Labor And The Environment Mark Latham - Leader of the Opposition

Speech

Transcript - 2004 Fraser Lecture, Canberra - 27 May 2004

On this anniversary of ‘Sorry Day’, I thank Matilda House for her ‘welcome to country’ and acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders.

I’m delighted this evening in remembering the life of a great Labor man, Jim Fraser, to be able to acknowledge the presence of members of his immediate family.

• His son, Andrew Fraser – political reporter for the Canberra Times.
• Andrew’s wife Catriona Jackson – who works for Senator Kim Carr.
• And their children, Meg and Joel.

Jim’s widow, Helen Fraser, has asked me to give her apologies, as she is unable to attend.

When I became Leader of the Labor Party, I said I wanted to do two things.

The first was to be positive, to add value to the public debate.  I don’t believe in opposition for opposition’s sake.  I believe in setting the agenda, in forcing the Government to adopt Labor’s approach to public policy.

Already we have achieved some important gains: the reform of parliamentary superannuation, the introduction of a new payment for babies, extra child care places in the Budget and, just last week, Government attempts to catch-up on literacy and reading programs.

The second thing I said I wanted to do was to get out among the people.  That’s why I’ve been holding community forums around Australia – old town hall style meetings, a face-to-face dialogue with the people themselves.

The feedback has been tremendous: a powerful insight into the public’s concerns about social policy.  A cry for help: for better health and education services, for stronger communities, for environmental protection.

In my mind, the forums have also confirmed the basic divide in modern politics: between the insiders and the outsiders.  Between the concerns of the political class and the concerns of the Australian people, the real agenda in the vast suburbs and regions of the nation.

This is why the Howard Government is so out-of-touch.  After 30 years in parliament and over eight years in government, the Prime Minister has become the ultimate insider, practising an old style of politics. 

He thinks he can buy his way out of political trouble, instead of solving long-term social problems.  His closest contact with the Australian people is through his pollster.  He never meets the people face-to-face at community forums. 

The Government’s urgers are just as isolated.  Last week one of them wrote that when the election campaign starts, I’ll have to stop talking about “jabs for bubs and bed-time stories for toddlers, and debate Mr Howard on the big issues”.

They just don’t get it.  For me, as with parents right around the country, looking after our children is the big issue.  Vaccinating them against deadly diseases like pneumococcal.  Reading them story books and giving them the benefits of literacy early in life. 

The issues don’t get any bigger than that.  And I’ll be talking about them every day, from now until polling day.  And then implementing our programs in government.

Another neglected issue is the environment.  It’s also about our children – passing on our natural assets and heritage to the next generation of young Australians.  When I think about the problems of global warming I don’t do it for myself.  It matters most for my children and, one day, my grandchildren.

The Howard Government’s neglect of the environment is always raised at our community forums.  So too, whenever I talk to university or high school students, it’s a high priority.  Without fail, they raise three matters: the Republic, Aboriginal reconciliation and the Kyoto Protocol.

They’ve grown up with these issues.  A person born during the mighty campaign to save the Franklin River has already had their 21 ^st birthday party.  They’ve been taught about ecology at school and perhaps at university.  They’ve got a different way of thinking about politics than previous generations, with a strong sense of the future and public goods like the environment.

This is part of the new politics I’ve been talking about.  Something more substantial than the cynicism of buying votes.  Taking a longer view of society and the public interest.

The next generation sees politics as something more than the production of wealth and its distribution.  They’re interested in the ultimate inter-generational question: what sort of planet will they inherit, how can we make our use of the environment more sustainable.

Tonight I want to set out Labor’s program of environmental protection – our commitment to sustainability in the mainstream of Australian public life.  Our international commitment to Kyoto.  Our national commitment to saving our rivers, parks and coastline.  And our local commitment to better urban planning and urban environmental outcomes.

The Kyoto Protocol

Our greatest struggle is against global warming.  A leading NASA scientist, James Hansen, has written that human-made forces are now exceeding natural forces in changing the world’s climate.  His conclusion?  If we don’t take action now, the melting of the polar ice caps will be impossible to avoid.

This process is already underway.  Declassified US Navy data collected during the Cold War to enable US nuclear submarines to travel beneath the Arctic shows that the ice cap is 40 percent thinner than in the late 1950s.  Closer to home, scientists have reported that the snowline at Kosciusko National Park is rising, and that it will need artificial snow within 25 years.

Halting climate change requires urgent international cooperation.  Every nation has a stake and a responsibility.  The steps we take today can make a big difference to the level of global warming that future generations inherit.

While a two or three degree increase in global average temperatures may not sound like a lot, it would have a profound impact on Australia.  It’s enough to change our rainfall patterns, to dry out our dams and rivers, to make our bushfire season a nightmare, every year.  It’s enough to threaten our beaches, to destroy the Great Barrier Reef, to flood Kakadu National Park with salt water.

