Murder on the Reef (2018) - full transcript
For the past 4 years, scientist Dr Allen Dobrovolsky has been testing the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. Concerned with the degradation in water quality, his research has led him to ...
There's a place of unimaginable
beauty of colors that literally seem
like they're out of this world.
A place of untold cultural
and spiritual significance,
a place treasured here
and around the world.
And imagine that place was disappearing
right in front of our eyes.
It'd be hard not to wonder:
just how did we get here.
For too long we’ve thought it’s the Great Barrier
Reef, the largest living structure on the planet.
It's indestructible. But we found over
the years that it's not indestructible.
In fact, we’re bringing it to its knees.
In the last 30 years, we’ve lost
some 50% of our coral cover.
The elephant in the room is climate change.
Fundamentally, Australia has a conflict of interest
between stewardship of the the Great Barrier Reef
and of the income from
exporting fossil fuels.
This is coal. Don’t be
afraid, don’t be scared…
I hang my head in shame and embarrassment at the
absolute lack of vision of the people in this place.
Sometimes, I wonder if the Greens think
bloody energy comes from unicorn farts.
There are challenges on the Great
Barrier Reef. They always have been.
There have been mistakes made,
but I'm sure there's going to be measures
put in place that these won't happen again.
It is like a monster.
It just slowly seeps in
and it takes over the community,
then they're just worried
about the profits they are going
to take out of the community.
As descendants of our ancestors,
we have to stand up and we have to fight,
to stop these practices
of mining in our country.
Coal is good.
They're allowing ports
to get away with murder.
It's like lending your sports
car to the teenager next door.
For the past four years scientist Allen Dobrovolsky has
been testing the waters of the Great Barrier Reef.
Concerned with the degradation
in water quality,
his research has led him to believe that
the Reef is facing an environmental
disaster of enormous proportions.
My first experience with an environmental
disaster was at Chernobyl,
when I was studying the distribution
of radionuclides in the environment.
The scientists at the reactor were trying to
push the reactor to find its capabilities.
With the Great Barrier Reef,
I see a large-scale environmental disaster
and some parallel story in the way that
we all trying to find the breaking point.
And, I guess, it is very close.
The Reef needs protection.
As Allen travels the coast
of the Great Barrier Reef,
he talks with residents,
scientists, community activists
and politicians about the hotly
debated state of the Reef.
I'm hoping to find out whether there
is a chance for us to cooperate,
because what I can see so far is a lack of
cooperation from different groups of the society.
There are so many different communities dotted along
the Queensland Coast from Cape York at the top
to Gladstone 2,000 kilometers away,
at the southern end of the Reef.
These communities are as diverse
as the marine ecosystem beyond their shores with
each having an impact of some kind on the Reef.
In economic terms, the Reef currently
employs 64 thousand Australians
and adds over 6 billion dollars
a year to Australia's GDP.
If we do not manage the Reef better
and find balance between the economy and the
environment, we will reach a breaking point.
A further 2000 kilometers
south lies Canberra,
the nation's capital and home
to the Australian Government.
While the Reef dies, many politicians here
choose to argue over what or who is to blame?
There are challenges on the Great Barrier Reef.
There always have been. Always have been.
But that is well recognized
by the Government.
The Greens political party seem to have undertaken
a campaign to denigrate the Barrier Reef.
So, that one of the great sources of
revenue, of expert learning dollars
and jobs in Queensland, which comes
from the Reef, is decimated.
That seems to be the
Greens political campaign,
because most of the rhetoric that they go on with
about the health of the Reef is simply just not true.
Can I assure the Chamber that in the six years
that I've been discussing the health of the Reef
with relevant coral reef scientists,
with the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Authority
with the Institute for Marine Science.
They are speaking with one voice
in saying that the Reef
is under serious threat
and that the biggest threat to the
Reef is human-induced global warming
and begging for this government
and the opposition to change policies,
so that we can save what's left of the Reef
Just a few kilometers from Senator
Ian McDonald's office in Townsville,
is James Cook University.
Some of the world's premier
scientists work from this campus,
including the world's leading coal
research scientist, Professor Terry Hughes
The Commonwealth Government itself
produces five-yearly reports.
They are called Great Barrier
Reef outlook reports,
that document a gradual decline in the
health of the Great Barrier Reef.
So, we used to think that the Great Barrier
Reef would continue its slow decline
in coming decades, if we
didn't improve management,
but we were actually wrong,
because the Great Barrier Reef is now in the
worst condition that we've ever recorded
in 30 years or more of monitoring.
And that's because half of the coral in
shallow water has died in the last two years.
Mr. acting Deputy President, the
Barrier Reef is going fine.
I encourage anyone to
visit the Barrier Reef.
It is an experience worth having. It's an
experience that will be there forever.
And I urge people to take advantage of it.
Tourism around the Reef
began nearly 100 years ago
and the sustainable industry
could go on forever,
if the Reef doesn't die.
♪ Sunshine chases those clouds away. ♪
♪ I know you're gonna brighten
up the day with love ♪
♪ when you shine up above. ♪
Many of the once thriving tourist
hotspots dotted along the Reef
have in recent years evolved
into major industrial ports.
♪ Please, guide me on my way♪.
♪ Let your subtle glow
be all I need to know ♪
♪ That is love, really love. ♪
Determined to get to the bottom
of why the Reef is dying,
Allen heads to Gladstone
a once bustling fishing and holiday town, now
the fourth largest coal port in the world.
More recently, Gladstone
developed its sport even more.
So, the town could begin to export large
quantities of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).
In order for LNG vessels to
travel into the Gladstone Port,
dredging exercises were conducted.
These disturbed the seafloor,
stirring up mud and heavy metals.
These dredge plumes can be
detected on satellite images
up to 30 kilometers away
from the original site.
Gladstone is an export town.
We export a lot of grain, aluminium
and of course a lot of coal.
You know, we've had big
developments in our Harbor
because three gas plants
have been on Curtis Island,
which is about 4 kilometers offshore.
And to get the gas on the ships we've had to
do a certain amount of dredging in our harbor
and that has caused a few
concerns to our port.
Yes, in Gladstone the conditions of what they
did - the monitoring and that - looked OK.
But, in fact, they were done very poorly. As you know,
they missed six months of the bund wall leaking
contaminated sediment into the harbor.
Dr. John Brodie is a former director
for water quality and coastal development
for the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority.
Over his 30-year career
he's worked for both government
and as a consultant to industry
and is one of the world's leading
voices in water quality management.
Of course, it has the problem of being
for all the ports the same that the Queensland
Government is the owner of the ports
and the Queensland
Government is the regulator.
And unless you have some independent body out there
overseeing that, this is never going to work.
Now, there were issues with the
construction of the bund wall.
The side netting was put
in the wrong place,
by error of judgment by a few departments
and has since been corrected
and the wall of that reclaim land has
stopped leaching into the harbor.
But it took a lot of work and that could have been
avoided with better planning in the first stage.
It wasn't planned correctly.
It wasn't built correctly.
It wasn't. The wall wasn't
constructed properly.
Environmental disaster that's Gladstone
is as short a phrases as you can get.
And, unfortunately, according
to the Government,
and the Port Authority, prior to the dredging
they dotted their I's they crossed their t's.
They did all the environmental
impact statements.
They put in all the conditions necessary
to protect Gladstone harbor and it
turned into an absolute fiasco.
I rise today to speak on a matter of vital
importance not only to Central Queensland,
but to the whole of Australia.
A major public health scare
has emerged in Gladstone.
To date, two fishermen
have been hospitalized,
numerous deaths of turtles have been recorded,
and also barramundi and other marine life.
Whilst not confirmed, our marine deaths could be
a case of red spot disease caused by acid water.
If this is correct, I new approach to
disturbing the harbor floor must be found.
Acid sulphite sediment
must not be disturbed.
Whatever the problem, it needs a complete,
independent, thorough and honest investigation.
Big port developments have environmental
impact assessment processes.
The problem at the moment is that
they're done by consultants.
If those Consultants don't get the right
answer, they don't get any more work.
And in the end, it leads to the
outcome that the developer wants.
Not the best outcome for
the Great Barrier Reef
or the environment or anything.
Just the best outcome for the developer.
The cause of the deaths
is still in some dispute.
Some of the toxic metals in the
sediment were above guidelines,
Australian guidelines.
Quite a few, actually.
The other thing to remember in Gladstone is
that there was an awful lot of work done.
Just never been released properly.
Never been written up properly.
Never been peer-reviewed properly.
So, it's a very messy situation in the sense
of actually finding out where all the data is
and what it really means.
