David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for investment in nature conservation to protect and manage our incredible landscapes and species, given at least half of Australia's GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature and only 0.1% of the federal Budget is spent on its protection.

Last week was Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday—a remarkable man, someone who has seen more of the natural world than almost anyone alive. He told us that to restore stability to our planet we must restore its biodiversity, the very thing we have removed. It is the only way out of this crisis we have created. Reflecting on the budget last night, there were undoubtedly good things and some tough decisions made, and I applaud the government for doing that.

But, yet again, nature has missed out. If we look at this through the view of the importance we attach to managing and protecting the natural world, our priority is not there. That is not a priority in this budget. We know that we are in a biodiversity crisis. More than 2,000 species and ecological communities are threatened. Nineteen ecosystems are showing signs of collapse on this megadiverse continent that we call home. Growing up, I used to hear stories from my father and grandfather about what the area we farmed in was like when they were growing up. It sounded like a much richer place—more wildlife, more adventure. I remember feeling a sense of loss and a bit of anger even as a kid—'Why didn't I get to experience that?'

Then you look at the statistics. This is actually what's happening. That was in Zimbabwe. Here in Australia, we've seen a 75 per cent decline in threatened and near threatened species since 1985. That is a disastrous drop. We have an impoverished environment. Growing up, I had no idea that that was what we now call shifting baseline syndrome, where we go into what are still incredibly beautiful landscapes in this country and we enjoy them. The Murrumbidgee River Corridor is a place that I have just fallen in love with since moving to the ACT, but it is but a fraction of what it used to be. There's less birdsong. There are almost no small mammals left along that corridor. Cats and foxes reign supreme. The river is being starved of water. It's in a perpetual man-made drought.

We have a choice as a country. If you just want to look at the economics, there's a strong argument: $893 billion of GDP, nearly half of our economy, depends directly on nature and the services it provides. So, if you don't care about nature—still, if you care about the economy, you should care about investing in the environment. This shouldn't be a left versus right issue. I don't see what is more conservative than actually conserving the environment and protecting our natural heritage. Yes, we need money. We currently spend just 0.1 per cent of the federal budget, $474 million, on protecting it. I think this is both an economic failure and a moral failure.

The Biodiversity Council says that we need to lift that to at least one per cent. If we just took a third of the destructive subsidies in this country, that would solve it—that would be one per cent. This is doable for us as a country. The money is there. This is about priorities. A relatively small investment would be a down payment on our future, both the future of the places and species we love and ultimately our future as a species because our survival is inextricably tied to the environment that we have evolved out of and we rely on.

The ask is for an increase—an investment of one per cent of the budget—and there's a lot at stake. As EO Wilson reminded us:

The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.

Yes, we need money, but clearly we need a change in attitude. We've got to stop viewing land as something that we just own and can demand a return from and view it more as something that we actually belong to and is there not just for us but for everything else that we share it with and for future generations.