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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Birmingham) to a question without notice asked by Senator Waters today relating to the Great Barrier Reef.

I asked about the really sad state of the Great Barrier Reef and a recent paper published in Nature, a very reputable—in fact, the top—scientific journal, that showed that, because of the mass coral bleachings, of which we've had three in the last five years, half the coral cover of the reef was bleached so badly that it died. I asked the minister, 'What is the government doing about the fact that half of the reef is dead?' because we know—scientists tell us—dead corals don't grow back. I'm afraid I didn't get a satisfactory answer. I got the same answer I've been getting for the eight years I've been asking about this in this chamber: 'We're doing a little bit. We're doing this; we're doing that.' But it doesn't change the fact that half the reef is dead from lack of serious climate action.

I saw the reef for the first time 30 years ago, as a 12-year-old girl. It was so powerful to see the colour and the diversity and the sheer wonder of the place, and that's stayed with me ever since. What is so sad is that my kids won't get the chance to see the reef in that state, and in fact it may be that none of the kids in this country will get the chance to see the reef at all at this rate—certainly not in 30 years time—because of the trajectory that we're on, with the weak and pathetic climate targets that this government has set.

We know that climate change is the biggest threat to the reef. Yes, there are other threats as well. Yes, there are water quality concerns. Yes, there are crown-of-thorns. Yes, there are shipping problems. There are all sorts of issues that we need to confront, and all of those will improve the resilience of the reef, but the biggest one is climate. The reef's own management authority clearly say that—in your government's own documents.

A report released last week by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, who do a three-yearly outlook of the health of World Heritage properties, of which the Great Barrier Reef is one, gave the reef the worst possible listing: it was downgraded to a critical state. That is the last warning that we are going to get before the next international meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee makes a decision on the future of the reef and decides whether or not to list it on the 'in danger' list, saying the World Heritage site's in danger. The scientists would say that actually the reef belongs on that list, but the tourism industry would be decimated if the Great Barrier Reef is listed as in danger, and this government needs to do all it can to avert that potential listing. But it's not. Five years ago, we saw them waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on flying diplomats around to try and bribe other countries to not shame Australia with an 'in danger' listing. It worked for them that time, but our international borders are closed, so they can't do that sort of diplomatic lobbying, can they?

I don't know what lobbying they will do between now and when the World Heritage Committee meets, but what they clearly need to do, and what all of the scientists and relevant bodies are telling them they need to do, is to act on climate. They need strong 2030 targets. We need an actual climate plan, not just to save the reef but to save our future economy, provide jobs for future generations, save agriculture and save the Murray-Darling area. It underpins everything. Yet this government just is not engaging. They are hostage to the dinosaur denialists on their back bench. They're hostage to the donations that they get from the fossil fuel sector. They're lured by the promise of well-paid lobbying jobs in that same fossil fuel sector once they leave politics. Meanwhile, half the reef's dead.

It's not good enough that you've got a pathetically weak, underfunded 2050 reef plan which doesn't plan your way out of anything and certainly doesn't address the climate crisis. It's underfunded to orders of magnitude, it barely mentions climate—in fact, the first draft didn't mention it at all—and it's been routinely criticised for not being strong enough. The fact is that it's not turning around the trajectory for the health of the reef. We've got this one last chance. This is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We don't have the right to write its death warrant. When half of it has already gone, this government must listen to the science, adopt strong 2030 emissions reduction targets and do what's necessary to give the reef any chance of survival. Please, please listen to the scientists.

Question agreed to.