Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Whish-Wilson, I move:

That the following matter be referred to the Environment and Communications References Committee for inquiry and report by 15 December 2021:

The health of the Great Barrier Reef, with specific regard to:

(a) the Government's actions and motivations in opposing the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) scientific advice to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) to place the reef on the 'In Danger' list;

(b) the processes and criteria for 'In Danger' listing as per the UNESCO WHC rules and guidance;

(c) why the Great Barrier Reef is considered by the IUCN scientific committee to be 'In Danger';

(d) the decision and actions of the Government in opposing the 'In Danger' listing, including all ministerial travel and engagements, meetings with international counterparts, departmental expenditure and any other measures in doing so;

(e) the political, environmental, social and economic implications of an 'In Danger' listing for the Great Barrier Reef; and

(f) any other matters.

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

[by video link] The Great Barrier Reef is big. It's beautiful. But it's in danger. But this government doesn't want you to know that. That's why the Greens have initiated this references committee inquiry into the UNESCO World Heritage Committee's attempted listing of the Great Barrier Reef as 'in danger'. The whole country is talking about COP26. In fact, the whole world is focused on Glasgow and how the international community are going to come together and reduce emissions. If I had my way, I would commandeer COP26, at least for the first day, and, as a matter of urgent priority, I would have the world look at the latest science on the Great Barrier Reef, the exact science that the IPCC report used, to recommend that the reef be downgraded to 'in danger'. I would recommend that the entire COP26 entourage had an urgent briefing on the Great Barrier Reef and the sad, tragic decline of this world's greatest natural wonder.

There is nothing complicated about the tragic decline we have seen in the Great Barrier Reef, particularly in the last decade. We're not talking about numbers here. We're not talking about pathways to net zero by 2050 or what's required by 2030. What we are looking at is a stark reminder of our failure to take climate action. If the world were to see the true state of the Great Barrier Reef and the real science that tells us that the Great Barrier Reef, if we continue along a trajectory of business as usual, will be gone in this century, I believe that would trigger a significant global action, because, if the Great Barrier Reef is in severe decline, that means most of the world's coral reefs are also in that sad decline.

The Greens initiated this inquiry some months ago, and we have brought it here this evening to debate and, if we can, put to a vote. But I understand that is probably not going to be possible. This attempt by the government to deny the science, to put politics above the science, to postpone the inevitable—and we all know the Great Barrier Reef is in danger—must be exposed. The government's excuses, their deceptions and, in fact, I would say their downright lies, their panic, when the World Heritage Committee apparently blindsided them by saying they were going to list the Great Barrier Reef as 'in danger'—this august chamber needs to look at the process. It needs to look at why UNESCO was going to list the reef as 'in danger' and the science behind that. We need to speak to the experts. But we also need to look at the government's reasons. How were the government blindsided, when UNESCO has been talking about this potential downgrade for nearly 10 years? How were they blindsided when they allocated—

Debate interrupted.