I am the first to admit that
there has been mistakes made,
but they have been corrected.
And let's hope… I don't say let's hope,
I'm sure there's going to
be measures put in place
by our environmental people,
that these won't happen again.
The companies came into downtown
and made a lot of promises about their
financial requirements to the town,
what they believe their social
responsibilities to the town were.
And it's true, they did help with arts.
And they did help with some of
the Council funding with sports
and other things like that.
But the reality is that now that they've gone to this
stage, where they no longer need no more approvals.
They don't require the
consent of the Government
or the community to do
what they're going to do,
because now they are unstoppable they are now
at this stage, where there will be no ceasing.
They've now withdrawn all this funding and they've
withdrawn all this money that was in the community.
So, it was a fraud. It was a fraud.
Bob McCosker is a local
development contractor.
He has been providing services to the
mining industry for over 20 years.
More recently, he's been operating
a turtle rehabilitation facility,
set up with the assistance
of Australia Pacific LNG.
People like to try and pick an easy
target, which in Gladstone was a dredge.
I have no issues blaming the
dredges for what they've done,
if they've done something wrong,
but we should not target them purely,
because there's a financial
base backing them.
The single biggest issue that I can
see was the massive rain event
that was in Christmas 2010, early 2011.
That's what prompted us to
start the rehab center.
As far as the dredging, I mean, we've
had our rehab center operable,
when the bulk of the
dredging actually occurred
and like, anecdotally, we have seen no issue in any
of the turtles that we have rehabilitated here.
Whilst Bob hasn't seen any negative
impacts from dredging on the turtles,
John Brodie tells a different story.
His research states that it is likely that the
elevated metals found in the stranded turtles
resulted from metals mobilized
through the dredging
and leakage of the bunded area into
which the dredge spoil was placed.
The degradation in water quality is one
of the major threats facing the Reef.
Gladstone's industrial expansion
may have caused damage
to once-pristine environment.
We're talking about the Great Barrier Reef here
and you don't mess with the Great Barrier Reef.
You don't take any chances
with the Great Barrier Reef.
You don't say: ‘Well, the coal
industry takes precedence
and we'll get all we can out of
it, while the going is good,
and when the boom is over, then we
can take a more measured approach,
and start taking better care of the Reef’.
There is only one Great Barrier Reef.
And if we destroy all that makes it special
and unique, there won't be a second chance.
It doesn't matter how much money
we make out of our mining exports.
We won't be able to buy a new one.
Diving deeper into his investigation,
Allen meets with Dr. Liam Wagner,
an energy economist, who tells him about
the economic impacts of the development.
I, honestly, think that Gladstone will be an
enormous failure - economically - for Australia.
The coal seam gas sector
in Queensland was touted,
as being the next great thing
and we were going to be the
largest exporter of LNG,
and bigger than Qatar.
I think that there was a vast
overestimation of the resources available
an overestimation of the
technological capability of
oil and gas companies to
extract that coal seam gas
and there was an underestimate
of the cost associated with it.
This development has come
with many growing pains
and a great deal of debate over the
impact on the local environment.
There's a lot of further, future
development to be done in Gladstone.
It's my belief that the Gladstone port
should be developed to its fullest extent
before anyone looks at developing other coal export
terminals up and down the coast of Queensland.
In addition to LNG, Queensland also
contains vast amounts of coal,
and many companies are seeking
leases to build mines in the area.
All of which would require
government approval.
Another port on the shores of the Reef
Abbot Point, would need to be
expanded if these mines are approved.
It would have a capacity to export
120 million tons of coal per year,
making it the largest
coal port in the world.
Bowen is the nearest town to Abbot Point,
so Allen heads there next
to search for more clues
about the demise of the Great Barrier Reef.
Locals are divided about further
development of the port,
as it will increase the amount
of dredging and ship activity,
but could potentially be a lifeline
to a community in economic decline.
Mining activity and port
expansion in the Bowen area
has long been a cause for
division, debate and confusion.
Ok, Paul, thank you for meeting
our team in this beautiful town,
and we would like to ask
a couple of questions
with regard to what is your
view on dredging, generally,
and how do you think it may
affect the industry you are in?
Yes, certainly, Allen, look um…
As I said, I'm not a …, don't
proclaim to be any expert
but to us it’s all about the truth.
And all the facts about coral
reef damage, isn’t from dredging.
You know, again, I just want the
people to stick to the facts.
The facts are that the damage to the
Reef is caused by storms and cyclones,
it’s caused by the crown starfish
and it’s caused from bleaching.
But if we shut down the community
you know we might still
have the environment
but we won’t have any accommodation left,
we won’t have any restaurants left,
we won’t have any service industries left.
So, there’ll be nothing for people to
come and look at or stay at anyway.
The unfortunate thing is that, I
guess, as locals get cranky about
is that this is our community.
Other people from Melbourne and
Sydney can come and dictate to us
about how our community looks and acts
and um, you know they must think we’re
fools, if they think we’re going to ruin
this beautiful environment we’ve got.
We want to protect it as much as anyone.
Sometimes, I wonder, if the Greens think
that bloody energy comes
from unicorn farts.
Save the Reef! Save the Reef!
So, the Australian Marine Conservation Society
has existed for more than fifty years.
We were actually founded to save the reef.
And people are desperately concerned
about the state of the Reef.
And, so, we offer them different
ways to express that concern,
particularly to politicians or the media.
So, as you all know, we’re here today
because there is a new wave of
threats including cyclones,
storms, climate change.
There’s a whole host of pressures
impacting on the Great Barrier Reef.
But we’re now concerned with the plans to dredge 100
million tons of seabed in our world heritage area.
And I’m sure in 50 years time
again we’ll look back and say:
What were we thinking?
Just like we look back now and think,
how could they even imagine
drilling the Reef for oil?
Back in the 60’s, you know,
there was a proposal
to mine coral limestone and to use
it as fertilizer on a cane farm!
And shortly after, the
Bjelke-Petersen government
leased a whole lot of oil leases
throughout the Great Barrier Reef.
And that resulted in a massive national campaign
against oil drilling on our Great Barrier Reef.
And, of course, that was
a successful campaign,
a huge mobilization which
we were a key part of.
And that led to the declaration of the
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in 1975.
This landmark decision was followed
in 1981 by the World Heritage listing
of the Great Barrier Reef.
Since then, subsequent governments
have tried to strike a balance
between the economic and environmental
benefits of this natural wonder,
expanding protections of the marine park,
while also exploiting the area for tourism,
fishing, shipping and natural resources.
While people had been living along
the Reef for thousands of years,
industrialization in recent decades
had begun to threaten its health.
In the 60s and 70s it was
limestone and oil mining,
while in the 80s increased tourism also
meant increased activity on the Reef
By the 90s, agricultural
runoff was taking its toll
commercial fishing was
depleting marine populations,
and larger outbreaks of crown-of-thorns
starfish were occurring.
From 2000 onwards, even
though the marine park
had been rezoned to its
largest ever levels,
new coastal developments, port expansions,
an Australian resources boom in full swing
and an ongoing degradation in water
quality, meant that the health of the Reef
and its world heritage status were
under more threat than ever before.
By 2012, the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee
was considering listing
the Reef, as in danger.
If the Great Barrier Reef was to survive,
it needed serious attention from
the highest levels of government.
This week the World Heritage Committee is
meeting to discuss UNESCO’s draft decision
about the state of our Great Barrier Reef.
The draft decision says the Reef is
on track for World Heritage in danger
(interrupting) Just, just wait a minute, Senator
Waters. You are entitled to be heard in silence.
There’s talk going on on
both sides of the chamber…
While 70,000 jobs depend on a
healthy Great Barrier Reef,
some in government seem not
to take the issue seriously.
The draft decision said that the Reef is on
track for World Heritage in danger listing
within 8 months if current
developments proceed.
It said there should be no new
ports, no port expansions
that would harm the values of the Reef,
no new developments approvals before the
strategic assessment of the Reef is finished,
and that independent science is
needed into the Gladstone harbor
(loud voices) Excuse me Mr. President,
this is ridiculous! (Loud laughter).
Order! Order. Order! Continue… order!
On my left. Order. Order! Order...
Senator Waters...
Thank you Mr. President, I’m so
pleased the chamber is so excited
about the Great Barrier
Reef, it’s wonderful.
How we going to get there?
Order!
What are we going to do, what
are we going to live on?
Professor Terry Hughes often urges government
to respond to the declining health of the Reef,
and, so, Allen asks him what he thinks
is behind the dismissive attitude
of some members of parliament.
