Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak today on WA's Scott Reef. The Environmental Protection Authority of WA has recently ruled that Woodside's plan to drill for oil and gas in the Scott Reef would cause unacceptable impacts on the surrounding ecosystem. The EPA's decision is a huge moment of victory for WA environmentalists and nature lovers all across the country. The EPA has clearly stated that Woodside's project would be an unacceptable threat to the endangered blue whales, to the endangered green turtles, and to the reef itself, placing it at risk from oil spills and pollution. Woodside's plan must not go ahead.

The Labor government have the power to block this project, and they must use it. However, we know the Labor government have consistently failed to deliver meaningful climate action in their term of government. We know that they have continued to approve new coalmines and they are keeping others going, like Whitehaven's Narrabri underground coal project, which will see extraction of coal for another decade. We are in the grips of a climate crisis, and Labor is still failing to take any decisive action to move Australia away from coal and gas, which are the key contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The government has a duty to protect the future of Western Australia, the future of our planet and the future of young people. Only by having more Greens in this place will we see the necessary investment in renewable energy, the end of new coal and gas and the end of the billions of dollars donated to these parties that keep this crisis going.