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

As the special envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, I acknowledge the very deep privilege and responsibility that that role entails. One of the reasons that I am so eager to work in and around the Great Barrier Reef is that so many of the jobs in the communities that I represent rely on the reef. That's why I live it every day and talk to people to whom the reef really matters every day. I understand what this summer has meant to them.

This has been a particularly tough summer for the reef and for coral reefs all around the world. When I make a contribution on this, whether it's in the community or in the chamber, I will always talk about the facts. There has not been—and it is inappropriate to say that there has been—any deviation from talking about what is happening on the reef. Nobody's covering this up, as you insinuate. You should be ashamed for saying that. We are talking very factually about what is happening on the reef, and we will continue to do that.

In March this year, Australian government agencies did confirm that a widespread bleaching event was occurring on the Great Barrier Reef. In April, NOAA, the US scientific agency, declared the world had experienced a global bleaching event and that this was the fourth global event on record and the second in the last 10 years. Of course this is not news that we want to hear. No-one who lives and works on the reef wants to hear this.

It's important to note that preparation and planning for the Australian summer started well before it arrived. Everyone who is working to take action on this, including the government, understands what's at stake. That's why we're taking action on climate change and building the reef's resilience. We understand that it's urgent work. Our government acknowledges that, and it's why we're acting. We're not wasting a day. We've seen the disastrous impact of the precious days, months and years that were wasted by the climate wars, the negativity and the delays in this chamber.

One of our first acts of government was to action addressing climate change, and we're working hard to transition to a clean energy future. That's what our budget was all about: delivering a net zero economy. We've legislated our targets. We're on a credible path to net zero, we have set a target of 82 per cent renewable energy and we want to see renewable energy projects go ahead. We're doing that right now. We are making sure that we're investing in low-emissions vehicles and green hydrogen and that we're helping families and businesses transition from gas to electricity. The truth is that this is economy-wide work. It's an economy-wide transition. It is going to take time, and it is going to take a government to direct businesses to do it.

We're responding to the biggest threat on the Great Barrier Reef, but we're also making sure that there are effective management actions in place. We have boots on the ground. We're partnering with the Queensland government. We're investing $4.4 billion. We've increased our water quality measures because we know that water quality really does have an impact on the resilience of the reef to regrow after these events. We are responding to the threat of crown-of-thorns starfish, which, again, has a real impact on whether the reef can respond. We're engaging more Indigenous rangers and understanding what their knowledge is of the reef, and we're supporting the Queensland government to phase out gillnets by 2027.

As I said, this is urgent work. It's why our agencies here and abroad have made declarations about the bleaching of our reefs. It's why the reef authority, AIMS and CSIRO have been working together not just through the summer but for a considerable period to ensure that we're doing everything we can to protect the reef for generations to come. It's why our government continues to invest.

I want to end by acknowledging those people who work on the reef. I too have been to and visited the reef many times—but particularly recently. I was at Great Keppel recently with world-leading expert scientists to examine what was happening on the reef. We were there with environment groups. We talked to people about what this meant to them. We know that this is urgent work. (Time expired)