Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement relating to international environmental leadership.

Leave granted.

Thank you for the opportunity to present my first statement to parliament, as the Minister for the Environment and Water, on Australia's international environmental leadership.

Delivering this annual ministerial statement was a 2022 election commitment by the Australian Labor Party.

After 10 years of coalition government—who, by the way, still can't decide if climate change is real and want to take a sledgehammer to Australia's climate action—Labor promised a fresh approach to leadership and the environment. We said that we would do things differently. And we have, transforming Australia from a global pariah on environmental matters, to a respected international partner.

We lead by example, practising what we preach.

Being a continent of incredible diversity, Australia has many natural and cultural assets that strengthen relationships beyond our borders, and must be protected.

Our remarkable sites, from the ancient rock art of Kakadu and Murujuga, to the world renowned Great Barrier Reef, tell the story of who we are, showcasing the things that make Australia unique and special.

As the home to species not seen anywhere else in the world, we have a crucial responsibility to protect and restore them.

And domestically, it doesn't matter if you live in the city or the bush, if you're eight or 80, rich or poor. The environment matters.

It matters for every living creature—the air that you breathe, the food that you eat, the water that you drink.

We're also talking about an issue at the heart of economic policy, health policy, housing policy, even national security.

That's why for more than three years, the Albanese government has made protecting and repairing nature a national priority, safeguarding nature where it still thrives and restoring what's been damaged.

And we're working with countries around the world who are doing the same.

This is the third report card on the Albanese government's ambitious agenda to protect nature and fix what is broken in our environmental system at the international level.

It's also the first of these statements that's been delivered in the Senate.

I'm proud to say this report demonstrates our continuing commitment to lead by example when it comes to protecting the environment.

We are committed to working collaboratively with state and territory governments, who hold many of the environmental levers in Australia.

And equally, we are committed to being a loud and active voice on the international stage, pushing for positive global environmental outcomes.

UNOC and oceans

My first opportunity to represent Australia's environmental interests internationally was at the United Nations Oceans Conference in June.

Right now, pressures on oceans around the world are intense and growing—climate change; illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing; plastic pollution; and more.

I'm very pleased to say that Australia is recognised among the world's leading nations in oceans protection.

More than half of our ocean is now protected in marine parks.

That includes about a quarter of our ocean—1.3 million square kilometres—in highly protected areas.

At UNOC, Australia went further, committing to work towards lifting that to 30 percent by the year 2030.

We were among the first countries to sign the high seas biodiversity treaty, which we'll ratify in coming months, after the passage of legislation.

And at the same time, we are preparing for the first generation of high seas marine protected areas under the treaty, including by supporting a research symposium on the South Tasman Sea and Lord Howe Rise in May this year.

This year we also announced that Australia will lead—with Chile—the 100 percent Alliance for Sustainable Ocean Management. This will encourage and support other countries to sustainably manage 100 percent of their ocean, including through the development of sustainable ocean plans.

Back at home we're leading by example, investing in the health of our ocean and the biodiversity that it supports—from reefs to threatened fish species.

And we're using our ocean leadership to be a leading advocate for the global protection of whales. That's why Australia is hosting and chairing the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission, in Hobart next September.

Much work has been done, but in the face of growing climate-related changes and other emerging pressures, there's still more to do.

Recycling

We continue to play an active leadership role in supporting negotiations towards both an international agreement on the high seas and on marine litter and microplastics.

As a member of the High Ambition Coalition, Australia remains committed to pursuing a meaningful and effective global approach towards a world free of plastic pollution.

No child should grow up on a beach littered with plastic waste.

It impacts our ecosystems, fisheries, coastal tourism, and harms human health.

Together with over 180 countries, Australia is a leading voice in the negotiations for an international treaty. Australia seeks for the treaty to tackle global plastic pollution across the entire life cycle of plastics, from design and production, to end-of-life and promotes a safe circular economy.

Although an agreement was not finalised in Geneva in August as we had hoped, the Albanese government will continue to push for global action alongside other nations.

We continue to take action here at home too, and support our Pacific family to do the same, such as through practical actions to address single-use plastics under the Pacific Ocean Litter Project.

In Australia, one of the ways we're taking action on plastic pollution is through packaging regulatory reform, and by increasing our plastic recycling capacity.

So far, we've increased recycling capacity by more than 1.4 million tonnes a year, stopping tyres, glass, paper, and hard-to-recycle plastics going to landfill.

And our government has committed to double Australia's circularity by 2035 under our Circular Economy Framework.

We're also taking action on harmful ghost nets, both here in Australia, particularly through our Indigenous rangers, as well as in international waters.

This includes through our $1.4 million commitment to support regional action, as well as another $300,000 this year to support transboundary coordination efforts with Indonesia, PNG and Timor Leste.

