him in that sense.

Of course there is a series of legal challenges underway in relation to the project as well as attempts to secure finance, so I do hope that it probably will not see the light of day. But putting that aside, there is a bigger issue at stake here, and that is how the government is going to care for, look after and make sure that there are the necessary resources for our Great Barrier Reef. That is something that I simply cannot see the current government giving any assurance on.

The minister says that he has the problem under control, but we know Minister Hunt's record. He is someone who actually thinks that the way to tackle carbon pollution is through a direct action policy—a policy that his own Prime Minister referred to as a 'fig leaf' solution in itself. We know that time and time again, whether it is from the Prime Minister or from the environment minister himself, who wrote a PhD thesis on an emissions trading scheme, that they have completely sold out on their principles when it comes to climate change and when it comes to tackling carbon pollution. This is ensured by the conservatives in government controlling those in the cabinet, to keep them in their positions. Of course in the meantime the biggest losers are those parts of our environment that actually lose out, such as the Great Barrier Reef.

I think that Sir David Attenborough did a fascinating and very thought-provoking documentary in his Great Barrier Reef. Indeed, when he told the US President, Barack Obama, about the Great Barrier Reef you could see the anguish on the President's face about what is going on in this country. Why are we approving a coalmine at the time when this reef is in danger and when we know that the cause of its danger is climate change—that it is carbon pollution?

Why aren't we doing our utmost to tackle carbon pollution, to move to renewables? That is exactly what a Labor government will do. We will invest heavily in ensuring that this country moves to being a country of renewable energy rather than a fossil fuel based economy—because that is exactly what is happening around the world. That is why we signed an agreement in Paris. We know that for the future—not for us, but for our children and our grandchildren—we have to live in a more carbon-free world, and that is a world that has less pollution, that has our natural resources protected and that, of course, has our people protected. They will be in the new jobs of tomorrow—jobs that we probably have not even thought of but that look at the energy development of wind, solar, geothermal and wave, which will provide us with the energy we need. No-one doubts that we will continue to need energy; we are energy-rich consumers. But that energy does not need to come from fossil fuels in the future, because that is to the detriment of our entire planet.