Varun Ghosh (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Protecting Australia's environment is essential to our future. Our incredible landscapes and unique and magnificent ecosystems are vital to Australia. They're vital to life on this continent. Our environment is important to our economy. Our environment is loved and enjoyed by Australians around the country. I love and enjoy our environment. I cherish time spent in the wilderness. I, as Senator Pocock did, grew up watching David Attenborough. The videotape of The Trials of Life got a repeat run in the Ghosh-Nagarajan household. As an adult, I enjoy bushwalking in our magnificent national parks, swimming at our beaches and fishing in our rivers and oceans.

But I don't agree with the approach set out in this motion. The protection and conservation and management of Australia's environment is not just about cherrypicking a proportion of GDP as a spending amount and then using it as a method of criticism. It's a number selected artificially to create an impression because it's small. But the reality is that this government's environmental agenda has been large. I think it has been the biggest environmental agenda a government has had in this country in terms of its substance, not only in terms of addressing climate change but in terms of those vital reforms we made last year to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. So, while I understand and agree with many of the things Senator Pocock said today, I think the logic of the motion is flawed and I think its purpose is misguided.

But—but—I do just want to take a moment to address my colleague Senator Bragg's comments about the environment. Senator Bragg is a very serious policy person, but he made a number of statements that did not gel with his party's attitude to the most significant piece of environmental reform in this country in a generation last year. He made a number of comments that didn't gel with Senator Henderson's comments on the earlier motion, about wanting to defund the Environmental Protection Agency and not establish or give proper funding to Environment Information Australia. It is well and good to mention yellow crazy ants in some abstract way, but, when you want to address the problems of the environment, you have to do it holistically. You have to do it through a framework that's going to work. Last year, when we were debating and passing these reforms, senator after senator from the coalition stood up and decried them. Now, when Senator Bragg comes in—and, again, I have a lot of respect for Senator Bragg—and suggests they are serious about environmental protection and rattles off some invasive species names and then walks back out, it's a little hard to take seriously.

The Albanese government does, however, take a substantive and broad approach to environmental protection. The government has increased funding for the environment over the next four years in relation to our Saving Native Species program, a highly successful program which ensures that many of our unique plants and animals get a better chance than they had before. These are the same animals that are unique to this country and well known around the world—our koalas and our bilbies. I was heartened to hear Senator Pocock talk about biodiversity and the importance of genetic variance in our environment, because that is something that will ensure that our environment can survive the many challenges that come and are coming as a result of climate change.

The government has taken significant action to try and address the issue of climate change and reduce Australia's emissions, not only through a commitment to a net zero target but through a commitment to significant adaptation in the way we produce electricity in this country and, significantly, through trying to clean up the way we do industry in this country. The government has taken very significant action to protect the Great Barrier Reef, trying to invest to deal with that climate problem and climate adaptation, to improve water quality and to ensure fishing is sustainable around the country and invasive species are managed. Our aim is to conserve 30 per cent of Australia's land and 30 per cent of our marine areas by 2030. Our significant investment in this aim is something that will ensure that species can thrive, that species that are endangered do not go extinct and that species that would otherwise become endangered are safe.