Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I was not planning to make a short statement, but given that that was a very personal response by the government I will respond. Mr President, off the coast of Tasmania, where we are both from, we have seen unprecedented warming of waters and we have seen severe damage to our aquaculture industry, to scallops, to abalone and to the oyster industry, not to mention the damage to some of the beautiful, ancient kelp forests. Right around the country we are seeing the ocean go haywire from warming waters. We are seeing marine protected area protections that the Labor Party brought in being wound back, especially in the Coral Sea, very close to an area where we are seeing unprecedented bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef. The government clearly has something to hide. They do not want an inquiry into this. I would say to the One Nation senators and others here who do not believe in climate change that this is a good opportunity to come along and ask hard questions to the experts. This is an inquiry we need to have. The ocean is being ignored in the climate change debate. It is a great opportunity— (Time expired)