Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will just finish my point, Deputy President, and I will address your issue immediately. In this article by Mr James Bradley, called 'The end of the oceans', it says how 'the world's oceans and all marine life are on the brink of total collapse'. Sadly, in my six years in this place, my observations, from chairing and participating in nearly a dozen committees around ocean and marine protection, lead me to very similar conclusions. And I can't stomach the fact that this Senate is about to support this government's attempt to reduce marine protections in Australia.

That's why this needs precedence. This needs to be debated by every senator in this place—including the crossbench senators, who I understand are not going to support this disallowance and are going to support Mr Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party's plan to rip up marine protections. We have been given 45 minutes only this afternoon to debate this. I know there are many senators in Labor who feel strongly about this, as there are in the Greens. I do believe that the crossbenchers should be given the full time allocated to explain their reasons.

Explain to the Senate why the people who've spoken to you in recent weeks, who have spent 20 years campaigning for these protections, are telling you: 'Do not support this government's five-year campaign to undermine marine protections.' They want you to support this disallowance. Surely the people who care most about our oceans, who have dedicated their life to protecting our oceans, should be listened to. Why would you turn your back on the 1,400 scientists who have signed a petition and sent it to you, saying: 'Do not support the government's campaign. Do not reward its bad behaviour. Put the oceans first'? For the life of me, I cannot understand what logic would be employed here, but I do believe those senators have the right to be heard and to have the time to explain to the Australian people why they are locking in failure, because that is what this is. The standard you walk past is the standard you accept. This is certainly a very low bar for marine protections. They are marine protections in name only, because on paper they are nothing that protects the oceans.

Nearly half of the plan previously put in place has been ripped up by this government, at the behest of a few powerful vested interests who have donated to its party. I say to those crossbench senators who may have met with a scientist or two that the government has rolled out: remember that these scientists are hired guns for the fishing industry. They are fisheries scientists. They have their research paid for by the fisheries industry, and it is the fisheries industry—the big end of the commercial fishing town—that is delivering you this plan today. The government has made no secret of the fact that it has rejected the scientific advice of its own government-appointed panel. It has rejected that because it wants to bring 'balance' into this debate and this legislation. That 'balance' is code for giving the big end of town in the fishing industry and in oil and gas what they want. Do not give them what they want. Do not set this bar so low. Do not give them the opportunity to get out and campaign in the months going into the federal election, which I tell you they will do. They will probably spend taxpayers' money campaigning, saying—somehow—that they have protected our oceans. They haven't. They have ripped up protections at a time when they are most desperately needed.

We should be going the other way. That's why this debate should have precedence in the Senate today. I cannot think of anything more important for me personally and for the Senate to be debating than the future of our oceans. We have seen the Great Barrier Reef decline so rapidly, right in front of our eyes. I have been up there and dived on it. I've seen how much it has changed in six years. We have lost half of our coral reefs to global warming and coral bleaching. The impacts of that will be felt by future generations. The largest living organism on this planet, it may not recover from another bleaching event. One of the marine protected areas we will be debating today is the Coral Sea, which goes hand in glove with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park that currently is in place. It will be the biggest area of protection on the planet, and it is being filleted and decimated by this government at the behest of big oil and gas and the fishing industry.

Senators, this debate needs precedence today. Everybody needs the chance to have their say on why they want to put the oceans first or put Mr Tony Abbott first. I am now going to wind up, having said my bit. Please let's spend the day debating our oceans. Let's give this precedence. This is what the Australian people want. Hundreds and thousands of Australians have emailed you this week saying they want you to support the disallowance that is in place and not reward this government's bad behaviour.