David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The Government must substantially increase funding for threatened species in the May budget and introduce comprehensive reform of our national environmental laws in line with the commitment to no new extinctions. The Government initially committed to introducing the reform by mid-2024, and must introduce the package by October 2024.

As we know, Australia is a megadiverse country. We have an incredible array of species and ecosystems unique to this country that have evolved here over millions and millions of years, but we're not doing a great job of protecting that biodiversity. We're not doing a great job of actually living here like we're here for a long time, like we want our kids and our grandkids to be able to see and experience the things that we've all enjoyed. Whether it's your favourite beach and the rockpools and the incredible fish and crabs that are in there, or if it's down at the Murrumbidgee watching platypuses, seeing crayfish and the incredible birds, these are things we have taken for granted. For generations we have taken them for granted and yet we're not doing enough to look after them. We're living like we don't care. We might hear great proclamations about no new extinctions, promises for new environmental laws, but we're not seeing it delivered. Just promising no new extinctions is not delivering it.

We have some of the world's best environmental scientists here in Australia, and a few years ago they actually got together and said, 'What would it take to halt extinction in Australia?' They worked out, back then, it would cost about $1.7 billion a year—in today's money, it's probably about $2 billion or so—yet we're spending an absolute fraction of that on threatened species, and we see no indication that we actually want to put our money where our mouth is and look after this incredible place. We could have laws in place that look after it and we could fund programs that can protect it. We can play a role as a steward to actually hand it over to future generations. We are failing future generations and we are failing this country.

We know the causes of so many of these tragic losses. We are a world leader in extinction, and that's not something we should be proud of. I'd be arguing that we should do everything we can to turn that around. We have a relatively new government that has promised to do that, but we haven't seen them make good on that promise with the requisite legislation or funding that is required.

We're the only developed country that is a deforestation hotspot. We've got to be able to turn that around, surely. Surely, we can move our economy beyond that, beyond building wealth at the expense of nature, building wealth at the expense of the very thing that sustains us. The thing that we often forget in this place is that we're part of nature, and if nature goes down then we're going with her. At this stage there's all the signs we're heading in that direction. We've got scientists begging us to do more, as the people who can actually change these things in Australia. Imagine if we actually had a parliament that wanted to act on this! I would urge my fellow senators, and those in the other place, to take this seriously. Let's be the ones that turn this around.

We've seen the impact that climate change is having on habitat and species across the country, and yet the government still refuses to entertain putting climate into our environmental laws. They don't want a climate trigger. They don't want to actually assess whether or not projects should go ahead based on their impact on the climate. It is just so laughable in 2024—it would be funny if it wasn't so serious. There is so much at stake. The last IPCC report was the last one in this window of action, and I would urge the government to step up and show the courage that's required to actually act for us, for the kids up there in the gallery and for the Australians who aren't born yet. (Time expired)