Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the matter of urgency that the Greens put forward today, which is the record-breaking coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and Kimberley reef and the choice between the Adani coalmine and healthy reefs. We are in the midst of the worst coral bleaching that the Great Barrier Reef has ever seen, the worst mass bleaching event. And it is completely heartbreaking because in my regular conversations with coral reef scientists, mostly in Queensland, they tell me that, prior to about 30 years ago, we did not have any mass coral bleaching. They are utterly convinced with no doubt in their minds that it is climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels that is what is behind these last 30 years of coral bleaching and is what is driving this current worst episode.

It is utterly heartbreaking because the decisions that we make in this place, in this parliament and the decisions that the state parliament in Queensland makes our directly affecting the future of the reef. I love the reef. I had the great pleasure of going there as a youngster many times and it made a real impression on me. I have fought in this place for the last five years for policies to better protect the reef. It is beyond doubt that climate change is the biggest threat that the reef faces; the government's own statutory body says that and every scientist you will talk to says that. So why has the approval of the largest coalmine in the southern hemisphere come in the middle of a coral reef bleaching episode? I could not believe the timing of the Queensland Labor government to issue the mining lease for the Adani mine just as the bleaching had begun on the reef.

There seems to be some sort of cognitive dissidence here because the clear choice between fossil fuels and no reef, or clean energy, jobs and prosperity and protecting what we can of the reef—given that some climate change is already locked in—seems very clear to me. Of course we would back the reef, of course we would back the prosperity of those clean energy jobs and of course we would stand with those coalmining workers and help them transition into long-term sustainable employment. There have been 16,000 coal workers sacked already by their own coal companies because it is cheaper to mechanise and because the coal price has tanked. That industry is on the decline and those workers are being shed. The companies do not care about them—they have made their profits and now they are sacking those workers—yet there is still no plan from either level of government to help those workers retrain for a clean energy future. There is no plan to genuinely protect the Great Barrier Reef from the climate change that is already locked into the system and from it increasing due to the effects of even more fossil fuel burning.

I have spoken with a number of key scientists in the last few weeks and it has been genuinely heartbreaking to hear their assessment. I have to say, even after having seen it with my own eyes, it is really hard to internalise the extent of the devastation on the reef. I do not want to believe it either. I would love to live in Senator Ian Macdonald's world where climate change is a complete myth, the reef has never been in better health and go back to sleep; everything is fine. I would love to live in that world but it is not reality.

The scientists that I meet with are literally heartbroken and are weeping for the fate of the reef. I wish we could do better by them and by this beautiful icon that is so big you can see from space. It is the largest living organism you can see from that distance. It has got some of the most amazing corals and some of the most wondrous creatures—some of which we still discovering in the deep sea. It is a truly iconic and beautiful place and that is why 1.6 million tourists come every year to visit it. It is beautiful, it is amazing and it is an underwater paradise. What are those 63,000 mostly tourism workers that need that reef to stay healthy for their jobs going to do when the reef continues to bleach? (Time expired)