Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Minister for the Environment and Water, I table the annual statement on international environment leadership.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The statement tabled by the minister made for a very interesting read in relation to international environmental leadership. I don't think there are many people in this place or the other place who would think that, over the last 18 months, this government has shown leadership in the environment space. This portfolio, sadly, has seen, as a result of I'm not sure whether it is ineptitude or a lack of interest from the minister, a huge amount of underwhelming performance. The delays on everything related to the environment portfolio have meant that Australia and the Australian community, from environmental groups and ordinary mums and dads who actually care about our environment through to those who seek to do business in the environment, are wondering what is going on. There's a lack of certainty, a lack of urgency and a lack of direction which are causing incredible concern across all parts of our community, something that I hope the government takes notice of.

Over 18 months, we have seen many promises that were made by this government, be they on power prices or any other important issue, being broken, and in this portfolio it is no different. I do recall, over a year ago now, when the minister, on the release of the state of the environment report, outlined what the government would do in response to the state of the environment report. It also released its response to the Samuel review, which, of course, is on reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the EPBC Act. At the time we were told we did not have a minute to lose—that this was incredibly urgent. But 18 months on, sadly, we are no clearer on exactly what the government is going to be doing.

Only recently, on 30 and 31 October, a select group of Australian stakeholders, including businesses, ENGOs and other people who have been a part of the process to date, gathered here in Canberra to have a look at what the government has done about reforming these laws in responding to the review. We must remember that the EPBC Act is in excess of 1,000 pages of legislation. What was presented on 30 and 31 October—in these secret, closed-door meetings to which no-one outside of that select group was invited—were a few pages with some principles. This is 18 months on, and that is all we have. There is absolutely no clarity. It does expose for what it is the claim that we didn't have a minute to lose, and, also that this government was taking this portfolio seriously, because I don't think anyone could claim that and keep a straight face.

In the statement, one of the claims made by the minister, one that the minister wants us to believe, is that there is a nature repair market which is bringing new funding to the work of protecting and restoring our environment. The nature repair market legislation is nowhere to be seen. It went off to a Senate committee for inquiry, and it was difficult to find a solitary stakeholder, be they from the environment portfolio, ENGOs or the business sector—anywhere—that supported the legislation as it was drafted. The committee report has been pushed back and pushed back. Last time I checked, the committee wasn't going to be reporting back until the month of April next year. That is something that we're being told in this ministerial statement is there and is going to be contributing to the good work of this government in saving the environment. The bill as it was drafted and as it stands today is botched and, sadly, is another example of how little attention is being paid to such an important part of what this government should be focusing on.

When it comes to matters Antarctic—and only this morning in this building we had a group of Antarctic scientists converge on Canberra to brief us on matters related to sea ice—

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We went to Antarctica.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I didn't get to go to Antarctica, sadly I respond to Senator McCarthy. I missed out on that trip. It would have been wonderful to see. But I live near there. Hobart is very close to Antarctica. I don't know how I went down that path! I got drawn into that. Interjections are terribly disorderly, and so is responding to them.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She draws you in!

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You are quite right, Senator Scarr.

Antarctic sea ice is shrinking, as we know. The scientists, from a range of institutions based out of Hobart, were today telling us exactly what is going on. But where is the minister when it comes to dealing with the funding shortfall and pressures being faced by the Australian Antarctic Division, a world-leading institution? I would love to know exactly how the minister intends to respond to these issues, when science and research funding for Antarctic science is so critically compromised. The minister can't, in her statement, talk about leadership in the environmental space when this government is letting us down and not providing leadership in any way in that space.

Back on the EPBC Act: I understand the minister said that, as it stands today, there is a doubling of the rate of renewable projects being approved under the EPBC Act. But, in saying that, she failed to highlight the fact that the timeliness of approvals under this act has dramatically declined in her time in charge. There is no talk from the minister, either, in relation to what the government is going to do when it comes to its dreadful track record on endangered species, many of them under further pressure because of a number of these renewable projects that the government is seeking to speed up the approvals process of.

We'll all recall that Minister Plibersek did make a commitment that there would be zero new extinctions under this government. That was what she committed to. Well, the minister—and I have offered her this advice previously—might want to go and speak to some people who might know about this, such as Conservation Volunteers Australia, who uncovered that, in the last two years, Australia has listed more threatened species than in the previous decade. The government suffer from 'rear-vision-mirror-itis'—they like to look backward at the last decade—but they might want to look at their time in government and exactly what has been happening over the last two years.

Short of meeting this commitment to zero new extinctions, there is a lot of work and no action relating to her commitment to protecting endangered species. There is no action when it comes to plastic waste and dealing with the REDcycle crisis that we had—zero response to that. There is no new EPA, which we were promised. There is no new standalone tough cop on the beat to protect our environment and work with businesses to ensure they're doing the right thing. There is no acknowledgement of the fact that the 30x30 Pledge, to protect 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030, was already met when it came to the marine environment. Before the minister even became minister, we were at 43 per cent of the target. There is no reference to the unilateral decision to ban gillnets in certain fisheries in northern Australia and what impact that will have. There is no willingness to provide evidence for the decision that was made in response to UNESCO's calls and no interest in the impact that will have on these regional communities—a very, very sad indictment. There has been no response to the questions about the trebling of the size of the Macquarie Island marine protected area and the fact that a decision was made before consultation had even closed. That is something I was very alarmed about and continue to investigate, because these decisions are having serious impacts.

When you make decisions with only one thing in mind—the environment—with no regard for other things like the economy and social welfare, you are going to have bad decisions. There is no mention of this taxpayer funding being provided to the Environmental Defenders Office, at the base of so many of the disastrous appeals of projects that we need to be able to continue to have a functioning economy in the cost-of-living crisis we are facing. There is no mention or acknowledgement of the fact that this government is funding a lot of the green lawfare we are seeing that is destroying people's lives, jobs and investment opportunities and causing sovereign risk issues.

All in all, this ministerial statement papers over many cracks, but the facts are speaking for themselves. From the ENGO movement right through to the business community, this portfolio is in tatters and people want and expect better.

Question agreed to.