Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to discuss the motion that the Senate take note of the following document: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: outlook report 2009. In the Canberra Times on Tuesday this week there was a report that said that the Great Barrier Reef has less than a fifty-fifty chance of surviving until 2050. It is reported that Climate Change Alliance scientists are saying that emissions would have to be reduced by 90 per cent by 2050. Not even the Greens, as extreme as they are, are pitching for that figure. This group of scientists is pitching for a 90 per cent reduction in emissions below the 2000 level. As I say, not even the Greens have pitched their extremism that far. I think they go for 80 per cent—very close. The point is that these scientists have just set up a straw man, claiming without evidence that if the temperature around the Great Barrier Reef was to increase greater than two to three degrees the reef would be burnt and singed, and would not exist after the year 2050.

I bring this extremism to the Senate’s attention because this is one of the icons that the extremists in this climate change debate put up. They have got several icons and I wish to go through them, but this particular pitch and its degree of absurdity ought to be brought to the Senate’s attention. Of course, those scientists believe Australia—to save the Great Barrier Reef—ought to introduce an emissions trading scheme next week, pre-Copenhagen, and that Australia’s own emissions trading scheme, forget the world, will save the Great Barrier Reef.

Not even the world believes that, because the world has put off Armageddon, if you have not noticed. The world leaders in Canada, the United States, APEC and the United Nations group that met in Barcelona have all put off Armageddon and now, as we get closer to Copenhagen, the deal is slipping further. As I say, this is the tactic of discredited scientists just seeking research dollars, United Nations committees just seeking relevance, and politicians—particularly from the other side—just seeking votes. These are the extreme tactics and views.

The Great Barrier Reef is the great icon—there are others such as the Antarctic—that they put up to justify their extreme position on climate change. I should add that these scientists do not even give any credence—as the other side doesn’t—to natural changes in climate. We have not heard about that from the other side. We have not heard them say anything about factoring it in. These scientists have not factored it in to any change that may occur in the Great Barrier Reef. I dare say the Great Barrier Reef has been changing over the last tens of thousands, if not millions, of years. No—the other side, these scientists and half of the scientists in CSIRO do not factor natural climate change into their calculations at all. They put it all down to man-made climate change and the emissions effect.

The Antarctic is the other great icon they put up. Their views are discredited. Our own Curtin University in Western Australia has recognised in undisputed research that the Antarctic is not melting. I notice that has gone off the map. Even the high priestess, Senator Wong, does not use that as a great icon. Another one she does use is the great Murray River, saying that the whole drying up of the Murray River is a great effect of climate change. What a load of rubbish. The Adelaide population has doubled. Usage by the farmers has doubled. It is true that we are in the grip of an exceptional drought but that is because of El Nino. That is the source of the drought. They cannot relate it to man-made climate change. Senator McEwen was in here today talking about bushfires but time will run out before I can rip that particular idiocy apart.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all, I congratulate the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, particularly their chief, Dr Russell Reichelt, and the work that they do continuously to support our Great Barrier Reef. It is a unique destination and icon of Australia, and one that is particularly important to that part of Queensland where I hail from. Tourism from the Great Barrier Reef is enormously beneficial to the economy of North Queensland. As guardians of one of the best reefs in the world, we have a responsibility to the world to look after the reef—and we do it very well.

In view of some of the things that Senator McGauran has just rightly raised, I want to raise some things out of this Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: outlook report 2009. I am surprised the Greens political party are not here to talk about this. I acknowledge that it is late in the parliamentary week but one would think, given the way they carry on about the Great Barrier Reef, they would be here to talk about this particular report. I refer my Senate colleagues to the executive summary of this report. I will just quote a few things:

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most diverse and remarkable ecosystems in the world and remains one of the most healthy coral reef ecosystems.

If you listen to Senator Wong or the Greens, you would think that the Great Barrier Reef was about to disappear from this earth. That is not so, according to this very scientific report. I quote from a little further on:

While populations of almost all marine species are intact and there are no records of extinctions, some ecologically important species, such as dugongs, marine turtles, seabirds, black teatfish and some sharks, have declined significantly. Although the declines of loggerhead turtles and dugongs are believed to have halted, there are few examples of increasing populations in species of conservation concern.

That is a big tick to the Howard government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and to James Cook University for all of their work over the last decade or so.

I will continue quoting from this executive summary:

Corel reef habitats fluctuate naturally depending on changes in environmental conditions, but they are gradually declining, especially inshore, as a result of poor water quality and the compounding effects of climate change. Habitats more remote from human use, such as the continental slope and reefs in the far north are believed to be in very good condition and portions of the lagoon floor are recovering from previous effects of trawling.

So you can see there are positives. The executive summary goes on to say:

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is considered by many to be a leading example of world’s best practice management.

Now, again, if you would listen to Senator Wong or the Greens political party, you would think that the Barrier Reef was just about dead.

Time is not going to allow me to quote some of the other very important aspects of this executive summary, but I will perhaps just go to the final paragraph:

Further building the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef by improving water quality, reducing the loss of coastal habitats and increasing knowledge about fishing and its effects, will give it the best chance of adapting to and recovering from the serious threats ahead, especially from climate change.

If you look at that carefully, you will see that the Barrier Reef can adapt to climate change providing we do the other things—the managing of water quality, the reduction in the loss of coastal habitats and the increasing of our knowledge about fishing and its effects. I might say it was the Howard government that poured millions and millions of dollars into research to make sure those redeeming effects do happen. Congratulations to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on this outlook report. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.