Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

While tourism to the region—which I am not opposed to; I am just concerned about its being too heavy—started in the 1950s, it has grown almost exponentially. In the 2001-02 season, the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators reported some 12,248 visitors. This has grown, to an estimated 46,000 visitors in 2007-08. Some 98 per cent of these tourists are ship borne. Many of these ships, which are based out of South America, use the heavy oils that this bill will eliminate. Many of these ships are not adequately equipped to deal with the harshness of this environment and lack the level of ice protection needed to operate in these areas, as I highlighted before. They then get stranded and the scientists who are down there on important missions have to go and save these people.

I understand why so many people want to see the Antarctic. It is one of the last great wilderness areas, but it is a wilderness that is diminishing. It is under threat from the impacts of climate change and the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It is under threat from ocean acidity—

See this speech in context