Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

Labor shares the concerns of the community regarding the protection of the Great Australian Bight, it's wonderful adjacent coastal environment and, indeed, it's endemic marine diversity. It has a wonderful role as a nursery and migration zone for whales and other important marine animals and it's important in the life cycle of the oceans both for sardine and other small pelagic fish breeding. There's no doubt about the importance of the Great Australian Bight as a marine ecosystem and as a wilderness, but so too for many other parts of Australia where both industry and the marine environment exist side by side.

Labor wants to support an offshore oil and gas industry which is well operated and regulated. Indeed, I have very much seen this to be true in the case of my own home state of Western Australia. It is possible because of the strict and stringent oversight and approvals, which are world-leading best practice. It is absolutely the job of regulators to ensure that there are no unacceptable risks to the marine and coastal environment of the Great Australian Bight off South Australia or, frankly, any other part of our marine ecosystems where there are proposals for oil and gas exploration or mining.

I have to say, from the way that Senator Hanson-Young spoke about the prospect of oil drilling in South Australia, you would have thought that, because of the scale of industry that exists in Western Australia, we have beaches and marine ecosystems swamped with oil and sludge as if it was some kind of inevitable consequence of allowing industry anywhere in Australia. As a Western Australian, I feel this very strongly. I recognise the Great Australian Bight as unique and important geoscientifically. It's deep and it has got very particular marine protection attributes in terms of the species there, but so does Western Australia. It is absolutely ridiculous that the Greens think that they can single out addressing climate change and environmental protection in our nation by refusing to engage in the substantive policy debates about how we regulate these industries and, frankly, also about how we manage emissions, which will still continue to take place at the North West Shelf and in many other parts of Australia's oil and gas industry. It's simply an act of putting your head in the sand.

We are committed to the sustainable management of Australia's marine resources and, indeed, we want to be strong defenders and managers of our oceans and those who use them. I note, in relation to what Senator Hanson-Young proposes in this legislation, that it prohibits mining operations in the Great Australian Bight marine area and that the object of the bill, they argue, is to protect regional industries which rely on its waters from damage resulting from mining activities. Surely that is something that should and must be assessed for every industry and every proposed mining project in Australia. It is the job of NOPSEMA to do this on behalf of our environment and these industries nationwide, for the Great Australian Bight, for the North West Shelf—for all of our offshore oil and gas developments.

I've seen, with my own eyes, that there are real risks that can be associated with these industries when industry oversight—

Debate interrupted.