Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we have heard from the Turnbull government today is absolute rhetoric and, quite frankly, nonsense. It is such a shame that in debates such as this all the climate deniers in the Turnbull government, whose numbers are growing day by day, seemingly get up and say, 'Well, let's just leave the Great Barrier Reef, and, indeed, our coral reefs right around Australia, to chance.' That is what I heard in that contribution: let's just leave it to chance and things will be okay. Well, they are not okay and they have not been okay for quite some time.

Perhaps the Turnbull government does not appreciate that the Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef ecosystem on earth and one of the best known marine areas in the world. Whilst some senators might like to argue that somehow it belongs to Queensland and that just living in Queensland gives you a greater say or greater knowledge about the reef and its parlous state, that is a nonsense. This is an important part of our whole ecosystem and deserves to be treated in the best possible way. What is happening with the coral bleaching right now needs to be reversed, but we have just heard rhetoric. I heard one senator talk about carbon tax. For goodness sake, it is time that the Turnbull government got a credible policy on climate change. Quite frankly, it is time the climate sceptics—and there are plenty of them in the Turnbull government—started to inform themselves about just what is going on. Last week's report on the coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef—and, in fact, of reefs right around this country—was alarming to say the least.

The reef attracts more than two million visitors each year—and why would not it? It has been a magnificent piece of Australia, and we want to keep it that way. But it is not going to be kept that way simply by chance. 'By chance' is all we have heard from those opposite. The reef supports a lot of jobs, but fundamentally it is a very important ecosystem. We know the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef, even according to the government's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, is climate change, but you would not hear that from the government. Once again, they are in denial. This should be something that we, as an Australian parliament, seek to protect. All of us should read the science, accept the science and get on with it. Certainly, Labor accepts the science of climate change.

Right now there is more than 1,000 kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef that has signs of significant bleaching. In the worst affected areas, in the Great Barrier Reef's previously pristine far north, many corals are now expected to die. That is a fact, not fiction. The bleaching alert is at level 3, the highest possible level, and research shows this year's bleaching event is 175 times more likely today than in a world where humans were not emitting gases. It cannot be left to chance. It is pointless for the Turnbull government to bury its head in the sand, and it does not help our climate—or, indeed, the Great Barrier Reef and the other reefs across Australia, particularly in the Kimberley, which are also under threat.

It is time those climate deniers who make up a significant part of the Turnbull government were told clearly that they are the threat to climate in this country. We know that if greenhouse gases keep rising then by the mid-2030s the reef will start experiencing deadly coral bleaching events like the current one every two years and that, as the corals will not get breathing time—they need around 15 years to fully recover—the entire reef could die. That is what we are looking at right now. Those are the scientific facts. Do not bury your head, make it up or leave it to chance, as we have heard from the Turnbull government. Ocean temperatures rose by one degree Celsius due to human made climate change during March's bleaching, and that is the worst on record. Another fact is that scientists agree that the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef and the other reefs at risk around Australia would be almost impossible without climate change, but that is not what you hear from the Turnbull government. We just hear their carping and having a go at Labor and referring back to some of the positive plans that we had in place.

Labor has already put out very ambitious climate change policies. We did that last week, and I am very proud of them. We remain committed to taking real action on climate change. Despite the bullying and the loud outcries from the Turnbull government, we will continue to be the party that advocates for proper action, real action, on climate change. Unlike the Liberal Party, who still have an ineffective policy under which our emissions are rising—that is another fact—we do accept the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity since the industrial revolution has increased average global temperatures, leading to climate change. We believe that fact. It is a fact. It is supported by most of the world's scientists, and we accept that, unlike the climate deniers who form part of the Turnbull government.

Labor has promised to deliver 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. We are looking at how we can make Australian a better place, how we can make it a cleaner place, how we can create jobs and how we can protect our environment. We want to take advantage of the $2.5 trillion investment in renewable energy in the Asia-Pacific region, and we want to do that by 2030. The target proposed by the Abbott-Turnbull government of 26 to 28 per cent by 2030 will see us fall well short of the commitments made by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and other European nations, and it will not help us keep global warming to under two degrees Celsius—something our coral reefs desperately need. That simply is not good enough. The response we have had from the Turnbull government is inaction. They are sticking with their failed Direct Action Plan. It is a scattergun approach. Its rewarding of polluters is simply not good enough. We have gone from being a leading nation on climate change under Labor to well and truly trailing down near the bottom. And it does not really matter what spin the Turnbull government put on their policies, those are the simple facts, the simple truths, out there for all to see.

Labor has a clear plan to combat climate change by getting Australia's pollution levels back under control—not anything you hear from those opposite—and by ensuring that Australian businesses and workers are in the best position to benefit from the huge investment and job opportunities that come from a renewable energy and clean technology future. Isn't it interesting? We hear those opposite telling us that our economy is in transition yet we never hear them addressing climate change or putting forward positive policies that cut our emissions to help with that transition or to increase job opportunities and that is because the climate deniers in the Turnbull government are well and truly in control. They want to keep doing the same old same old whilst our position, formerly as a leader on climate change, drops further and further behind because those that want to put their head in the sand, that want to pretend that somehow the Great Barrier Reef will take care of itself are well and truly in control.

Labor's climate change action plan provides a pathway for an orderly transition to a low-pollution economy and there are six key elements to our program. We have seen nothing from those opposite, just them sticking to a direct action policy that Mr Turnbull, when he was not the Prime Minister relying on the support of the climate deniers, too criticised. The climate deniers in the Turnbull government have managed to silence the Prime Minister and the unfortunate sad fact is that the Great Barrier Reef is under threat because of the inaction of the Turnbull government.