I think, fundamentally, Australia
has a conflict of interest
between, on one hand, its responsibilities
under the World Heritage Treaty
for stewardship of the Great Barrier Reef,
the world’s largest coral reef
ecosystem that’s truly iconic.
And, on the other hand, the income
from royalties for exporting fossil fuels.
I mean, the Great Barrier
Reef is intensively managed
and it has been for many years.
And the level of protection
has gone up and up.
But in Australia and elsewhere we
tend to deal with the symptoms
rather than dealing with the root causes.
The elephant in the room is climate change.
Why didn’t the Prime Minister agree with her
former climate change minister Senator Wong,
that a carbon tax will see
Australian jobs transfer overseas?
In Australian parliament, jobs and
growth are often used as arguments
against any reform to the
mining and energy sectors.
Well, I say to the Leader
of the Opposition:
Get to grips with the
fundamentals of this debate.
And the fundamentals of this debate
are: climate change is real,
it’s caused by human activity.
We need to reduce carbon pollution.
The best way of doing
that is to price carbon.
A price on carbon could have paved the
way for big environmental change.
And in 2011 the Australian
government had a left wing majority,
but the opposition were relentless in their
attack about a tax on carbon emissions.
(Waving newspaper) I rule out a carbon tax.
How can she justify today’s betrayal…
Order.
The Leader of the Opposition
will resume his place.
Now is the time for him to put
aside the brutal politics
he has played with climate change.
Put away his propensity for
political destruction,
and actually work with the
rest of the parliament
to do the right thing by this country.
After 5 years of debate, in 2011, Julia Gillard
managed to legislate a price on carbon emissions.
But her opposition continued
to attack the new legislation.
Do not come into this house and pretend that
this is about controlling electricity prices.
The intent, the scope, the meaning, the
purpose of everything you are doing
is to drive up electricity
prices, precisely,
so as people all around Australia would
decrease the amount of electricity they use
in order to cool themselves in summer,
or decrease the amount
of electricity they use
in order to heat themselves
in the depths of winter.
In 2013, just 2 years after the
clean energy bill was passed,
there was a federal election.
While the new legislation
had reduced emissions
and set a global benchmark
to combat climate change,
the opposition’s campaign focused
on rising electricity costs
and the impact of the policy on businesses.
The opposition won.
I call the honorable member for the
environment, Minister for the Environment.
The purpose, the intention, the
construct of the carbon tax
is to increase the cost of living,
most specifically - the price of electricity
and gas for Australian families.
The bills honor the coalition’s commitment
to the Australian people to scrap this tax.
The emissions trading scheme is dismantled
in the lead-up to UNESCO’s decision on
whether the Great Barrier Reef
will be listed as “in danger”.
Allen travels to Bonn to hear what
the Australian government will say.
Looking around, it’s very inspiring to
see such a diverse and dedicated group
of UNESCO community members
here this evening in Bonn.
You’ve travelled from all
corners of the globe,
because you share a common
commitment to world heritage.
Many of our most precious natural
and cultural treasures are at risk,
and working together to
protect them is of course,
one of the main reasons we’ve
come together here in Bonn.
While there, he meets Jon Day,
a former director of the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
I started with them in 1986.
I also spent 7 years from about 1990
to 97 working for the state agency,
the Queensland parks and wildlife service.
So I worked on both the
state and the federal side
of managing the Great Barrier Reef.
I think, my role is one of making the
wider public aware of the real concerns.
The science itself is showing
that the reef is under pressure,
and the government’s own
reports say this as well.
So, the scientific evidence for
something like corals is showing that
there’s a lot of different pressures
building up on the Great Barrier Reef.
The conservation issues relating to the
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage property:
the ultimate measure of success will
be a scientifically sound confirmation
that the currently documented
declines in the property
have halted and are reversing.
And this is what the committee will consider:
whether it should be listed ‘in danger’.
I want to stress though, ‘in danger’
isn’t going to fix the problem.
What needs to happen is action,
and that action is going
to require resourcing.
And this is where the Australian
and the Queensland governments
have to both meet those challenges
and do more than they’re currently doing.
After having fiercely opposed
Australia’s position on climate change,
Allen sees environment minister Greg
Hunt defend the management of the Reef.
Now, I would like to give
the floor to Australia.
We have clearly heard the concerns
of the World Heritage Committee.
And I can tell you: Australia
and Queensland have responded.
In particular, the Committee’s and Germany’s
advice on the Reef, for this I thank you.
We have permanently banned the disposal of
capital dredge material in the marine park
and entire World Heritage Area.
The Australian government has
announced recently a ban
on the dumping of capital dredge spoil.
And that’s a good move forward.
What the Australian government
has failed to say loudly,
but it’s written there in small print,
is they will continue to dump what they
call maintenance dredge spoil in the sea.
Now, this is about 1 million cubic
meters of dredge spoil every year.
Madame chair, Australians, Queenslanders
love the Great Barrier Reef.
They love it so much, they elected a
government committed to protect it.
And that’s exactly what we will do.
Thank you Australia. (Applause)
So, I declare decision 39,7b.7… adopted!
UNESCO decides to not list
the reef as in danger,
but instead gives Australia 5 years to show
it can improve the health of the
world’s largest living structure.
But just a few months later,
Greg Hunt approves the Abbott
Point Coal Port Expansion.
The only catch is that the
Indian mining company Adani,
which has a lease on the port,
must prove that their nearby Carmichael
coal mine project can be funded,
in order for the expansion to go ahead.
The proposed mine would be one
of the largest in the world.
For a mine like that if it was worth
building, it should have been economic
and they should have built it.
But it’s not.
It’s not economic from a
coal mining perspective.
None of the banks want to
fund it so it’s not bankable.
None of the insurance
companies want to insure it.
So, it has a high perceived risk
associated with mining that resource.
And again, the environmental impacts
are just disturbingly catastrophic.
Despite the mines unfavorable
economic position,
the Australian government continues
to fight for its development.
Let’s take the Carmichael
mine in central Queensland.
This is a $20 billion investment.
At one point, it even offers a $1 billion taxpayer
funded loan to help it get off the ground.
Does the Labor party care about
the workers of Australia?
(shouting: No!)
Nothing illustrates it better than what’s happening
in relation to the Adani Carmichael mine.
I tell you what. We are going to
stand up for this investment.
Have you realized it’s not a good look
to go to the Paris climate talks,
admitting you approved a single coal mine
that alone will generate more pollution than
the entire European Union does in one year?
This mine is being legally
sabotaged by Green activists,
running a strategic campaign
against the coal industry,
and, in fact, against
all large developments.
… relating to the climate-destroying
and job-killing Adani coal mine.
I just want to take issue at first,
with your description of it being
climate-destroying and job-killing.
A coal mine will generate thousands
of jobs in North Queensland.
Adani are not new to Australia. They are a
company that has operated here now for 6 years.
They have operated the Abbot Point coal
terminal just near Bowen in Queensland.
Multinational oil companies are
the modern day colonialists.
It’s a coordinated effort not only
by one company standing on its own.
They all have a mutual interest to
change the regulatory framework
and governance frameworks of the countries
that have resources they want to exploit.
And they do it well.
What we’ve got is an
opposition that has sold out
lock, stock and barrel to some
sections of the mining industry,
because it’s more focused on
a return to its own pockets
in the form of donations,
than a complex debate!
(Order!)
This is a question about jobs
and protecting the environment.
And that’s what we do on this side!
Unlike those on the other side, who
only want the votes from the Greens!
So the two previous energy ministers in
the federal government of Australia,
are now working for the mining industry.
Martin Ferguson and Ian Macfarlane from
the Labor party and the Liberal party
are both working to promote the industry
that they had previously regulated.
Because when one understands how
the machinery of government
for a particular department works,
you’re the best person to lobby it.
And to change it from the outside.
Allen ventures inland to an
area that will be most affected
by the Carmichael mine developments.
He meets the traditional owners of the land
that has been converted by mining
ventures for its water supply.
The river people of the Birri
Gubba aboriginal tribe
know the land and its history well.
Uncle Kenny’s grandfather was
born on the Bowen river.
Ok, here we are standing on one of
the heart of the Birri country,
Birri people, from the ranges
back out to the Mount Coolon,
the Belyando rivers there
is where our land stops.
With the Jangga, the neighboring clan, with
the Yilba and the Wiri people up this way.
So, we’re right in the
heart of our country here.
This mine here was set up about seven
years ago, they started exploration.
And it’s only been 7 - 8
years now in production.
Xstrata is one of the big companies here,
a lot of the coal is open cut here,
it is washed here in the wash
plant that you see behind us.
And on this railway line here, this is the railway
line which takes it straight to Abbot Point,
and straight overseas from here.