These are Australian icons, not just for the environment but for the future of our tourism industry.  Climate change shouldn’t be seen as a trade-off between the environment and the economy.  It has the potential to harm both.

Australia’s wealth and lifestyle are built on the climate we have today.  A small change in the global thermostat can fundamentally change our nation.  The longer we leave this problem, the greater the risks for Australia.

The current Government says that they acknowledge the problem.  But they’re doing nothing to address it.  In fact, they’re spending millions of dollars a year trying to convince other nations not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

This is one of those issues where the politicians lag a generation behind the public.  I want a Federal Labor Government to catch up, to display the type of urgency and commitment that Australia’s young citizens give this issue.

We will begin by taking the step that the Howard Government just won’t take:  Labor will ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

This is even more relevant, given the announcement earlier this week by President Putin that the Russian Federation will accelerate its ratification of Kyoto.  The Protocol only comes into force once it has been signed by countries that create at least 55 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.  When Russia ratifies, this trigger will be reached. 

A worldwide emissions trading regime will then come into force.  It will be the biggest boost to world trade and commerce for decades.  And only those countries that sign the Protocol will be allowed to join.  But because the Howard Government won’t ratify, Australia will miss out. 

The Government has abandoned work on emissions trading just when we need it most.  As one of the biggest per capita producers of CO2 in the world, this will cost Australia billions of dollars.  It is estimated that emission trading will be a $600 billion industry in the European Union alone.

As a result of our non-participation, investors from the European Union, Japan and elsewhere will not invest in Australian projects because they won’t receive carbon credits.  Money will be diverted away from projects like the revegetation of the Murray Darling Basin, which would reduce salinity, improve water quality and provide habitat for wildlife.  Australian companies will also miss out on contracts that reduce greenhouse pollution in developing countries like China and India.

By ratifying Kyoto and joining the emissions trading regime, Australia can catch up with the rest of the developed world.  But on the environment, Labor is never satisfied with playing catch up.  We want to be one of the nations that set the pace. I want Australia to play a leading role in the post-2012 agenda on climate change. 

We can’t leave this task to the conservatives.  Social-democrats must take the lead.  That’s why I support the International Task Force on Climate Change which is being set up by British and American think tanks, plus the Australia Institute, to develop a post-Kyoto regime.  In November, Bob Carr will host a meeting of this important group in Sydney. 

Instead of setting targets for carbon dioxide emissions for each separate country, the Task Force believes we have to set a single target for the whole planet.  Under Labor, Australia will be involved in determining these new global warming strategies.  The longer-term goal must be to stabilize the level of carbon dioxide and play our part by cutting emissions.

This is an economically as well as an ecologically smart policy.  The Clean Energy Future for Australia Report commissioned by industry and environmental associations found that it is possible to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions using existing technology, without affecting economic growth, through a combination of renewable energy and increased efficiency.

This approach will also create jobs, right across Australia. More than 90 percent of Australia’s renewable energy generation capacity lies in regional Australia.  By taking global warming issues seriously, we can not only help save our environment, but create tens of thousands of jobs and spread opportunities across the country.  We don’t have to create ‘winners’ and ‘losers’.  Good policy can create good public outcomes, for all Australians.

After Labor has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, we’ll implement our agenda for meeting its goals.  This means lifting the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target from its current two percent to five percent.  This enhanced target will improve the development of renewable power generation using solar and wind technologies and increased energy efficiency.

The current Government has ignored these vital and emerging industries.  Only Labor is committed to getting them right for the future.  We will never compromise on our commitment to tackling climate change and promoting renewable energy.

Protecting Antarctica

Thinking globally goes beyond the issue of global warming.  I also want Australia to play a role in saving more of the world’s fragile eco-systems from slow but certain destruction.  Places like the enormous frozen continent of Antarctica.

Its incredibly varied landscape of pack ice, freezing deserts and towering mountain ranges make it truly unique. But it’s also a delicately poised ecosystem, vulnerable to even the slightest change.  Antarctica's amazing wildlife – including penguins, seals, whales and  albatross – depend for their  survival on food from the ocean, a resource that can be upset by over-fishing and climate change.  Depleting krill stocks alone would have disastrous consequences throughout the world’s food chain.

Antarctica plays a key role in the global climate system. Yet only now are we beginning to understand the impact of global warming on its ecosystem.  So far, Antarctica has escaped the worst of human development.  We need to protect it for all time.

Labor has always supported the protection of this fragile continent.  Through the Madrid Protocol in 1991, the Hawke Government played a leading role in imposing a 50-year moratorium on mining in Antarctica.  We originally wanted a total ban. 

This argument still stands.  As the world’s energy reserves run down, pressure will mount to send the drilling rigs onto the Antarctic ice cap, destroying endangered species and causing radical changes to our eco-system.

I’ve been impressed by Bob Brown’s campaign to list Antarctica as a World Heritage site, to preserve it for all time as a nature reserve and place of wonder.  A Labor Government will support this listing, working with other nations to give Antarctica the environmental status it deserves. 

