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

Thank you. I rise to speak on the matter of urgency, which is the coral bleaching that is currently blighting the Great Barrier Reef and the choice between the Adani coalmine and healthy reefs. As I was contributing earlier, the science is perfectly clear: the reef is facing the worst coral bleaching event en masse that it has seen in its entire ancient history of existence.

The scientists I speak with have made painfully clear to me the link between climate change, global warming and that coral bleaching. It is now beyond doubt that the action of burning fossil fuels is contributing to both the increased water temperatures and ocean acidification that is driving those coral bleaching events and wreaking havoc on this amazing natural wonder.

Senator Richard Di Natale and I were able to see that bleaching with our own eyes last week. It is hard to believe it until you see it. I do not want to believe it. We saw a mixture of semi-healthy reefs, and then we went further north and saw a seriously damaged reef. The contrast was incredibly heartbreaking.

We can still change direction and save as much as possible of this amazing icon that employs 69,000 people who need that reef to stay as healthy as possible for their livelihoods. We can stand with those workers. We can stand with those workers in coal communities who are being sacked by the coal companies, given that the coal price has completely bottomed out, and we can retrain and transition them into clean energy employment. We can save those jobs and we can do our best to save what is left of the Great Barrier Reef, but we need a rapid change in direction.

Instead, we see coalmine after coalmine being approved by both this government and the Labor government in the state of Queensland. The Adani coalmine, which would be the largest coalmine in the southern hemisphere, was approved by Minister Hunt late last year, and the mining lease for that mine was granted as the coral bleaching that the reef is currently facing was rolling out. The timing by Minister Lynham in the Queensland parliament could not have been more insulting to the scientists, to tourism workers or to anyone who loves this precious icon. We see fossil fuel donations, by Adani as well as by other coalmining companies, made to both sides of politics federally. In my view, it is really blinding these people to the science and to the impacts of their own actions on the natural world.

We can power our cities and homes with clean energy. We Greens have released a plan for 90 per cent renewable energy by 2030. We have a pathway for that. The technology is there and the science says it is doable. If we do not follow that path, I fear for the future of our coral reefs. The scientists I speak to tell me that sadly, even with a two-degree rise—if we can somehow manage globally to constrain warming to two degrees—we will actually lose all coral reefs. They are incredibly susceptible. They say that if we constrain warming somehow to 1½ degrees—and I hope that we can—we will lose 90 per cent of coral reefs globally. So we have got to get our skates on.

We know what the solutions are. We know that clean energy can both create jobs and keep the lights on—which the Liberals want to claim renewables cannot do—and safeguard what is left of our precious reef. But instead we see the donations from the coalmining companies and the coal seam gas companies simply blinding the big parties in this place to the reality of global warming. They are condemning the Great Barrier Reef to devastation and those 69,000 people to joblessness if they continue on this coal fuelled obsession. It is about time to get some science advice, actually listen to it and think about the future for a change.

Question agreed to.