Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to stand up here today and speak about the Albanese Labor government's strong commitment to reforming our environmental protection laws and ensuring that Australia's unique biodiversity is protected. The laws are in train. They will be coming to this parliament, Senator Duniam. They will. But this is an extremely complex piece of work, as I think we all know. Those of us who were around the last time that Labor was in government will know that when we started this process there wasn't a great deal of time left before we lost government in 2013. We tried to get some reforms in. We didn't get a lot of support, we didn't get a lot of assistance and it didn't come to fruition. Yes, we do think this is critical and it will come to this parliament.

I thank Senator David Pocock for his genuine interest in this issue and I look forward to continuing to work constructively with him towards this outcome. But, as Senator Pocock would be aware, we did inherit a significantly depleted environment department. Its funds had been slashed and the environmental outlook that was reflected after a decade of neglect and disinterest from the Liberal-National government has made it very difficult to get on top of that neglect and that extraordinarily gutted department, to get the kind of reform that we need. And we do not apologise for having a lengthy consultation, not by any stretch. A lengthy consultation is required because this is complex and we need to recognise people's perspectives and issues on this piece of work. I'll say it again: the legislation is coming to this parliament.

As I said, when we first came to government, Minister Plibersek was faced with quite the wreck left behind, including the buried State of the environment report, which showed us just how terrible the situation was across Australia—worse than many of us had anticipated. Minister Plibersek put that out so people could see exactly what was going on. We have a lot of work to do, and this is not work that is done swiftly. It is work that is done painstakingly. But we do need to get it done. We haven't been dragging our heels here. Our Threatened species action plan:Towards zero extinction is guiding the crucial work that needs to occur. It maps a pathway for species conservation and recovery for the next decade.

We are restoring and protecting our natural spaces and investing over 500 million to better protect the flora and fauna of this country. That includes addressing things such as feral animals, weeds and the situation we are in where we find our native species are being destroyed. It is also projects like restoring koala habitat, tackling invasive pests and supporting the fantastic network of local groups across Australia who do fundamentally important work to help protect our environment. We are also protecting 40 million hectares of Australian ocean and bush and have committed to protecting 30 per cent of our land and sea by 2030. This obviously has a series of connected health and social benefits and will ensure that we preserve the habitat of our native wildlife.

We have legislated our world-first Nature Repair Market, and that again is something that will take some time to get moving. When you are making fundamental reforms, you don't just sign off on a piece of legislation and the next morning everything is automatically fixed. That is not how this works. But we are dedicated and we are committed and we look forward to working with all of those in this chamber to pursue these objectives. Our natural environment, our natural habitat, is critical, not just for the flora and fauna but also for the health and wellbeing of the people of this country. And we do take this very, very seriously. But, as I said, a decade of neglect at the hands of the former Liberal-National government cannot be undone overnight, not by any stretch. It is a complete disgrace what they did to the environment. We will continue to do all that we can and we will work towards getting this EPBC reform sorted as quickly as possible.