So, this is one the main infrastructure
corridors that they have in place.
Why do the Australian people keep
giving away their power to people
who are disrespectful
and have got no wisdom?
It’s like lending your sports
car to the teenager next door.
Uncle Kenny continues the
tour of his country,
heading to an area that for the last
5 decades has avoided development.
Water is another natural resource that
is required for large scale mining.
The system here where we are standing
is the mouth of the Urannah Creek
and the Broken River catchment
from the Eungella hinterlands.
And this is the crossing of Urannah,
which was established many years ago,
but down at the big lagoon
where we came through
is the Urannah dam wall
proposal down there.
Which they want to put from Mount
Cauley to Mount Dingo, I think it is.
And that’s where the water
will be blocked there
and it’ll inundate this area all through
the valley here for about 53 kilometers.
And they said it will take over 7 years
to fill the capacity of what they need.
But it’s a bigger valley than any other
catchment in the area for water storage.
The Urannah dam project is
once again being considered.
This will be the 18th study in
the area for a dam since 1960.
None to date have recommended a dam
would benefit the area economically.
This water here that they’re trying
to captivate will be sent out
to Carmichael mine through
a gravity-fed pipeline
where they don’t have to use
pumps or anything like that.
And they’ll gravity-feed the
water out through the Galilee
and out through the agricultural
triangle of North Queensland.
So, yeah, it’s a big project that
they’re looking to do in this area.
If we’re not seen to negotiate or act in the
best endeavors of the goodwill negotiations,
the land will be acquired
through the land acquisition,
where they will actually acquire the
land with or without us, you know.
So, we need to take another approach to
how we’re, you know, going to approach
this negotiation with these companies.
And we don’t want the dam here at all.
At all.
To us it’s not a very good process
that they’re walking down.
We can see that they’re just trying to brush
through this process with representatives,
who are willing to approve
such a project in this area.
They’re not looking at the cultural
or environmental value of this land.
A lot of the people who are negotiating,
have never even been to this country.
Now, everybody, I want you just
to sit and to close your eyes.
And to listen to the ancient time.
The Dreamtime.
The connection between our
people and the river is life.
That’s our creation. That’s everything.
This is an ancient teaching
that has been passed down.
And that’s through our law, our
marriage systems, our trading systems.
Through our rivers, through our
mountains and our stories and places.
And that still exists today.
The significance of the river:
the river runs all the way to the ocean, so, our
connection is right through the river system.
And now that mining is a big
part of our country up here,
more so, than agriculture, well, the demand for
water out of our country is in very high demand
by these mining companies, who
do have independent pipelines
and infrastructure, where
they feed their own mines.
We don’t believe that our country should
be used because it won’t sustain.
That type of development is not sustainable for our
natural resources or our water in this country.
As descendants of our
ancestors today, you know,
we have to stand up and we have to fight
for that sacredness of our rivers.
And try to stop these practices
of mining in our country.
This is coal! Don’t be
afraid, don’t be scared!
The treasurer knows the rule on props.
Mister Speaker, those opposite have an
ideological, pathological fear of coal.
There’s no word for “coalaphobia”
officially, Mr Speaker,
but that’s the malady that
afflicts those opposite.
But it’s that malady, Mr Speaker, that is afflicting
the jobs and the towns and the industries…
Protesters who felt their views weren’t
being heard have descended on the city,
taking the fight to Adani’s front door.
Their resistance seems to be paying off,
with a recent decision by the Queensland government not
to support financial handouts to the mining conglomerate.
Adani, Adani come outside.
Adani, Adani you can’t hide.
You need to listen to the black people.
Shame on you! Shame on you!
As the battle between coal and
coral reaches fever pitch on land,
in the waters of the Great Barrier
Reef the unthinkable happens.
In 2016, the waters across the
globe warmed to such an extent
that it triggered a massive bleaching
event, killing off huge areas of coral.
Before the Reef has time to recover,
another bleaching event occurs the following
year, leaving further devastation.
The low point for me clearly in
terms of the Great Barrier Reef
was 2016 and 2017, when we
saw immense destruction
of the Great Barrier Reef due
to back-to-back heatwaves,
linked to global warming.
That caught the science community and
the management community by surprise.
I think, we all thought we had more time.
It’s the first time we’ve
seen back-to-back bleaching.
2016 was a terrible tragedy and
the two events in combination
have killed half of the corals
on the Great Barrier Reef.
And that means the Great Barrier Reef will
never look the same again in the future,
because it’s an absolute certainty that
we’ll see more of these bleaching events,
not in decades but in years to come.
Professor Terry Hughes tweeted: I
showed the results of aerial surveys
of bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef
to my students, and then we wept.
(Voices: aaawwwww….)
Clearly, the government’s
Reef 2015 plan is failing.
You might think it’s funny, Senator O’Sullivan,
but the rest of Queensland doesn’t!
Order.
Professor Terry Hughes also said it
is not too late to save the Reef,
if we leave coal in the ground…
do you agree?
Minister.
Mr President, do I agree that
Senator Whish-Wilson needs a hanky?
(Laughter)
Well, I think, that Senator Whish-Wilson
needs a lot more than a hanky, Mr President.
I think, Senator Whish-Wilson needs a reality
check! On a whole range of fronts, Mr President.
I think, it was very very difficult for someone
like Terry Hughes, Professor Terry Hughes.
Because he conducted two aerial surveys.
One in 2016, another in 2017.
Particularly, the one in 2016 took everybody
by surprise, the sheer extent of it.
I think, he must have been
personally devastated.
And that was mocked and ridiculed in
Canberra, which is just outrageous.
Oh just, umm, devastating. But you know, the feelings
of the scientists are not the important thing.
It’s the loss of the integrity of the Great
Barrier Reef and other reefs around the world
because 2015-2016 was a
global bleaching event.
The third one we’ve seen, since 1998.
So, the people we should be concerned
about are not the scientists,
it’s the people who depend on coral reefs for
their livelihoods, for their food security.
And those are, generally, very poor people in
small island nations dotted around the tropics.
In April 2018, the Australian government, suddenly, announce
close to half a billion dollars to help protect the Reef.
This money is granted to one very small foundation
with links to the banking and mining sector,
who are apparently unaware
they were being considered.
Questions are quickly raised as to why
the government chose this foundation.
The website says hit started with
a small group of businessmen,
I’ve heard that it’s four, nobody
seems to know their names.
It says: Rather than just talking about it, they
took action and followed through on their idea,
and thanks to that little idea the Great
Barrier Reef Foundation was created.
I’d like to know who these generous, big-hearted,
environmentally-minded businessmen are.
I am sure that we can on notice ask the
Foundation for the evidence of their long,
and rich and deep history as
Dr Reichheldt has alluded to.
… and their origins.
Can you confirm that the following companies are
represented on the Chairman’s panel for the Foundation?
Peabody Coal, Origin Energy, BHP, AGL,
Shell, ConocoPhillips and Rio Tinto?
The Chairman’s Panel you’re talking about does
bring together CEOs from across the country,
the largest organizations
in the country, absolutely.
What’s the biggest threat to the
Great Barrier Reef at the moment?
The largest threat to the
Reef is climate change.
The largest threat’s climate change and yet on the
Foundation, on the Chairman’s Panel for the Foundation,
you’ve got the CEOs of the
biggest polluters in Australia.
I’m surprised the Labor Party
and the Greens are so critical
of a record investment in
the Great Barrier Reef.
Oh, that’s a nice try Minister!
No what I am surprised about,
Minister, is your cavalier attitude
to the granting of $444 million of taxpayer
money, without a public grant process,
an open and transparent
process, a competitive process,
the consideration of whether the Authority
could have carried out this work,
rather than a foundation.
A foundation that has 6 full-time
members and 5 part-time members
and has described this grant
as like winning the Lotto.
Surely, you would agree that the commitment to
have half a billion dollars of taxpayer money,
should not be like winning the
Lotto for the grant recipients.
They should have prior knowledge. They should
be invited to compete for that funding,
and it should be done in a transparent way.
What we’ve learned today is
that government made a decision
to give this foundation the money, before
they’d approached the board to discuss it.
Allen has gained a great insight into
the causes behind the poor health
of the Great Barrier Reef.
While the outlook for the Reef is dire, there is still
hope, but only if immediate action can be taken.
From just the ordinary people I see a growing
desire for this to be resolved and balance found.
From the politicians not
so much, presently.
A this point, I can say that there’s not much sort
of cooperation happening from the private sector.
I guess, it’s still possible, provided we
see all the disaster being in progress.
So, maybe people will find a way, eventually,
to coordinate their efforts to save the Reef.
