Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Will the minister update the House on Australia's commitment to protection of our oceans? Are there any risks to delivering the policy? What are the implications beyond Commonwealth waters?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am glad that there is a side of the House willing to ask a question on this issue. It was extraordinary that those opposite were willing to damage the national interest on this issue with their talk of a 'killer attack on the way'—and we have all been waiting with suspense. Well, a major announcement was made last week. Australia has always been one of the world leaders in national parks on land. Yellowstone and the Royal National Park were the first two national parks on land in the world. Last week Australia also became the world leader on national parks in the ocean. That is something that this side of the House is very proud of and it is something on which—despite the games that are being played by those opposite—it was thought there was a level of bipartisanship. The principles and the plan were first put forward under the Keating government, but the commitments that were made internationally were made at a conference known as Rio+10 in Johannesburg, where the representative of Australia was a bloke by the name of Kemp—Environment Minister Kemp—when the other side signed up to the words that it would be a 'representative, comprehensive and adequate network' of marine national parks.

Since then the objections have come—with Ron Boswell, interestingly, becoming the person to commit the opposition to try to tear this apart—on grounds relating to the impact on commercial fishers and rec fishers. Let us look at each of them. In terms of commercial fishing, the impact on the gross value of production is between one and two per cent of the total industry—a one to two per cent impact. On rec fishing, which has been the principal issue that the Leader of the Opposition has identified as being his concern, if you are on the east coast and you are anywhere south of Mackay, you have got to get out in your tinny almost to Lord Howe Island before you find the first area where rec fishers are not allowed to go. Even if you are in Mackay you have to take your tinny for 400 kilometres before you reach Marion Reef. Once you get to Marion Reef you are banned from fishing on it but you are still allowed to fish around it—containing the key pelagic species that the rec fishers are after. We have a situation where, in relation to the fear campaign that they have wanted to run during the last 12 months, the time is up. Rec fishers know that this is in Commonwealth waters, a long way away from the areas that they want, and Australians are proud to be the world leaders in establishing protection of the oceans.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. I refer to the minister's comments on the need for global action on our oceans and our environment. How will Australia be advancing this at the Rio+20 conference?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very glad that question was asked. To ensure that all of these reforms are best practice you want to make sure that you go as far as possible in the world coming closer to the good standard of fisheries management that Australia has and the good standard of marine parks that Australia has. That is why it used to be bipartisan that we would have an involvement in the Coral Triangle initiative. That is why it used to be bipartisan that we would engage in the Earth Summit and the meeting of environment ministers that happens once every 10 years. It is not necessarily the summit itself; it is the bilateral meetings that you have on the one occasion when all the environment ministers of the world are in the same place. It should be bipartisan that you will have those negotiations country after country. Yet the exact same officials who were organising bilateral after bilateral, back to back—not the meetings on the beach that the member for Flinders said that he wanted to be able to attend when he was on TV on the weekend but the bilaterals where you advance the national interest—and meeting after meeting are now cancelling those meetings. The same pairing arrangements that caused the Leader of the Opposition to play 'chasings' in and out of the chamber and caused chaos on that other side mean that even this has to be turned into a political game. (Time expired)

Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for . I remind the minister that in 2004 the compensation for fishermen in marine industries to rezone the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was originally capped at $10 million but subsequently blew out to close to $250 million. How has the minister arrived at a figure of $100 million as the cost of compensation to rezone an area 10 times that size?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Leichhardt for opening up the cost blow-out that was administered by the other side. The bioregional planning that is taking place takes place under national environmental law—the legislation that was introduced by a bloke you might have heard of by the name of Robert Hill. Across our oceans there is one region that was done by the previous government—one region only—and that was the south-east. When the south-east was done that provided the template for displacement policy, and that is exactly the template that the government is providing and is following through on.

Where was the member for Leichhardt saying, 'It is an outrageous package,' when it was being implemented by the Howard government? Where was the member for Leichhardt when he was wanting to claim—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The minister was asked how he arrived at a figure of $100 million for an area 10 times the size of the Great Barrier Reef. That is the question that he needs to answer.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat. The minister has the call.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not only were the principles that were arrived at by the previous government in terms of displacement policy the principles that we are now following through on, but the science which was delivered by the previous government has formed some of the scientific foundations for the principles that we followed. The south-west would be the biggest one. On the south-west document there—the bioregional profile for the science—you will see a photograph of a bloke that you might recognise. He used to be the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will desist from using the prop. The minister will not use the prop.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wentworth authored the document that provided the scientific foundation for the south-west. The previous government authored the policies that have dictated how we will run the displacement policies throughout this process. What we have got is a situation where the opposition have decided that environmental protection is something that they need to say no to at every single location. You will not find the member for Leichhardt talking about the impact on his electorate for the dive industry, because the dive industry, a cornerstone of the tourism industry in Cairns, has been out there backing this. They know that Osprey Reef in particular—one of the top five dive sites in the world—is now on the global map in a much stronger way because it has been given the level of marine protection that it always should have had. But no—no mention from the member for Leichhardt of the benefits for some of the tourism sectors in his own electorate—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will return to the question.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

because, when the option to say no is there, it is irresistible for them.

Honourable members interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The frontbench are denying the member for Makin the call. The member for Makin has the call.