Speech to Parliament by Libby Coker MP on 5th September 2022:
I was one of the millions of Australians horrified by what the State of the environment 2021 report contained, when it was finally released. This report was delivered to the former government last year, yet the previous government chose to keep it under wraps until after the federal election, and we now know why. It's a massive, carefully researched scientific document. It's also an extremely confronting read, but, regardless, Australians deserve the truth. That's why the Albanese government's Minister for Environment and Water released it in July this year, just weeks after coming to office.
This report puts our nation's environmental status under the microscope, and the results are sadly damning. It portrays the ugly truths about us and our environment. To be blunt, it's frightening. Many of our beautiful places, natural features and iconic flora and fauna are under severe threat. The State of the environment report reinforces this horrific picture. It tells us that Australia has lost more mammal species to extinction than any other continent. Threatened flora and fauna has grown by 20 per cent in the past five years, with places literally burned into endangerment by catastrophic fires. The Murray-Darling fell to its lowest water level on record in 2019. Australia now has more foreign plant species than native ones. In my own electorate of Corangamite, just as in many electorates across the nation, we are seeing the stresses on flora and fauna in wetlands and the impacts of rising sea levels on foreshore habitats.
As we see from the State of the environment report, the previous government was no friend to the environment. Too many urgent warnings were either ignored or kept secret. The previous government had a decade to fulfil the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. By the time the Morrison government left office, they had only delivered two of the promised 450 gigalitres of environmental water. The Morrison government made a series of pledges on recycling but had no real plan to reach them. In 2018, the former government cut the highly protected areas of Commonwealth marine parks in half, removing the largest area from conservation in Australian history. The Liberals and Nationals spent less than $17 million of the $216 million they promised to upgrade Kakadu National Park's infrastructure.
Almost two years ago, the Morrison government received an official review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. It was written by Graeme Samuel and its message was as blunt as the State of the environment report. Professor Samuel said the act was outdated and required fundamental reform. There's an almost universal consensus that change is needed. Again, the Morrison government chose to ignore that. Much of the destruction outlined in the State of the environment report will take years to turn around. That's why this government will take no time—we will waste not a day—in taking significant reform steps over the next three years. Legislating strong action on climate change is a crucial start. For this term of government, the environment minister has set out three essential goals: to protect, to restore and to manage Australia's environment.
To offer proper protections, we need to set clear national environmental standards with explicit targets around what we value as a country and what the law needs to protect. This will require much work. It will require environmental management which needs to return to trust and transparency. Decisions need to be built on good data, to show the public how we're tracking in real time. We also need certainty and efficiency; better environmental outcomes; and faster, clearer decisions. To help guide that change, by the end of the year the Australian government will formally respond to the Samuel review. We will then aim to develop new environmental legislation for 2022. We'll consult thoroughly on environmental standards. We'll make it easier for First Nations people to protect their cultural heritage.
In 2022, Australians voted resoundingly for the environment. They voted for action on climate change. After a lost decade, a decade of going backwards, we can't, and won't, waste another minute. Our planet, our biodiversity and our very existence are at stake.
