Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the answers by Senator Hume, representing the environment minister, in response to questions asked by my colleague Senator Whish-Wilson in relation to the great threat the Great Barrier Reef is under because of climate change. The UN body responsible for World Heritage listing and for the managing and overseeing of World Heritage sites has been very concerned with the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Earlier this week, they declared the Great Barrier Reef to be under such stress, such danger, from climate change that they want to list it as such. This is one of the world's greatest reefs. It's one of the world's most precious environmental places. It's one of Australia's most precious spots. It is iconic—it's what the rest of the world think of when they think of the land down under—and it is under threat because of climate change and environmental mismanagement. Nemo is under threat because of Mr Barnaby Joyce, with his obsession with coal and the fossil fuel industry, and because of the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Prime Minister Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Joyce are killing Nemo on the Great Barrier Reef. That's what is going on here. The world is watching, and people are horrified. And they know that Australia has been aware of the threat for a long time.

When the UN made the declaration earlier this week, the government and the environment minister herself, Sussan Ley, said that they were blindsided. What absolute rubbish. If you were blindsided, despite all of the warnings from the scientists, despite all of the work that's been going on, despite all of the warning signs, all of the conversations and all of the money that has been spent by this government, then you're either incompetent or you're trying to pull the wool over the eyes of not just the Australian people but the rest of the world. Australia should be ashamed that our government has let the Great Barrier Reef deteriorate to this level. There has been bleaching event after bleaching event, and still, on the international stage, we have Australia's Prime Minister arguing for less action on climate change. We have the resources minister promoting selling more resource fossil fuels overseas. We have ministers in this place pretending that the science of climate change can just be ignored.

No-one at UNESCO and not many Australians were shocked or blindsided by the decision and the announcement that the Great Barrier Reef is under great threat from climate change. Year 8 students in South Australia know that the climate is killing our reef. Scientists have been warning the Australian government that this would happen. In this very place, the Greens have been warning the government that we needed to act faster. It is just absolute rubbish for the minister to suggest that she was blindsided. Either she was wilfully blind or she's incompetent.

Make no mistake: as we head to the election, either at the end of this year or into next year, Australians will remember that this is the government that has killed Nemo, that has funnelled more money to the fossil fuel industry and that is overseeing the death of the Great Barrier Reef. While the rest of the world is crying out for more ambition to tackle climate change and reduce pollution, our Deputy Prime Minister is side by side with the Prime Minister of Australia taking money from fossil fuel companies and wanting to pollute more, more, more.

Question agreed to.