The Pacific

Australia takes its responsibility to be a good neighbour, and a good environmental partner, seriously.

As a Pacific nation, we share an ocean and a future with our Pacific family.

And we continue to listen closely to our region neighbours, working alongside them for peace and prosperity.

As a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, Australia endorsed the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent as a long-term, strategic framework, including on climate change and disasters, on the ocean and the environment.

And we're investing in Pacific leadership to address environmental and climate challenges.

The government has committed $100 million to the Pacific Resilience Facility, a Pacific led initiative that delivers climate finance directly to communities.

Australia is supporting the region's transition to renewable energy by sharing climate adaptation technologies, and by building resilient infrastructure such as solar farms and hydropower stations, increasing energy independence.

We're strengthening Pacific climate and ocean resilience by equipping national meteorological and hydrological services with the data, tools, and skills needed to deliver accurate forecasts and early warnings.

And we're also backing the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity initiative, a Pacific led plan launched at COP28 to protect the ocean, build resilience and mobilise finance.

Antarctica

To the south, we continue to demonstrate our international leadership through scientific efforts.

The findings of Australian scientists in Antarctica are groundbreaking, and they are being shared with the world.

In May, the Australian Antarctic Program completed its first dedicated marine science voyage. Scientists were able to study the waters around the Denman Glacier, one of the largest and rapidly melting glaciers in East Antarctica.

This is important because that glacier could increase global sea levels by 1.5 metres if it melts completely.

And the RSV Nuyina is currently undertaking Australia's biggest campaign to the subantarctic—Heard Island and McDonald Islands—in two decades.

These islands form a marine reserve the size of Italy.

This reserve is a big win for ocean conservation and a big step towards improving the protection of glaciers, wetlands and the habitats of diverse and significant populations of penguins, seals and albatrosses.

Other achievements

There are many more projects underway that are making a difference, both in Australia, and overseas.

This speech is, of course, nowhere near long enough to address all of them.

But I will quickly put a few more on the record:

We're working hard to ensure First Nations voices are heard and respected in decisions which impact their rights and interests. This is happening through the expansion of the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples which supports First Nations peoples to travel to World Heritage Committee meetings. And we continue to work with UNESCO to embed meaningful participation in decision-making. I was very proud to be a part of securing the inscription of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape this year, which was a First Nations led nomination.

Internationally, we are working in partnership with other countries to deliver the framework and put nature on a path to recovery. Through a range of initiatives we have championed international collaboration and implementation of the global targets to achieve meaningful environmental outcomes at home and abroad.

And while doing this vital work, we remain alert to cross-border threats, including the H5 strain of avian flu. Australia is the only continent free of the highly infectious and deadly H5 strain that has killed millions of wild birds and tens of thousands of wild mammals, as well as significantly impacting poultry industries elsewhere across the world.

We have been fortunate to be able to learn from others' experiences in managing H5 bird flu outbreaks, and we are working closely with New Zealand, who are also H5 bird flu free, to share preparedness learnings for native species.

EPBC reform

Just finally, it would be remiss of me to talk about being a good global environmental actor without talking about the Environment Protection Reform Bill which the government introduced to the parliament last Thursday.

These are significant reforms, designed to fix Australia's broken environmental laws, and deliver real benefits for the future.

And this matters internationally because Australia is home to unique species, and significant natural sites protected under the EPBC Act.

Our reforms will deliver the modern laws that will better protect the environment, while increasing transparency and streamlining the approvals and assessments system.

Strong new national environmental standards will be part of this legislation.

And I'd encourage those in this place to work with the government to get them passed.

Conclusion

I'll conclude by saying this: protecting the environment is not easy, despite the good progress we've made.

The challenges are immense, but the alternative is surrendering Australia's future, and that's not an option.

We're getting on with this work because it is the right thing to do.

We owe it to every Australian and to the world.

The Albanese government will maintain the momentum, protecting and restoring the places that matter, the amazing plants and animals that call Australia home, the land, the ocean and the rivers that support life and livelihood, working collaboratively at home and alongside our international partners to build a future where a thriving economy and thriving ecosystems co-exist.

And we invite all Australians to be part of this effort.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

What this country does internationally is important, but what they do here domestically is more important when it comes to our environment. I think there is a range of issues the minister might have glossed over in his annual report card. I always find it amusing when the government tables its own report card, marking its own work over the last three years, since 2022, telling us that everything is peachy and all is good. In fact, it is far from that. There is a range of issues I think we need to go through here to properly dissect that. I'll come to the EPBC Act reforms that the minister has alluded to a little later on.

