Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to the Great Barrier Reef.

I rise to take note of the response by Senator Wong to my question, but I would also like to briefly reflect on the question on Julian Assange asked of Senator Wong by Senator Urquhart. I'd like to add my thoughts and give my thanks to Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, for showing leadership on the issue of bringing Julian Assange home, and to all MPs in the Labor Party and those brave enough in the LNP to have stood up on this issue. A special thanks goes to Ambassador Kevin Rudd, who I had dinner with in Washington last year, along with the delegation. I got the very strong impression at that time that he was doing everything he could to secure the release of Julian Assange. He said to me, 'Power in this place is a bit like playing Rubik's cube: every time you think you've got something lined up, something else pops up in a combination.' I got the impression that it has been a long road for a lot of people. So my thanks go to the Prime Minister. I can't help but make the contrast with the previous Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, who openly boasted about having Mike Pompeo, the head of the CIA, on speed dial, and they're now working together. That's why we had no action at all from the previous government to secure Mr Assange's release. It's been night and day between the two governments in the last five years.

I asked a question of Senator Wong today about UNESCO's report last night on the Great Barrier Reef. In the Senate here today, Senator Wong said the exact words that are in Minister Plibersek's media statement—that the UNESCO report was somehow a huge win for the Great Barrier Reef, the people on the reef and all the animals and corals on the reef. It's quite outrageous, considering we are talking about a time in history when the Great Barrier Reef is literally fighting for its life. We've had a seventh mass coral bleaching this summer, the worst on record. We don't know yet what the coral mortality will be, but, having been up there myself and borne witness to this, I can attest that what is unfolding on one of the greatest natural wonders on this planet is absolutely devastating. It is one of the great tragedies of our time. For the government to somehow claim that a UNESCO report that tells the government it needs to do more on climate action is a huge win for the Barrier Reef just doesn't make sense.

I'd like to read a direct quote from Minister Plibersek's media release. She says:

We need to act on climate change. We need to protect our special places and the animals that call them home. And that is precisely what we are doing.

That's precisely what UNESCO said in their report last night that we are not doing. We are not doing enough. They've called for more ambitious emissions reduction targets from Australia. The targets we legislated in this chamber that the Greens supported equate to a two-degree warming on pre-industrial levels. We have seen devastation on the Great Barrier Reef at 1.2 degrees of warming on pre-industrial levels. Imagine what an almost doubling of that trapped heat will do to the Barrier Reef. We are already witnessing this kind of devastation now.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles says:

It's why my government legislated renewable energy and emissions targets that sets out a cleaner future that will strengthen our economy, create good jobs, and deliver strong climate change action.

Once again, they are completely ignoring the fact that UNESCO was calling for new emissions reduction targets from Australia. It has been said multiple times now that you are not out of the sin-bin, Australian government. You need to do more. The prospect of the outstanding universal values of the World Heritage inscription of the Great Barrier Reef being listed as 'in danger' from climate change is still there if you don't do more. Yet here we have this cynical—and I'm going to call it out here today—bullshit from the government again that somehow we're acting on climate change, when UNESCO and the IUCN are calling for more action. I'm not going to let that go to the keeper. I've been banging this drum, as have my colleagues, like Senator Waters and others, for many, many years now. The Barrier Reef is in danger from climate change unless we act radically and we do it now.