Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in strong support of this matter of urgency, which is that a marine heatwave that triggered mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef has devastated significant World Heritage habitat and wildlife, impacted communities and the economy and should be treated like other extreme weather events and declared a national emergency under the National Emergency Declaration Act, and that Labor should stop opening coal and gas mines which will make the climate crisis worse.

I've been talking about the reef since I was first elected to this chamber 13 years ago. I ran a strong campaign to stop the reef being treated like a coal and gas highway. I've still got the poster in my office. It's 10 years old now, and, 10 years on, the reef is still being treated like a highway for coal and gas exports. It is absolutely shameful that this government, who promised to be better and different from the last government, have not stopped the flow of coal and gas being exported. They are not doing enough to protect the reef.

I hear Senator Green's protestations that they've put a little bit of money into crown of thorns, that they've put a tiny amount of money into water quality—when the water quality scientists asked for $8 billion to tackle water quality issues, I might add. They have been doing orders of magnitude less than what they should be doing on water quality. The fact remains that this government keeps approving new coal and gas mines. It is an absolute joke. What more evidence do you need? This is the fifth mass coral bleaching in eight years, and we've just had the fourth global coral bleaching confirmed by international scientists.

I want to read from the actual authority of the reef itself, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, GBRMPA, who, with AIMS, the Institute of Marine Science, released a report last month warning that the reef was experiencing 'the highest levels of thermal stress on record.' The authority's chief scientist, Dr Roger Beeden, spoke of extensive and uniform bleaching across the southern reefs, which have dodged most of the worst of the previous four mass bleaching events to blight the reef since 2016. I want to mention Professor Terry Hughes, who is the foremost coral bleaching expert globally, particularly on the Great Barrier Reef, and who's at JCU. He says that in the institute's aerial surveys it is the most widespread event and severe bleaching event to date, not just in the south but across much of the entire system—the whole 2,300 kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef. This is the fifth mass coral bleaching event. The coral reef scientists are tearing their hair out.

I went and saw the reef after one of those earlier bleachings, and it was truly heartbreaking. It was like a sea of rubble. As my colleague Senator Whish-Wilson said, it looked as if it had been carpet-bombed. He got to see that with his own eyes as well. I want to speak out for the 60,000 people whose livelihoods depend on the reef. I want to speak out for one of the world's seven natural wonders, which I don't think we have the right to be destroying for the private profits of coal and gas companies so that they can make political donations to both of these two flaccid parties in this chamber.

What an absolute disgrace that we are still making the same arguments, that the scientists are still saying the same thing and that the new government, who claimed that they would be different, are just as woeful and just as wedded to the fossil fuel industry as the last mob. What an indictment on your priorities.