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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for the Environment and Water (Senator Watt) to a question without notice asked by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Waters) today relating to the Woodside North West Gas project.

This government has just been given a significant electoral majority in the lower house by the Australian people. I know that a lot of people who voted for the Labor Party in the House would have been progressive voters, and many of them would have expected the government to tackle the big challenges of our time, like climate change. And what was the first thing they did when they got into government? They approved, out to 2070, the biggest, dirtiest fossil fuel project in our nation's history, Woodside's North West Shelf Project Extension. And it wasn't just an election that was happening around the same time the government approved this—and may I say, Mr Peter Dutton said he would approve it within a month if he were made Prime Minister; Minister Watt and the Prime Minister were able to beat him by two weeks and approve this within 16 days of forming government—we were witnessing a climate breakdown on both the west coast and the east coast at the same time.

Now, I know where Woodside's plant is; I know where Murujuga is. I grew up near there, as a child. It's beautiful country. This summer, in your home state, Deputy President, the water temperature off that coastline, as far out as places like the Montebello Islands, got to 38 degrees Celsius. We have witnessed mass coral bleaching that has never been seen before off the west coast of Australia—in places like Ningaloo, a World Heritage area. At the same time, on the east coast, we were witnessing an eighth mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef—the eighth since 1998, when we had the first recorded marine heatwave. On the south coast of Australia there's a toxic algal bloom, primarily driven by another marine heatwave.

So Minister Watt and Mr Albanese decided to approve this project. By the way, this project will run until Minister Watt is 97 years old, if he's lucky enough to live to a grand old age. He will be 97 years old when this project finishes. He came and approved this project, knowing that the west coast reefs were bleaching and that we would lose habitat for our precious marine life. He approved it knowing that the Great Barrier Reef was also bleaching. We heard that on Lizard Island the coral mortality is up to 96 per cent of that most stunning, beautiful, World-Heritage-listed reef. We've already discussed in the chamber today the terrible situation unfolding where a toxic algal bloom has got hold in an area that was considered a refuge on the Great Southern Reef—one that until this time had escaped some of the worst changes we've seen from climate change, like the loss of our giant kelp forests and the rise of marine invasive species.

Minister Watt approved this, knowing this. The big question is: Why? Why did this government, as its first act, approve the biggest and dirtiest fossil fuel project in our nation's history? That's what I would like to get to the bottom of, and I'm sure a lot of Australians who voted for the Labor Party would like to know why as well. Well, we know that Woodside Petroleum rules the roost in this place. It's not just the LNP that has a nice, cosy relationship with Woodside, especially over in Western Australia. We've seen it. And it's not just Woodside; it's Santos; it's a number of fossil fuel companies in this place. Why else would a government, as its first act, give something to a company like Woodside? Why would they be happy to sell future generations of this country down the river to do a favour for a big multinational corporation based out of Perth?

This is to be continued. Five minutes is nowhere near enough time today to get to the bottom of this. But I tell you what: people know that we are seeing a breakdown in our physical world now. You can run, but you can't hide from it. Every decision that is made in this place by our government will be scrutinised not just by the Australian Greens in this Senate but by the Australian people.

Question agreed to.