If we cannot find a solution, the Reef will
definitely die within say 30-40 years.
beauty of colors that literally seem
like they're out of this world.
A place of untold cultural
and spiritual significance,
a place treasured here
and around the world.
And imagine that place was disappearing
right in front of our eyes.
It'd be hard not to wonder:
just how did we get here.
For too long we’ve thought it’s the Great Barrier
Reef, the largest living structure on the planet.
It's indestructible. But we found over
the years that it's not indestructible.
In fact, we’re bringing it to its knees.
In the last 30 years, we’ve lost
some 50% of our coral cover.
The elephant in the room is climate change.
Fundamentally, Australia has a conflict of interest
between stewardship of the the Great Barrier Reef
and of the income from
exporting fossil fuels.
This is coal. Don’t be
afraid, don’t be scared…
I hang my head in shame and embarrassment at the
absolute lack of vision of the people in this place.
Sometimes, I wonder if the Greens think
bloody energy comes from unicorn farts.
There are challenges on the Great
Barrier Reef. They always have been.
There have been mistakes made,
but I'm sure there's going to be measures
put in place that these won't happen again.
It is like a monster.
It just slowly seeps in
and it takes over the community,
then they're just worried
about the profits they are going
to take out of the community.
As descendants of our ancestors,
we have to stand up and we have to fight,
to stop these practices
of mining in our country.
Coal is good.
They're allowing ports
to get away with murder.
It's like lending your sports
car to the teenager next door.
For the past four years scientist Allen Dobrovolsky has
been testing the waters of the Great Barrier Reef.
Concerned with the degradation
in water quality,
his research has led him to believe that
the Reef is facing an environmental
disaster of enormous proportions.
My first experience with an environmental
disaster was at Chernobyl,
when I was studying the distribution
of radionuclides in the environment.
The scientists at the reactor were trying to
push the reactor to find its capabilities.
With the Great Barrier Reef,
I see a large-scale environmental disaster
and some parallel story in the way that
we all trying to find the breaking point.
And, I guess, it is very close.
The Reef needs protection.
As Allen travels the coast
of the Great Barrier Reef,
he talks with residents,
scientists, community activists
and politicians about the hotly
debated state of the Reef.
I'm hoping to find out whether there
is a chance for us to cooperate,
because what I can see so far is a lack of
cooperation from different groups of the society.
There are so many different communities dotted along
the Queensland Coast from Cape York at the top
to Gladstone 2,000 kilometers away,
at the southern end of the Reef.
These communities are as diverse
as the marine ecosystem beyond their shores with
each having an impact of some kind on the Reef.
In economic terms, the Reef currently
employs 64 thousand Australians
and adds over 6 billion dollars
a year to Australia's GDP.
If we do not manage the Reef better
and find balance between the economy and the
environment, we will reach a breaking point.
A further 2000 kilometers
south lies Canberra,
the nation's capital and home
to the Australian Government.
While the Reef dies, many politicians here
choose to argue over what or who is to blame?
There are challenges on the Great Barrier Reef.
There always have been. Always have been.
But that is well recognized
by the Government.
The Greens political party seem to have undertaken
a campaign to denigrate the Barrier Reef.
So, that one of the great sources of
revenue, of expert learning dollars
and jobs in Queensland, which comes
from the Reef, is decimated.
That seems to be the
Greens political campaign,
because most of the rhetoric that they go on with
about the health of the Reef is simply just not true.
Can I assure the Chamber that in the six years
that I've been discussing the health of the Reef
with relevant coral reef scientists,
with the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Authority
with the Institute for Marine Science.
They are speaking with one voice
in saying that the Reef
is under serious threat
and that the biggest threat to the
Reef is human-induced global warming
and begging for this government
and the opposition to change policies,
so that we can save what's left of the Reef
Just a few kilometers from Senator
Ian McDonald's office in Townsville,
is James Cook University.
Some of the world's premier
scientists work from this campus,
including the world's leading coal
research scientist, Professor Terry Hughes
The Commonwealth Government itself
produces five-yearly reports.
They are called Great Barrier
Reef outlook reports,
that document a gradual decline in the
health of the Great Barrier Reef.
So, we used to think that the Great Barrier
Reef would continue its slow decline
in coming decades, if we
didn't improve management,
but we were actually wrong,
because the Great Barrier Reef is now in the
worst condition that we've ever recorded
in 30 years or more of monitoring.
And that's because half of the coral in
shallow water has died in the last two years.
Mr. acting Deputy President, the
Barrier Reef is going fine.
I encourage anyone to
visit the Barrier Reef.
It is an experience worth having. It's an
experience that will be there forever.
And I urge people to take advantage of it.
Tourism around the Reef
began nearly 100 years ago
and the sustainable industry
could go on forever,
if the Reef doesn't die.
♪ Sunshine chases those clouds away. ♪
♪ I know you're gonna brighten
up the day with love ♪
♪ when you shine up above. ♪
Many of the once thriving tourist
hotspots dotted along the Reef
have in recent years evolved
into major industrial ports.
♪ Please, guide me on my way♪.
♪ Let your subtle glow
be all I need to know ♪
♪ That is love, really love. ♪
Determined to get to the bottom
of why the Reef is dying,
Allen heads to Gladstone
a once bustling fishing and holiday town, now
the fourth largest coal port in the world.
More recently, Gladstone
developed its sport even more.
So, the town could begin to export large
quantities of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).
In order for LNG vessels to
travel into the Gladstone Port,
dredging exercises were conducted.
These disturbed the seafloor,
stirring up mud and heavy metals.
These dredge plumes can be
detected on satellite images
up to 30 kilometers away
from the original site.
Gladstone is an export town.
We export a lot of grain, aluminium
and of course a lot of coal.
You know, we've had big
developments in our Harbor
because three gas plants
have been on Curtis Island,
which is about 4 kilometers offshore.
And to get the gas on the ships we've had to
do a certain amount of dredging in our harbor
and that has caused a few
concerns to our port.
Yes, in Gladstone the conditions of what they
did - the monitoring and that - looked OK.
But, in fact, they were done very poorly. As you know,
they missed six months of the bund wall leaking
contaminated sediment into the harbor.
Dr. John Brodie is a former director
for water quality and coastal development
for the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority.
Over his 30-year career
he's worked for both government
and as a consultant to industry
and is one of the world's leading
voices in water quality management.
Of course, it has the problem of being
for all the ports the same that the Queensland
Government is the owner of the ports
and the Queensland
Government is the regulator.
And unless you have some independent body out there
overseeing that, this is never going to work.
Now, there were issues with the
construction of the bund wall.
The side netting was put
in the wrong place,
by error of judgment by a few departments
and has since been corrected
and the wall of that reclaim land has
stopped leaching into the harbor.
But it took a lot of work and that could have been
avoided with better planning in the first stage.
It wasn't planned correctly.
It wasn't built correctly.
It wasn't. The wall wasn't
constructed properly.
Environmental disaster that's Gladstone
is as short a phrases as you can get.
And, unfortunately, according
to the Government,
and the Port Authority, prior to the dredging
they dotted their I's they crossed their t's.
They did all the environmental
impact statements.
They put in all the conditions necessary
to protect Gladstone harbor and it
turned into an absolute fiasco.
I rise today to speak on a matter of vital
importance not only to Central Queensland,
but to the whole of Australia.
A major public health scare
has emerged in Gladstone.
To date, two fishermen
have been hospitalized,
numerous deaths of turtles have been recorded,
and also barramundi and other marine life.
Whilst not confirmed, our marine deaths could be
a case of red spot disease caused by acid water.
If this is correct, I new approach to
disturbing the harbor floor must be found.
Acid sulphite sediment
must not be disturbed.
Whatever the problem, it needs a complete,
independent, thorough and honest investigation.
Big port developments have environmental
impact assessment processes.
The problem at the moment is that
they're done by consultants.
If those Consultants don't get the right
answer, they don't get any more work.
And in the end, it leads to the
outcome that the developer wants.
Not the best outcome for
the Great Barrier Reef
or the environment or anything.
Just the best outcome for the developer.
The cause of the deaths
is still in some dispute.
Some of the toxic metals in the
sediment were above guidelines,
Australian guidelines.
Quite a few, actually.
The other thing to remember in Gladstone is
that there was an awful lot of work done.
Just never been released properly.
Never been written up properly.
Never been peer-reviewed properly.
So, it's a very messy situation in the sense
of actually finding out where all the data is
and what it really means.
I am the first to admit that
there has been mistakes made,
but they have been corrected.
