Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to take a moment to thank the member for Fremantle for bringing this matter to the chamber. The State of the environment report—published in 2021 but only released, by the new environment minister, last month—was a shocking read. If the IPCC report was a code red for the world, the State of the environment report is a code red for Australia.

Marine heatwaves caused mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, 2017 and 2020. Waterways, beaches and shorelines are in generally poor condition in areas near urban centres, yet mostly in good condition in more remote areas. The impact of the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfires killed or dislocated between one billion and three billion animals. Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent and has one of the highest rates of species decline in the developed world. More than 100 Australian species have been listed as either extinct or extinct in the wild. Over the five years to 2019, nearly 290,000 hectares of primary forest and 343,000 hectares of regrown forest were cleared. Rivers and catchments are mostly in poor condition, and native fish populations have declined by more than 90 per cent in the past 150 years, a trend that continues. How did we find ourselves here? Sea level rise has affected many low-lying areas, including Kakadu wetlands. Saltmarshes across much of Australia's coast are losing territory to mangroves. At least 19 Australian ecosystems are showing signs of collapse or near collapse, and the destruction of Indigenous cultural heritage continues at an unacceptable rate. We must make change now, or the consequences will be devastating.

This Wednesday, 7 September, is National Threatened Species Day. I learnt that this date was chosen because, on this same date in 1936, Australia's Tasmanian tiger, the thylacine, slipped over the extinction line. But thinking about species decline on just one day a year, whilst a snazzy marketing idea, is just not good enough. Our natural environment laws must protect all Australian native animal and plant species that are facing similar fates to that of the Tasmanian tiger all year round. Professor Graeme Samuel could not have been clearer when he said that a strong, independent cop on the beat is required. Native animals don't pay attention to electoral boundaries or state borders. We must have a nationally consistent protection plan. We must have a nationally consistent protection plan. In addition to the long list of animals and plant species in decline, habitat destruction and clearing, introduced species thriving, diseases and invasive pests wreaking havoc on our land, the State of the environment report also made it crystal clear that our climate is changing.

Meanwhile, most major Australian cities are growing at a faster rate than other developed cities across the planet. The pace of growth has increased urban heat, congestion, pollution and waste and has put rising pressure on water and energy resources. We're experiencing more extreme high temperatures, more bushfires and more intense rain events. Sea temperatures are also continuing to rise. Each of these factors in turn affects the liveability of our cities. North Sydney is paying the price with more traffic congestion on our streets, more air pollution around our schools, a loss of more than 3½ thousand trees and 750 mangroves and seagrasses, and a loss of 15,000 square metres of green space from our parks and reserves, like Cammeray Park and Flat Rock Gully. While the North Sydney community will fight to protect and enhance our green corridors, which are fundamental to the nature of our community, by advocating to ensure infrastructure projects undertaken in our electorate provide solutions for the next century, we must have, and we need the support of, a national framework to underpin our arguments. We must have a nationally consistent planning process.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are closely interconnected and share common drivers through human activities. Both have predominantly negative impacts on human wellbeing and the quality of life. The State of the environment report makes it crystal clear. Planning processes must be consistent nationally, and we must address both issues with urgency.

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