Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Hansard source

We are incredibly blessed in Australia to have such incredible natural beauty spread right across the country, from northern Western Australia to southern Western Australia, right around to southern South Australia and Tasmania. Here in the ACT we have the beautiful Brindabellas, and of course, there are the Alps and Kosciuszko. It is a country of great natural beauty, and the Great Barrier Reef is one of those standout elements of our nation and our environment here.

For aeons, the First Australians have shared an intrinsic link with the land, its flora and its fauna. Today, we continue to share that connection with our natural environment. Every year, Australia's natural environment is shared with millions and millions of tourists. The Great Barrier Reef alone attracts two million visitors each year, supports 64,000 jobs and generates more than $6 billion in tourism each year.

As well as supporting tens of thousands of jobs, the reef supports an incredibly rich and diverse ecosystem. Anyone who has had the privilege and honour of snorkelling or scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef will vouch for the fact that it is absolutely extraordinary. We are so blessed to have it in our nation; it is a wonderful natural environment. It is quite phenomenal when you do snorkel there, just seeing the diversity of the landscape that is under the sea—all the amazing fish and creatures, and this whole world that is just there, unseen by so many, unfortunately. And yet for those who do have the privilege, their eyes are just wide open about the wonder that is the world of the Great Barrier Reef.

Now, as we know, the Great Barrier Reef stretches 2,300 kilometres, and is the world's largest living structure—one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It has 600 types of soft and hard corals, more than 100 species of jellyfish, 3,000 varieties of molluscs, 500 species of worms, more than 1,500 types of fish and 133 varieties of sharks and rays, and more than 30 species of whales and dolphins call the Great Barrier Reef home.

Sadly, this incredibly ecosystem and other marine environments around Australia are under threat. They're under threat from inaction by those opposite on climate change. We've heard about the bleaching of the corals and how it's getting worse and not better. It looked as if it were on hold for a while there, but it's getting worse—it's spreading. My great fear, as someone who has had the honour and privilege of being up at the Great Barrier Reef and seeing the diversity of the colour and the fish, is of going back there and comparing it to when I was there a few years ago—seeing the damage that has been wrought by climate change and by the bleaching of the corals, and also the diminution of the fish and other sea creatures.

A joint budget submission from the World Wildlife Foundation and the Australian Conservation Foundation identified that $475 million a year will need to be invested in the reef on an ongoing basis in order to meet the water quality improvements promised to the international community. So, yes, the $500 million at the centre of this motion would normally be welcome. But, like so much of this government's inability to actually administer this country and effectively implement policy without one debacle after another, the $500 million that is mentioned in this motion is now the subject of controversy and under a cloud because of how the money was allocated by the Prime Minister and his minister. That is now the centre of attention. I bet that the member for Capricornia did not expect her congratulatory motion on the government's $500 million commitment for the Great Barrier Reef would turn a complete 180 degrees within the space of a couple of months. Again, this underscores the incompetence of this government when it comes to governing this country and when it comes to accountability, transparency and effective public administration. It's an absolute disgrace. (Time expired)

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