Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for bringing this important issue of environment protection to the parliament today. I think other crossbenchers are speaking on this MPI; I don't know that the Labor Party is. So I'm actually delighted to have an opportunity to talk about the government's record and our key commitments on the environment.

The member for Clark started with energy, and I know that the energy minister has laid out a practical, low-emissions pathway, including his announcement last month of a $1.9 billion investment package in new and emerging low-emissions technologies. Renewables are often a key indicator of a country's commitment to clean energy, and Australia has a per capita rate that's one of the highest in the world. We will overachieve our 2030 target as part of our commitment to the Paris agreement. I'll leave that there, with the very competent energy minister.

I want to mention two other areas that the member for Clark talked about, before I come to the things that we are doing—and we're very proud of every single one of those. He talked about the EPBC Act. He knows me better than this, and my commitment to strong compliance and my commitment to Graeme Samuel's recommendations on strong compliance. I've talked about that several times since the interim report was released. It is disingenuous for the suggestion to be made that we are stopping at the statements we made at the interim report stage and that we are not waiting for the final report, because, of course, we are. And I've said that many times.

I've also made it very clear that we're not simply sending the power to do approvals in a devolution model to the states. We are accrediting the states against strong Commonwealth led national standards. Graeme Samuel is working on those standards. He's held some excellent meetings with key stakeholders, because it's important you get broad agreement for this and that you come up with standards that demonstrate strong Commonwealth led interest in the environment, which is what the EPBC Act is about, but also that you have everyone at the table. So Graeme Samuel has undertaken an excellent process and I look forward to his final report, and I want to reassure the member for Clark that it is not just about devolution to the states; it is about strong Commonwealth standards and it is about accreditation of the states against those standards. I'm not dragging those states kicking and screaming to the table. I haven't got D-day after which they will all have to do it and we will step away. Absolutely not. If they don't want to do it, they don't have to. They all indicated at national cabinet with the Prime Minister on 24 July that they wanted to—that they wanted to step into this policy area because the act, at the moment, is duplicative, it's inefficient and it doesn't give that clarity and consistency. While I don't like to characterise the environment debate as people on one side wanting conservation and people on the other side wanting development—because it's actually not really like that in the real world—what I do want to say is that no-one on either side of this debate loves that act. The fact that we are acting swiftly and sensibly to reform the EPBC Act should actually be getting a loud cheer from this parliament. Unfortunately, I don't think that's happening.

The member for Clark talked about threatened species and our iconic natural environment. I agree with him 100 per cent. We are custodians of an incredible biodiversity that had been threatened since white and European settlement 200 years ago. We have amazing ecosystems and we are acting to protect them. I want to run through a few key statistics: 99.9 per cent of all listed species and ecological communities have either a conservation advice and/or a recovery plan in place guiding recovery action; since September 2013, 36 recovery plans have been made, covering 100 threatened species and five threatened ecological communities; since May 2019, I have added 43 species and six ecological communities to the national threatened species list and transferred 13 species between listing categories, based on expert advice from the independent Threatened Species Scientific Committee; and since May 2019 I have also approved 71 conservation advices. We're about to enter a new 10-year Threatened Species Strategy. I welcome to the views of the member of Clark and, in fact, the views of every member of this parliament on what that strategy should look like.

In covering the three key points the member for Clark made, I'd like to move on to our record in the environment.

Ms Butler interjecting—

The member for Griffith is interrupting. I don't mind if she interrupts me anytime with a question or a proper motion on the environment or an opportunity for me to demonstrate our commitment to the environment. We do have a proud and strong record, as a coalition government that achieved World Heritage listing status for the Great Barrier Reef in 1981 and banned oil and gas operations on it. We're backing that up today with $2.7 billion of investment in the reef. It was a coalition government that created the EPBC Act, and we're actually going to reform it. John Howard created the world's first ocean policy in 1998. It was a coalition government that established one of the world's largest representative networks of protected marine parks—2.8 million square kilometres, the size of Argentina. The coalition government created the position of minister for the environment, and the Morrison government is continuing the coalition's strong track record on the environment through comprehensive policies and record funding: $1.8 billion in this year's budget of new money over the next five years.

And it's not all about the money; it's about the policies. We've got those too. If you think about Australia as an island nation and the oceans, there is $14.8 million to tackle the marine impacts of ghost nets and plastic litter and $28 million for compliance and enforcement in our marine parks. We will re-establish native oyster reefs at 11 sites, providing employment opportunities and, importantly, enhancing the marine habitat. We're building on our leadership in the space of international blue carbon partnerships on rainforests and we're working really hard, as I said, across the reef to manage crown-of-thorns starfish and reduce marine debris pollution. We've got an ambitious world-leading Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program.

The member for Clark comes from Tasmania and he, like me, will be very proud of the Australian Antarctic Division and our investment in Antarctic science. In fact, the work that is done in Antarctica on southern climate systems is internationally acclaimed by the IPCC. We are the experts, because in the north they know a lot about the north, but we own that space in the south. We're drilling a million-year ice core. We've had to slow down due to COVID, and we wish all our expeditioners well in what is a difficult time for them. But that will give us clues as to how the climate on Earth changed a million years ago. So the investment that we're putting into our Antarctic Division is really, really important, and I think the division is extraordinary and loved by every Tasmanian. And I want to send good wishes to Tasmania; you haven't opened up your border to people from New South Wales, but, as soon as you do, I'm looking forward to coming down there and appreciating some of the natural environment.

People talk about climate adaptation and resilience; we're walking that talk. We've always lived in a changing environment. The rate of change we face today is unprecedented, I know that; and the role that science plays in helping us is vital. So, with our $200 million bushfire wildlife recovery funding, we took the advice of experts. I put together an expert panel of scientists to list the species and the ecological communities most at threat. We've delivered $50 million of that bushfire funding for immediate habitat restoration. We're developing plans with seven communities across key fire scars in Australia for how they will spend a further $110 million of that funding, using the community's wisdom, their interest and their commitment, and making sure that every single dollar hits the ground in practical, meaningful action, and, most importantly, that it helps our threatened species; it helps our precious wildlife.

The importance of our national parks is something we've been able to underscore in our recent budget, with a $233 million investment in our six iconic Australian national parks. One of the things we're most proud of is how we bring traditional owners to the table, whether it be for their advice throughout the bushfire royal commission on Indigenous cultural burning, recognising their connection to country, their sense of loss at so much of what has happened to their own iconic species since white settlement, or their views on how to manage the land in an incredibly sustainable way in the interests of everyone who uses it. We're tapping into that wisdom as part of our science of adaptation and resilience.

We've got a National Environmental Science Program. It's just issued round 2 of funding, about $149 million. It's through hubs of marine science, threatened species, and climate and adaptation science, and I really look forward to the work that our scientists bring to us.

I should mention the Bureau of Meteorology, which is in the environment portfolio. There is a record investment in the bureau to make sure that the Australian community can continue to have reliable, secure and ongoing access to weather, climate, water and oceans information.

We as Liberal and National parties have a strong and, I would say, a powerful record on the environment. Fifty per cent of our environment is managed by farmers, and we bring them to the table in the amazing movement of Landcare, as well as the great work we're doing in biodiversity. (Time expired)

See this speech in context