Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

They wouldn't be able to say that they stood up for the reef, protected those jobs and made sure that all the communities that rely on the reef were protected. That is what we are doing as a government. I'm incredibly proud that, of that $204 million, $15 million will be going to a centre of excellence in Gladstone to make sure that there is research and science going into our reef's protection, and that $96 million of that funding will be for on-the-ground projects working with farmers, traditional owners and Indigenous rangers to make sure that we are dealing with water quality projects, that we are measuring and monitoring water quality, and that we're giving people real-time information.

There is so much to be proud of in this budget when it comes to the environment, and that is how you protect species like the koala. You invest in the Samuel review, which we are doing; you deliver a response, which the minister has committed to do; you make sure that your approvals under the Environment Protection Act are sound and that they're based, not on rants in the Senate but on sound advice; you make sure that investment is going into threatened species; you make sure that we have funding to deliver recovery plans and don't just leave them on a shelf to gather dust; and you ensure that you are investing in the Great Barrier Reef and that you are protecting our environment in a way that actually delivers economic benefits all across the country. That is what you do if you are a Labor government that cares about the environment. That's exactly what this country needs, and that's exactly what this country got last night.

I am incredibly proud to be working very closely with the Minister for the Environment and Water. I know she takes her role incredibly seriously in assessing approvals of projects, and is aware of the responsibility that we have to project threatened species like the koala. What we won't do is come into the Senate and pretend that a bill which tinkers around the edges and looks at treating one species differently to others is the answer to delivering long-lasting environmental protection.

Labor governments protect the environment by making sure that there is long-lasting reform and long-lasting investment, and that we have people committed to these protections. That's what we did in the budget last night, that is what the minister for the environment is continuing to do and that's what we will continue to do as a party of government who is building on fixing the last 10 years of mess and reducing the neglect.