Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

You are quite right, Senator Scarr.

Antarctic sea ice is shrinking, as we know. The scientists, from a range of institutions based out of Hobart, were today telling us exactly what is going on. But where is the minister when it comes to dealing with the funding shortfall and pressures being faced by the Australian Antarctic Division, a world-leading institution? I would love to know exactly how the minister intends to respond to these issues, when science and research funding for Antarctic science is so critically compromised. The minister can't, in her statement, talk about leadership in the environmental space when this government is letting us down and not providing leadership in any way in that space.

Back on the EPBC Act: I understand the minister said that, as it stands today, there is a doubling of the rate of renewable projects being approved under the EPBC Act. But, in saying that, she failed to highlight the fact that the timeliness of approvals under this act has dramatically declined in her time in charge. There is no talk from the minister, either, in relation to what the government is going to do when it comes to its dreadful track record on endangered species, many of them under further pressure because of a number of these renewable projects that the government is seeking to speed up the approvals process of.

We'll all recall that Minister Plibersek did make a commitment that there would be zero new extinctions under this government. That was what she committed to. Well, the minister—and I have offered her this advice previously—might want to go and speak to some people who might know about this, such as Conservation Volunteers Australia, who uncovered that, in the last two years, Australia has listed more threatened species than in the previous decade. The government suffer from 'rear-vision-mirror-itis'—they like to look backward at the last decade—but they might want to look at their time in government and exactly what has been happening over the last two years.

Short of meeting this commitment to zero new extinctions, there is a lot of work and no action relating to her commitment to protecting endangered species. There is no action when it comes to plastic waste and dealing with the REDcycle crisis that we had—zero response to that. There is no new EPA, which we were promised. There is no new standalone tough cop on the beat to protect our environment and work with businesses to ensure they're doing the right thing. There is no acknowledgement of the fact that the 30x30 Pledge, to protect 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030, was already met when it came to the marine environment. Before the minister even became minister, we were at 43 per cent of the target. There is no reference to the unilateral decision to ban gillnets in certain fisheries in northern Australia and what impact that will have. There is no willingness to provide evidence for the decision that was made in response to UNESCO's calls and no interest in the impact that will have on these regional communities—a very, very sad indictment. There has been no response to the questions about the trebling of the size of the Macquarie Island marine protected area and the fact that a decision was made before consultation had even closed. That is something I was very alarmed about and continue to investigate, because these decisions are having serious impacts.

When you make decisions with only one thing in mind—the environment—with no regard for other things like the economy and social welfare, you are going to have bad decisions. There is no mention of this taxpayer funding being provided to the Environmental Defenders Office, at the base of so many of the disastrous appeals of projects that we need to be able to continue to have a functioning economy in the cost-of-living crisis we are facing. There is no mention or acknowledgement of the fact that this government is funding a lot of the green lawfare we are seeing that is destroying people's lives, jobs and investment opportunities and causing sovereign risk issues.

All in all, this ministerial statement papers over many cracks, but the facts are speaking for themselves. From the ENGO movement right through to the business community, this portfolio is in tatters and people want and expect better.

Question agreed to.