And let's hope… I don't say let's hope,
I'm sure there's going to
be measures put in place
by our environmental people,
that these won't happen again.
The companies came into downtown
and made a lot of promises about their
financial requirements to the town,
what they believe their social
responsibilities to the town were.
And it's true, they did help with arts.
And they did help with some of
the Council funding with sports
and other things like that.
But the reality is that now that they've gone to this
stage, where they no longer need no more approvals.
They don't require the
consent of the Government
or the community to do
what they're going to do,
because now they are unstoppable they are now
at this stage, where there will be no ceasing.
They've now withdrawn all this funding and they've
withdrawn all this money that was in the community.
So, it was a fraud. It was a fraud.
Bob McCosker is a local
development contractor.
He has been providing services to the
mining industry for over 20 years.
More recently, he's been operating
a turtle rehabilitation facility,
set up with the assistance
of Australia Pacific LNG.
People like to try and pick an easy
target, which in Gladstone was a dredge.
I have no issues blaming the
dredges for what they've done,
if they've done something wrong,
but we should not target them purely,
because there's a financial
base backing them.
The single biggest issue that I can
see was the massive rain event
that was in Christmas 2010, early 2011.
That's what prompted us to
start the rehab center.
As far as the dredging, I mean, we've
had our rehab center operable,
when the bulk of the
dredging actually occurred
and like, anecdotally, we have seen no issue in any
of the turtles that we have rehabilitated here.
Whilst Bob hasn't seen any negative
impacts from dredging on the turtles,
John Brodie tells a different story.
His research states that it is likely that the
elevated metals found in the stranded turtles
resulted from metals mobilized
through the dredging
and leakage of the bunded area into
which the dredge spoil was placed.
The degradation in water quality is one
of the major threats facing the Reef.
Gladstone's industrial expansion
may have caused damage
to once-pristine environment.
We're talking about the Great Barrier Reef here
and you don't mess with the Great Barrier Reef.
You don't take any chances
with the Great Barrier Reef.
You don't say: ‘Well, the coal
industry takes precedence
and we'll get all we can out of
it, while the going is good,
and when the boom is over, then we
can take a more measured approach,
and start taking better care of the Reef’.
There is only one Great Barrier Reef.
And if we destroy all that makes it special
and unique, there won't be a second chance.
It doesn't matter how much money
we make out of our mining exports.
We won't be able to buy a new one.
Diving deeper into his investigation,
Allen meets with Dr. Liam Wagner,
an energy economist, who tells him about
the economic impacts of the development.
I, honestly, think that Gladstone will be an
enormous failure - economically - for Australia.
The coal seam gas sector
in Queensland was touted,
as being the next great thing
and we were going to be the
largest exporter of LNG,
and bigger than Qatar.
I think that there was a vast
overestimation of the resources available
an overestimation of the
technological capability of
oil and gas companies to
extract that coal seam gas
and there was an underestimate
of the cost associated with it.
This development has come
with many growing pains
and a great deal of debate over the
impact on the local environment.
There's a lot of further, future
development to be done in Gladstone.
It's my belief that the Gladstone port
should be developed to its fullest extent
before anyone looks at developing other coal export
terminals up and down the coast of Queensland.
In addition to LNG, Queensland also
contains vast amounts of coal,
and many companies are seeking
leases to build mines in the area.
All of which would require
government approval.
Another port on the shores of the Reef
Abbot Point, would need to be
expanded if these mines are approved.
It would have a capacity to export
120 million tons of coal per year,
making it the largest
coal port in the world.
Bowen is the nearest town to Abbot Point,
so Allen heads there next
to search for more clues
about the demise of the Great Barrier Reef.
Locals are divided about further
development of the port,
as it will increase the amount
of dredging and ship activity,
but could potentially be a lifeline
to a community in economic decline.
Mining activity and port
expansion in the Bowen area
has long been a cause for
division, debate and confusion.
Ok, Paul, thank you for meeting
our team in this beautiful town,
and we would like to ask
a couple of questions
with regard to what is your
view on dredging, generally,
and how do you think it may
affect the industry you are in?
Yes, certainly, Allen, look um…
As I said, I'm not a …, don't
proclaim to be any expert
but to us it’s all about the truth.
And all the facts about coral
reef damage, isn’t from dredging.
You know, again, I just want the
people to stick to the facts.
The facts are that the damage to the
Reef is caused by storms and cyclones,
it’s caused by the crown starfish
and it’s caused from bleaching.
But if we shut down the community
you know we might still
have the environment
but we won’t have any accommodation left,
we won’t have any restaurants left,
we won’t have any service industries left.
So, there’ll be nothing for people to
come and look at or stay at anyway.
The unfortunate thing is that, I
guess, as locals get cranky about
is that this is our community.
Other people from Melbourne and
Sydney can come and dictate to us
about how our community looks and acts
and um, you know they must think we’re
fools, if they think we’re going to ruin
this beautiful environment we’ve got.
We want to protect it as much as anyone.
Sometimes, I wonder, if the Greens think
that bloody energy comes
from unicorn farts.
Save the Reef! Save the Reef!
So, the Australian Marine Conservation Society
has existed for more than fifty years.
We were actually founded to save the reef.
And people are desperately concerned
about the state of the Reef.
And, so, we offer them different
ways to express that concern,
particularly to politicians or the media.
So, as you all know, we’re here today
because there is a new wave of
threats including cyclones,
storms, climate change.
There’s a whole host of pressures
impacting on the Great Barrier Reef.
But we’re now concerned with the plans to dredge 100
million tons of seabed in our world heritage area.
And I’m sure in 50 years time
again we’ll look back and say:
What were we thinking?
Just like we look back now and think,
how could they even imagine
drilling the Reef for oil?
Back in the 60’s, you know,
there was a proposal
to mine coral limestone and to use
it as fertilizer on a cane farm!
And shortly after, the
Bjelke-Petersen government
leased a whole lot of oil leases
throughout the Great Barrier Reef.
And that resulted in a massive national campaign
against oil drilling on our Great Barrier Reef.
And, of course, that was
a successful campaign,
a huge mobilization which
we were a key part of.
And that led to the declaration of the
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in 1975.
This landmark decision was followed
in 1981 by the World Heritage listing
of the Great Barrier Reef.
Since then, subsequent governments
have tried to strike a balance
between the economic and environmental
benefits of this natural wonder,
expanding protections of the marine park,
while also exploiting the area for tourism,
fishing, shipping and natural resources.
While people had been living along
the Reef for thousands of years,
industrialization in recent decades
had begun to threaten its health.
In the 60s and 70s it was
limestone and oil mining,
while in the 80s increased tourism also
meant increased activity on the Reef
By the 90s, agricultural
runoff was taking its toll
commercial fishing was
depleting marine populations,
and larger outbreaks of crown-of-thorns
starfish were occurring.
From 2000 onwards, even
though the marine park
had been rezoned to its
largest ever levels,
new coastal developments, port expansions,
an Australian resources boom in full swing
and an ongoing degradation in water
quality, meant that the health of the Reef
and its world heritage status were
under more threat than ever before.
By 2012, the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee
was considering listing
the Reef, as in danger.
If the Great Barrier Reef was to survive,
it needed serious attention from
the highest levels of government.
This week the World Heritage Committee is
meeting to discuss UNESCO’s draft decision
about the state of our Great Barrier Reef.
The draft decision says the Reef is
on track for World Heritage in danger
(interrupting) Just, just wait a minute, Senator
Waters. You are entitled to be heard in silence.
There’s talk going on on
both sides of the chamber…
While 70,000 jobs depend on a
healthy Great Barrier Reef,
some in government seem not
to take the issue seriously.
The draft decision said that the Reef is on
track for World Heritage in danger listing
within 8 months if current
developments proceed.
It said there should be no new
ports, no port expansions
that would harm the values of the Reef,
no new developments approvals before the
strategic assessment of the Reef is finished,
and that independent science is
needed into the Gladstone harbor
(loud voices) Excuse me Mr. President,
this is ridiculous! (Loud laughter).
Order! Order. Order! Continue… order!
On my left. Order. Order! Order...
Senator Waters...
Thank you Mr. President, I’m so
pleased the chamber is so excited
about the Great Barrier
Reef, it’s wonderful.
How we going to get there?
Order!
What are we going to do, what
are we going to live on?
Professor Terry Hughes often urges government
to respond to the declining health of the Reef,
and, so, Allen asks him what he thinks
is behind the dismissive attitude
of some members of parliament.
I think, fundamentally, Australia
has a conflict of interest
between, on one hand, its responsibilities
under the World Heritage Treaty
for stewardship of the Great Barrier Reef,
the world’s largest coral reef
ecosystem that’s truly iconic.
