John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to this motion on coral bleaching, as a Queenslander who has worked and lived in coastal Queensland, and especially as one who has worked specifically on Great Barrier Reef initiatives, but this motion, unfortunately, presents a confusing amalgam of what are no doubt individually important points: those of global coral bleaching, clean energy target discussions, and the Carmichael mine and Adani. Since 2014, of the 29 World Heritage reef properties around the world, almost three-quarters were affected by bleaching, and the Great Barrier Reef, of course, is no exception.

Australia will meet and beat our Paris 2020 targets in relation to those sorts of challenges. Our 2030 target of a 26 to 28 per cent emissions reduction represents a halving of per capita emissions from 2005 levels. On this metric alone, Australia's target is amongst the strongest of any G20 country. Our government is leading the way in actively pursuing further action in relation to pressures affecting the reef. We've asked the Reef 2050 Plan Independent Expert Panel and the Reef 2050 Advisory Committee to provide advice on how to best respond to unprecedented pressures of all kinds. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority continues to focus on building the resilience of the reef at the same time, so the coalition is leading action to protect the reef. Together with the Queensland government, we've committed to spend over $2 billion protecting the reef over the next decade. This includes up to $1 billion through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to assist businesses delivering clean energy outcomes alongside other benefits for the reef; the establishment of the $210 million Reef Trust, predominantly focusing on water quality improvements by reducing sediment and nutrient run-off into reef waters—an area in which I've worked in the past; the culling of coral-bleaching crown-of-thorns starfish, through our $22.1 million investment in surveillance and control programs; $95 million in the National Landcare Program for Reef 2050 Plan implementation; and an additional $124 million over 10 years to strengthen the management of the reef through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. On 5 July the World Heritage Committee unanimously endorsed Australia's Reef 2050 Plan and our progress in implementing it. They no longer have the reef on their in-danger watch list, and that certainly recognises the Reef 2050 Plan.

When Labor left office after six years, including three years in partnership with the Greens and Independents, five massive dredge disposal projects were being planned, and of course the reef was considered by the World Heritage Committee to be in danger. The coalition came into power, took unprecedented action and removed the plans, and hence we were removed from the endangered list.

On the theme of clean energy targets, the simple facts are that, following the Labor-inspired debacle in South Australia, the COAG Energy Council commissioned a study by Dr Alan Finkel. He provided 50 recommendations, 49 of which were accepted immediately, and that in relation to a clean energy target is being considered by the government. Those and other numerous moves by our government are evidence that we are focused on an affordable and reliable energy system.

The Adani project has received environmental approvals at both the state and Commonwealth level. The project is situated, as my colleagues have mentioned, approximately 300 kilometres west of the Great Barrier Reef, and mining will not have any direct impacts on the reef itself. On 14 October 2015 the Carmichael mine received federal approval. Subsequently it received state approvals, and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility received an application from the Queensland Labor government for the Adani mine to receive concessional loan funding for the North Galilee Basin Rail project, which is being considered independently.

The simple facts are that the government has led the way in guidance of the Great Barrier Reef into the future. We have assessed Adani properly at both a federal and state level, and this promises a great deal for the future of Queensland, in particular.

See this speech in context