Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Hansard source

He was on the record. He was interviewed a few months ago; he said there was no such thing. You can check the record.

Seawalls, graveyards, roads and all of those community structures that we spoke about are being flooded year after year, and people on those low, outlying islands are unable to do anything. They feel powerless. Of course, they go to the member for Leichhardt; he is their member. He is a fierce advocate and he does visit them more than just in an election cycle, I can assure you of that. I have been in the member for Leichhardt’s electorate. He is a fearless advocate for his people and visits them on a regular basis. That is one thing I can say with great certainty.

This problem has gone on for far too long. It has gone on for four years. It has gone on for so long that in 2009 the Torres Strait Regional Authority took their concerns to the eighth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. There they detailed their concern that approximately 27 per cent of their community was affected each and every year. They described their human right and need to be protected. They outlined their concerns about the right to life, the right to water, the right to food, the right to culture and the right to a healthy environment. What we are talking about here is $22 million that will put all of those things in place. They have a right to live in some sort of peace and harmony, knowing that their island region is protected.

During the 2010 election, the member for Leichhardt continued that fight for the islanders. He fought to secure money to assist the regions and he announced a commitment of $22 million to fix the seawalls and to develop a solution to this particular problem. The time for that solution is now. This government needs to invest heavily in the Torres Strait Islands to save these low-lying communities from destruction in the future. (Time expired)

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