And, on the other hand, the income
from royalties for exporting fossil fuels.
I mean, the Great Barrier
Reef is intensively managed
and it has been for many years.
And the level of protection
has gone up and up.
But in Australia and elsewhere we
tend to deal with the symptoms
rather than dealing with the root causes.
The elephant in the room is climate change.
Why didn’t the Prime Minister agree with her
former climate change minister Senator Wong,
that a carbon tax will see
Australian jobs transfer overseas?
In Australian parliament, jobs and
growth are often used as arguments
against any reform to the
mining and energy sectors.
Well, I say to the Leader
of the Opposition:
Get to grips with the
fundamentals of this debate.
And the fundamentals of this debate
are: climate change is real,
it’s caused by human activity.
We need to reduce carbon pollution.
The best way of doing
that is to price carbon.
A price on carbon could have paved the
way for big environmental change.
And in 2011 the Australian
government had a left wing majority,
but the opposition were relentless in their
attack about a tax on carbon emissions.
(Waving newspaper) I rule out a carbon tax.
How can she justify today’s betrayal…
Order.
The Leader of the Opposition
will resume his place.
Now is the time for him to put
aside the brutal politics
he has played with climate change.
Put away his propensity for
political destruction,
and actually work with the
rest of the parliament
to do the right thing by this country.
After 5 years of debate, in 2011, Julia Gillard
managed to legislate a price on carbon emissions.
But her opposition continued
to attack the new legislation.
Do not come into this house and pretend that
this is about controlling electricity prices.
The intent, the scope, the meaning, the
purpose of everything you are doing
is to drive up electricity
prices, precisely,
so as people all around Australia would
decrease the amount of electricity they use
in order to cool themselves in summer,
or decrease the amount
of electricity they use
in order to heat themselves
in the depths of winter.
In 2013, just 2 years after the
clean energy bill was passed,
there was a federal election.
While the new legislation
had reduced emissions
and set a global benchmark
to combat climate change,
the opposition’s campaign focused
on rising electricity costs
and the impact of the policy on businesses.
The opposition won.
I call the honorable member for the
environment, Minister for the Environment.
The purpose, the intention, the
construct of the carbon tax
is to increase the cost of living,
most specifically - the price of electricity
and gas for Australian families.
The bills honor the coalition’s commitment
to the Australian people to scrap this tax.
The emissions trading scheme is dismantled
in the lead-up to UNESCO’s decision on
whether the Great Barrier Reef
will be listed as “in danger”.
Allen travels to Bonn to hear what
the Australian government will say.
Looking around, it’s very inspiring to
see such a diverse and dedicated group
of UNESCO community members
here this evening in Bonn.
You’ve travelled from all
corners of the globe,
because you share a common
commitment to world heritage.
Many of our most precious natural
and cultural treasures are at risk,
and working together to
protect them is of course,
one of the main reasons we’ve
come together here in Bonn.
While there, he meets Jon Day,
a former director of the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
I started with them in 1986.
I also spent 7 years from about 1990
to 97 working for the state agency,
the Queensland parks and wildlife service.
So I worked on both the
state and the federal side
of managing the Great Barrier Reef.
I think, my role is one of making the
wider public aware of the real concerns.
The science itself is showing
that the reef is under pressure,
and the government’s own
reports say this as well.
So, the scientific evidence for
something like corals is showing that
there’s a lot of different pressures
building up on the Great Barrier Reef.
The conservation issues relating to the
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage property:
the ultimate measure of success will
be a scientifically sound confirmation
that the currently documented
declines in the property
have halted and are reversing.
And this is what the committee will consider:
whether it should be listed ‘in danger’.
I want to stress though, ‘in danger’
isn’t going to fix the problem.
What needs to happen is action,
and that action is going
to require resourcing.
And this is where the Australian
and the Queensland governments
have to both meet those challenges
and do more than they’re currently doing.
After having fiercely opposed
Australia’s position on climate change,
Allen sees environment minister Greg
Hunt defend the management of the Reef.
Now, I would like to give
the floor to Australia.
We have clearly heard the concerns
of the World Heritage Committee.
And I can tell you: Australia
and Queensland have responded.
In particular, the Committee’s and Germany’s
advice on the Reef, for this I thank you.
We have permanently banned the disposal of
capital dredge material in the marine park
and entire World Heritage Area.
The Australian government has
announced recently a ban
on the dumping of capital dredge spoil.
And that’s a good move forward.
What the Australian government
has failed to say loudly,
but it’s written there in small print,
is they will continue to dump what they
call maintenance dredge spoil in the sea.
Now, this is about 1 million cubic
meters of dredge spoil every year.
Madame chair, Australians, Queenslanders
love the Great Barrier Reef.
They love it so much, they elected a
government committed to protect it.
And that’s exactly what we will do.
Thank you Australia. (Applause)
So, I declare decision 39,7b.7… adopted!
UNESCO decides to not list
the reef as in danger,
but instead gives Australia 5 years to show
it can improve the health of the
world’s largest living structure.
But just a few months later,
Greg Hunt approves the Abbott
Point Coal Port Expansion.
The only catch is that the
Indian mining company Adani,
which has a lease on the port,
must prove that their nearby Carmichael
coal mine project can be funded,
in order for the expansion to go ahead.
The proposed mine would be one
of the largest in the world.
For a mine like that if it was worth
building, it should have been economic
and they should have built it.
But it’s not.
It’s not economic from a
coal mining perspective.
None of the banks want to
fund it so it’s not bankable.
None of the insurance
companies want to insure it.
So, it has a high perceived risk
associated with mining that resource.
And again, the environmental impacts
are just disturbingly catastrophic.
Despite the mines unfavorable
economic position,
the Australian government continues
to fight for its development.
Let’s take the Carmichael
mine in central Queensland.
This is a $20 billion investment.
At one point, it even offers a $1 billion taxpayer
funded loan to help it get off the ground.
Does the Labor party care about
the workers of Australia?
(shouting: No!)
Nothing illustrates it better than what’s happening
in relation to the Adani Carmichael mine.
I tell you what. We are going to
stand up for this investment.
Have you realized it’s not a good look
to go to the Paris climate talks,
admitting you approved a single coal mine
that alone will generate more pollution than
the entire European Union does in one year?
This mine is being legally
sabotaged by Green activists,
running a strategic campaign
against the coal industry,
and, in fact, against
all large developments.
… relating to the climate-destroying
and job-killing Adani coal mine.
I just want to take issue at first,
with your description of it being
climate-destroying and job-killing.
A coal mine will generate thousands
of jobs in North Queensland.
Adani are not new to Australia. They are a
company that has operated here now for 6 years.
They have operated the Abbot Point coal
terminal just near Bowen in Queensland.
Multinational oil companies are
the modern day colonialists.
It’s a coordinated effort not only
by one company standing on its own.
They all have a mutual interest to
change the regulatory framework
and governance frameworks of the countries
that have resources they want to exploit.
And they do it well.
What we’ve got is an
opposition that has sold out
lock, stock and barrel to some
sections of the mining industry,
because it’s more focused on
a return to its own pockets
in the form of donations,
than a complex debate!
(Order!)
This is a question about jobs
and protecting the environment.
And that’s what we do on this side!
Unlike those on the other side, who
only want the votes from the Greens!
So the two previous energy ministers in
the federal government of Australia,
are now working for the mining industry.
Martin Ferguson and Ian Macfarlane from
the Labor party and the Liberal party
are both working to promote the industry
that they had previously regulated.
Because when one understands how
the machinery of government
for a particular department works,
you’re the best person to lobby it.
And to change it from the outside.
Allen ventures inland to an
area that will be most affected
by the Carmichael mine developments.
He meets the traditional owners of the land
that has been converted by mining
ventures for its water supply.
The river people of the Birri
Gubba aboriginal tribe
know the land and its history well.
Uncle Kenny’s grandfather was
born on the Bowen river.
Ok, here we are standing on one of
the heart of the Birri country,
Birri people, from the ranges
back out to the Mount Coolon,
the Belyando rivers there
is where our land stops.
With the Jangga, the neighboring clan, with
the Yilba and the Wiri people up this way.
So, we’re right in the
heart of our country here.
This mine here was set up about seven
years ago, they started exploration.
And it’s only been 7 - 8
years now in production.
Xstrata is one of the big companies here,
a lot of the coal is open cut here,
it is washed here in the wash
plant that you see behind us.
And on this railway line here, this is the railway
line which takes it straight to Abbot Point,
and straight overseas from here.
So, this is one the main infrastructure
corridors that they have in place.
