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

I want to start by acknowledging that we've got some schoolkids watching today. I want to say hi to them and let them know there are some folk in here who have read the climate science and are actually excited about looking to a clean energy future which has prosperous regions and workers that have sustainable jobs that are going to last.

Firstly, I'm sorry that the people in here are acting like pork chops. We're on broadcast today, so the whole nation just heard that. It did look like you were enjoying yourself, Senator Watt, and that's nice; we need more joy in all aspects of our lives. But I really don't think people elect us just to stand in here and insult each other. Senator Watt, as a fellow Queenslander, I'm sorry that you used your 10 minutes that way when we could have been talking about the growing police state and the creep of surveillance powers that not only this federal government is pushing through but the opposition in Queensland is also now pushing through.

I was actually really affronted by the fact that the Queensland police arrested a journalist. They didn't even ask him to move on or give him any warning; they arrested him and his three colleagues yesterday and locked them up. That disturbs me as a Queenslander. It disturbs me that the Queensland police appear to have been hired by Adani. I don't think our police force should be for sale. It wouldn't be the first time that this has happened. I've been seeking clarity on whether money has changed hands for this, because I don't think our police force should be able to be hired by private companies, especially not when they were defending a mine site for which the traditional owners—the Wangan and Jagalingou people—have not given unanimous consent. I was disturbed by that, and that's why our party put forward this MPI today.

Instead we've seen a pretty unedifying pile-on. Again, it's great to self-reflect, and we're happy to listen to your criticism. But we had a minister, the resources minister for the Commonwealth of Australia, spend 10 minutes fixating on the Greens. I don't know about anyone else, but I thought it was a little embarrassing that someone who is in charge of the resources sector just wanted to attack the Greens for 10 minutes. That's great that he thinks we're all powerful. Word to him: we've got more connection to the community than he evidently has. I also want to take him to task on a statement he made: 'I've been trying to get this coalmine up for years.' So says the regulator, and that tells us everything we need to know about what is wrong with this government. We have ministers who are meant to be regulating an industry, and instead they are just shills for the industry. It's not the first time Minister Canavan has said such matters; it's perfectly clear that he considers himself a representative, a voice, for the mining industry and not a regulator of it. In fact, he said that himself when he resigned from cabinet because of the section 44 issues. I find that very challenging, as someone who believes in a democracy that's meant to work for people, that's meant to be guided by evidence and science, and that's meant to protect the planet going forward. I find it challenging that the resources minister thinks it's his job to promote private interests—in this instance, a multinational coal company that doesn't pay any tax but does donate to the Nationals and previously donated to the Liberals and One Nation. I find it very challenging that the minister thinks that's his role, so I want to take him to task over that.

Senator Watt then spoke about the future of Queensland. I'm glad he raised that, because I think that is a useful issue to discuss. I'm really proud that, in the election campaign, my party took to the people. I went many, many times throughout regional Queensland and spoke to many people, including coalminers who spoke to me about their concerns for their health and the long-term future of their industry. They know that the transition is happening, they know that their colleagues are getting sick from black lung disease and they are distraught that no-one else is reading the writing on the wall and planning for that. I was really proud to advocate for our 47½ thousand clean energy jobs, including for those existing coalmine workers.

We want those people to have good, prosperous, long-term, sustainable and healthy jobs. We want to take them hand in hand, as the government should in fact be doing, as the transition occurs. We don't want them to be tossed on the scrap heap as the economy changes and those coal companies just sack workers overnight. Let's be honest: they don't really care about the workers. They're a private company set up for private profits—it's their job to generate money for their shareholders. The workers are clearly not their top priority, but they are the top priority for us. It is our job to care for the safety of our climate for us, our kids and all the other species that we share this planet with and the future of those communities.

I do take a bit of umbrage at the assertion that that is not something that the Greens care about, because, patently, our policies and our campaign were focused around that. I also find it a bit disappointing when people choose to blame election results on random factors, rather than reflecting on their own decisions and their own lack of firm decision on what is quite a divisive issue—the Adani coalmine. I think it's really disappointing that the folks on this side of the chamber, the Labor Party, really did try to have a bet each way and then had the audacity to get cross at the Greens when people who want strong climate action voted for the Greens. I don't want to say anything more pointed than that because I think we've had enough poor behaviour over this last little bit, and, again, I think people really expect better from us.

Coming back to the MPI today, it's centred around the fact that we saw some really confronting arrests of members of the French press—not even our own media. We've now created an international diplomatic incident because the police force—as I said, I'm checking whether they were paid by Adani, as previous fossil fuel companies have hired the Queensland Police Service before—have arrested members of the free press for simply covering a peaceful protest.

I want to now come to the purpose of those protests, because they came under quite the criticism from the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Canavan, who said he's been trying to get the Adani coalmine up for years. He really demonised people who are actually working for the public interest to protect the climate that we all rely on, and I think that's very disappointing—perhaps it's not surprising, given the $5 million in donations from the coal and oil sector that the Liberal Party, the Labor Party and the Nationals have received over the last four years. It seems that money does, in fact, talk. But scientists talk, and this government doesn't listen. The community talks, and this government laughs at them.

I'm afraid these people participating in the protests are going to outlast you, and history will look favourably on their actions. They are taking action to protect our climate, to protect the future economic prosperity of regional Queenslanders and all of our regional economies around the nation, and to protect all of the other species that we inhabit this planet with. They're not doing it out of some sense of private aggrandisement or because of any private profit motive—they are doing it in the public interest. I think they're very brave and very gutsy, and they're now, effectively, being targeted by Adani and the Queensland Police Service for peaceful protest action. History will judge them kindly, and it will reflect on the absence of strong climate policy.