There are a few things I do agree with in the minister's statement. The environment and, of course, the laws related to regulating, managing, protecting and preserving our environment do go to the heart of our economy. We live, exist and work in the environment. It is not a separate organism; it is not something that is ethereal and totally disconnected from how we operate here in this country. It is important that we have laws and arrangements in this country to ensure that when we make decisions related to the functioning of our economy, they don't have an adverse impact that outweighs the benefits of any economic activity in the environment.

It is connected to the health of the nation. It's also connected, as the minister said, to housing. Having said that, though, for the last three years—under this government, prior to the last election—EPBC laws have held up decisions relating to tens of thousands of housing units, dwellings, across this country. To suggest that things are on track and that this government has got matters under control and things are heading in the right direction when we're in a housing crisis—no HAFF or program run by this government would have addressed these issues in the same way as they are attempting to do now through reforms of the EPBC Act which are specifically targeted to removing the handbrake on delivering housing supply in this country, which is critical to addressing the issues that all Australians think this government should get on with. But their handling of this portfolio and their handling of the laws have not, in any way, lead to dealing with this crisis in a way that should be in accordance with the approval of the Australian people.

To try and pretend, as the minister has in his statement, that this government has had its hand on the tiller of law reform in this country and that what it is doing as a good environmental actor—as the minister said this country is regarded as—I think is something worth scrutinising a little more than these debates ordinarily allow us to. It has been 3½ years since this government was elected to power and five years since the Samuel review was handed down recommending changes to the EPBC Act. For the first year, the Morrison government attempted to get reform through this parliament but was blocked in doing so by those now in government when they were in opposition. That takes us down to four years. So there was a year of activity, but reform was blocked by the opposition, the Labor Party. Then there was a change of government.

For three years, the entirety of the last term, nothing happened in this place because the government decided, behind closed doors, to hide away from the world their plans for reforming laws that govern that public good, the environment. Stakeholders of all sorts had to sign nondisclosure agreements. They were sequestered away in various rooms either here in Parliament House or down in the offices of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, trying to nut out a plan that they could bring into this parliament and foist through as quickly as possible. But for three years under the former minister, Ms Plibersek, nothing happened. We didn't get laws for a new EPA. We didn't get reforms to how we'd manage major projects and how they might impact on the environment. We didn't get faster approval times. We didn't get added environmental protections. We didn't get any of that. It was three years completely squandered. I'm heartened by the progress that has been made by the new minister, Minister Watt, and I commend the government for bringing these reforms to the parliament. I don't commend the government for saying, 'Now's the time to pass it. It's now or never,' having tabled 750 pages of legislation just a few days ago and roughly the same amount in explanatory memoranda. It takes a bit of time to get through, and of course this government has had the benefit of the last three years of work to try and pull it together.

To get this right—to ensure we get it right—is going to require proper scrutiny, and I am pleased that this Senate ordered that the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee will interrogate this legislation properly until the end of next March. That is important. All of those facts are important to put on the record. There are many redeeming features of the proposal that has been put forward by the government, and I'm hopeful that we see some further changes that make this bill entirely acceptable and something that will gain passage.

One other area of course that I think is missing from the minister's report card on the government's activities is something that's important to a number of people—reforms to laws as they govern Indigenous cultural heritage in this country. Last term we were promised we would have laws in the parliament that would reform the ATSIHP Act, the very outdated legislation governing Indigenous cultural heritage. I think it dates back to 1984. That is legislation that is truly out of date, and again it was a promise in the last term that we would have reformed laws in here in the wake of Juukan Gorge, the terrible disaster there, that would protect Indigenous cultural heritage and would give certainty to Indigenous communities and also those who work in and around Indigenous cultural heritage about what to expect. But three years passed—three years that have been covered by the Labor government's report card on its own work. It glossed over this and other statements, and we still have not a skerrick of legislation that would reform an act that is now 41 years old—almost as old as me. I think that is a terrible indictment. It was urgent to deal with at the time, and I agree with the government. It was urgent in the last term to deal with. So why are we here, in another term—and we asked about it at Senate estimates—yet to see any evidence that this government is taking that issue seriously and is progressing what is an important piece of legislation to many, not just here in this place but out there in the wider community, which needs to be dealt with as a matter of priority?

The minister says in his statement—and I accept there are some good things that have happened, particularly on the international stage, but what happens here domestically is equally as important as what happens out there around the rest of the world and how we interact with other nation-states. To say that this is a national priority when over the last three years or more nothing has been done on key priorities—promises that were made by the government in the lead-up to the 2022 election—and when there have been big fails when it comes to law reform, reforms that would protect the environment, reforms that would enhance our economic activity and put us as a world leader when it comes to environmental regulation in the world is a crying shame. It's important to have a bit of honest reflection about some of these things. I always enjoy reading people's own marks on their own homework, but I think there are a few red marks against some of the government's activities over the last 12 months.

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note, but, as I haven't seen the tabled document, I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.