Why do the Australian people keep
giving away their power to people
who are disrespectful
and have got no wisdom?
It’s like lending your sports
car to the teenager next door.
Uncle Kenny continues the
tour of his country,
heading to an area that for the last
5 decades has avoided development.
Water is another natural resource that
is required for large scale mining.
The system here where we are standing
is the mouth of the Urannah Creek
and the Broken River catchment
from the Eungella hinterlands.
And this is the crossing of Urannah,
which was established many years ago,
but down at the big lagoon
where we came through
is the Urannah dam wall
proposal down there.
Which they want to put from Mount
Cauley to Mount Dingo, I think it is.
And that’s where the water
will be blocked there
and it’ll inundate this area all through
the valley here for about 53 kilometers.
And they said it will take over 7 years
to fill the capacity of what they need.
But it’s a bigger valley than any other
catchment in the area for water storage.
The Urannah dam project is
once again being considered.
This will be the 18th study in
the area for a dam since 1960.
None to date have recommended a dam
would benefit the area economically.
This water here that they’re trying
to captivate will be sent out
to Carmichael mine through
a gravity-fed pipeline
where they don’t have to use
pumps or anything like that.
And they’ll gravity-feed the
water out through the Galilee
and out through the agricultural
triangle of North Queensland.
So, yeah, it’s a big project that
they’re looking to do in this area.
If we’re not seen to negotiate or act in the
best endeavors of the goodwill negotiations,
the land will be acquired
through the land acquisition,
where they will actually acquire the
land with or without us, you know.
So, we need to take another approach to
how we’re, you know, going to approach
this negotiation with these companies.
And we don’t want the dam here at all.
At all.
To us it’s not a very good process
that they’re walking down.
We can see that they’re just trying to brush
through this process with representatives,
who are willing to approve
such a project in this area.
They’re not looking at the cultural
or environmental value of this land.
A lot of the people who are negotiating,
have never even been to this country.
Now, everybody, I want you just
to sit and to close your eyes.
And to listen to the ancient time.
The Dreamtime.
The connection between our
people and the river is life.
That’s our creation. That’s everything.
This is an ancient teaching
that has been passed down.
And that’s through our law, our
marriage systems, our trading systems.
Through our rivers, through our
mountains and our stories and places.
And that still exists today.
The significance of the river:
the river runs all the way to the ocean, so, our
connection is right through the river system.
And now that mining is a big
part of our country up here,
more so, than agriculture, well, the demand for
water out of our country is in very high demand
by these mining companies, who
do have independent pipelines
and infrastructure, where
they feed their own mines.
We don’t believe that our country should
be used because it won’t sustain.
That type of development is not sustainable for our
natural resources or our water in this country.
As descendants of our
ancestors today, you know,
we have to stand up and we have to fight
for that sacredness of our rivers.
And try to stop these practices
of mining in our country.
This is coal! Don’t be
afraid, don’t be scared!
The treasurer knows the rule on props.
Mister Speaker, those opposite have an
ideological, pathological fear of coal.
There’s no word for “coalaphobia”
officially, Mr Speaker,
but that’s the malady that
afflicts those opposite.
But it’s that malady, Mr Speaker, that is afflicting
the jobs and the towns and the industries…
Protesters who felt their views weren’t
being heard have descended on the city,
taking the fight to Adani’s front door.
Their resistance seems to be paying off,
with a recent decision by the Queensland government not
to support financial handouts to the mining conglomerate.
Adani, Adani come outside.
Adani, Adani you can’t hide.
You need to listen to the black people.
Shame on you! Shame on you!
As the battle between coal and
coral reaches fever pitch on land,
in the waters of the Great Barrier
Reef the unthinkable happens.
In 2016, the waters across the
globe warmed to such an extent
that it triggered a massive bleaching
event, killing off huge areas of coral.
Before the Reef has time to recover,
another bleaching event occurs the following
year, leaving further devastation.
The low point for me clearly in
terms of the Great Barrier Reef
was 2016 and 2017, when we
saw immense destruction
of the Great Barrier Reef due
to back-to-back heatwaves,
linked to global warming.
That caught the science community and
the management community by surprise.
I think, we all thought we had more time.
It’s the first time we’ve
seen back-to-back bleaching.
2016 was a terrible tragedy and
the two events in combination
have killed half of the corals
on the Great Barrier Reef.
And that means the Great Barrier Reef will
never look the same again in the future,
because it’s an absolute certainty that
we’ll see more of these bleaching events,
not in decades but in years to come.
Professor Terry Hughes tweeted: I
showed the results of aerial surveys
of bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef
to my students, and then we wept.
(Voices: aaawwwww….)
Clearly, the government’s
Reef 2015 plan is failing.
You might think it’s funny, Senator O’Sullivan,
but the rest of Queensland doesn’t!
Order.
Professor Terry Hughes also said it
is not too late to save the Reef,
if we leave coal in the ground…
do you agree?
Minister.
Mr President, do I agree that
Senator Whish-Wilson needs a hanky?
(Laughter)
Well, I think, that Senator Whish-Wilson
needs a lot more than a hanky, Mr President.
I think, Senator Whish-Wilson needs a reality
check! On a whole range of fronts, Mr President.
I think, it was very very difficult for someone
like Terry Hughes, Professor Terry Hughes.
Because he conducted two aerial surveys.
One in 2016, another in 2017.
Particularly, the one in 2016 took everybody
by surprise, the sheer extent of it.
I think, he must have been
personally devastated.
And that was mocked and ridiculed in
Canberra, which is just outrageous.
Oh just, umm, devastating. But you know, the feelings
of the scientists are not the important thing.
It’s the loss of the integrity of the Great
Barrier Reef and other reefs around the world
because 2015-2016 was a
global bleaching event.
The third one we’ve seen, since 1998.
So, the people we should be concerned
about are not the scientists,
it’s the people who depend on coral reefs for
their livelihoods, for their food security.
And those are, generally, very poor people in
small island nations dotted around the tropics.
In April 2018, the Australian government, suddenly, announce
close to half a billion dollars to help protect the Reef.
This money is granted to one very small foundation
with links to the banking and mining sector,
who are apparently unaware
they were being considered.
Questions are quickly raised as to why
the government chose this foundation.
The website says hit started with
a small group of businessmen,
I’ve heard that it’s four, nobody
seems to know their names.
It says: Rather than just talking about it, they
took action and followed through on their idea,
and thanks to that little idea the Great
Barrier Reef Foundation was created.
I’d like to know who these generous, big-hearted,
environmentally-minded businessmen are.
I am sure that we can on notice ask the
Foundation for the evidence of their long,
and rich and deep history as
Dr Reichheldt has alluded to.
… and their origins.
Can you confirm that the following companies are
represented on the Chairman’s panel for the Foundation?
Peabody Coal, Origin Energy, BHP, AGL,
Shell, ConocoPhillips and Rio Tinto?
The Chairman’s Panel you’re talking about does
bring together CEOs from across the country,
the largest organizations
in the country, absolutely.
What’s the biggest threat to the
Great Barrier Reef at the moment?
The largest threat to the
Reef is climate change.
The largest threat’s climate change and yet on the
Foundation, on the Chairman’s Panel for the Foundation,
you’ve got the CEOs of the
biggest polluters in Australia.
I’m surprised the Labor Party
and the Greens are so critical
of a record investment in
the Great Barrier Reef.
Oh, that’s a nice try Minister!
No what I am surprised about,
Minister, is your cavalier attitude
to the granting of $444 million of taxpayer
money, without a public grant process,
an open and transparent
process, a competitive process,
the consideration of whether the Authority
could have carried out this work,
rather than a foundation.
A foundation that has 6 full-time
members and 5 part-time members
and has described this grant
as like winning the Lotto.
Surely, you would agree that the commitment to
have half a billion dollars of taxpayer money,
should not be like winning the
Lotto for the grant recipients.
They should have prior knowledge. They should
be invited to compete for that funding,
and it should be done in a transparent way.
What we’ve learned today is
that government made a decision
to give this foundation the money, before
they’d approached the board to discuss it.
Allen has gained a great insight into
the causes behind the poor health
of the Great Barrier Reef.
While the outlook for the Reef is dire, there is still
hope, but only if immediate action can be taken.
From just the ordinary people I see a growing
desire for this to be resolved and balance found.
From the politicians not
so much, presently.
A this point, I can say that there’s not much sort
of cooperation happening from the private sector.
I guess, it’s still possible, provided we
see all the disaster being in progress.
So, maybe people will find a way, eventually,
to coordinate their efforts to save the Reef.
If we cannot find a solution, the Reef will
definitely die within say 30-40 years.