It’s one of the last unspoiled parts of the planet.  It should be left in trust for our children and our grandchildren to appreciate.  It should never be mined.

Labor’s National Agenda

Beyond these international commitments – Kyoto and Antarctica – a new national agenda is necessary.  Australia’s rivers, land and forests are under pressure from two centuries of environmental mismanagement.  Preserving our dry continent, with its shallow soils and delicate eco-systems, is a formidable challenge.  These problems cross State boundaries and require a new era of inter-governmental cooperation.  As Prime Minister, I will be working with all levels of government through COAG to protect our existing assets and give a higher priority to environmental repair.

Saving the Murray/Darling

The biggest and hardest problem to tackle is the state of our rivers, particularly the Murray/Darling.  The grand old river system is slowly drying up.  It requires constant dredging simply to keep its mouth open.  It’s being choked by exotic plants and fish.  Its native species are threatened with extinction.  And as it dies, it’s killing the land around it.   

Dry-land salinity now threatens to affect around six million hectares of the Murray/Darling Basin by 2050.  The magnificent river red gums on our flood plains are dying of thirst because no floodwaters nourish them.  And without Government action, in just 20 years, Adelaide’s water will not meet World Health Organisation standards two days out of five.

The Murray/Darling is more than a great national icon.  It’s an irreplaceable national resource.  It’s time we recognised its true value.

It’s time to end the buck-passing between the Federal Government and the States.  Not tomorrow.  Today.  Scientists tell us the Murray/Darling needs an additional 450 gigalitres of environmental flows to re-open its mouth to the sea – the starting point for cleansing and regenerating the river. 

A Labor Government will deliver this extra flow in our first term of office, increasing it to 1500 gigalitres within a decade.  We will create the Murray/Darling Riverbank to fund the river's restoration with an initial capital injection of $150 million. 

We will also establish an Environmental Flow Trust to manage environmental flows along the river.  Labor's plan is based on good science achieving good outcomes.

The Murray/Darling is our largest river system and the most at risk, but it’s not the only river that needs attention.  Labor will implement a national system for classifying Australia’s major rivers, ensuring that we identify and protect those of high conservation value.

Stopping land clearing

If we are going to combat the salinity that is killing our land, we also have to halt land clearing.  Again, only Labor is serious about this environmental policy.

In Queensland alone, an average of more than 570,000 hectares of vegetation is cleared each year – one of the fastest land clearing rates in the world.This has resulted in the loss of an estimated 190 million trees and 100 million native mammals, birds and reptiles annually. An environmental loss of this magnitude is unsustainable and threatens Australia's biodiversity.

Last May the Beattie Government was forced to go it alone, providing $150 million to create a land clearing compensation fund, after the Howard Government reneged on its pledge to provide 50 percent of the funding for Queensland.  I want to congratulate Peter Beattie for his leadership and foresight with this decision. After the next election, he’ll have the support of a Federal Labor Government. 

Saving our environment requires a change in political behaviour – an end to the buck-passing and blame-shifting between governments.  A new focus on problem solving and sustainability.  In partnership with the States and Territories, Labor will halt the decline in Australia’s native vegetation cover caused by land clearing.

The Tasmanian Forests

Two months ago I undertook a great learning experience through the Tasmanian forests at the invitation of Bob Brown.  We need more of this in public life: first-hand experience and an objective understanding of the facts, rather than a pre-determined, dogmatic approach to public policy.

This is what I learned in Tasmania.  A huge amount has been achieved in environmental protection, with 40 percent of the State’s native forests on public land in reserve.  This is a great credit to Bob Brown, the environmental movement and Labor Leaders like Jim Bacon.  Areas like Beech Creek and Counsel River are among the most inspiring nature reserves in the world.

Our objective must be to build on these achievements, to realise new environmental goals while also protecting jobs.  This is non-negotiable for Labor.

It’s not social justice to put mature age workers with a single set of skills onto the dole queue. Working class communities in Tasmania would be devastated by such a policy.  Abandoning them would ultimately use up more resources in the rebuilding of shattered communities.  Through good planning and policy we can avoid this waste of human potential and public funds.

This is why Labor is committed to phasing out the clear-felling of old-growth forests.  Some old wood is needed to ensure the survival of the arts, crafts, furniture and boat industries in Tasmania.  The State is fortunate to have 600 experienced timber artisans who need this resource.  It should be made available through selective harvesting rather than clear-felling.

More also needs to be done to create downstream processing and value adding in the timber industry, decreasing the need for woodchip exports.

We also need to provide extra assistance to Tasmania to help cover the costs and good management of its World Heritage areas.  These are a natural resource for all Australians.  The Howard Government has reduced World Heritage funding, walking away from this national responsibility.  Labor will reverse this neglect.

Protecting our national parks

Labor will also protect our national parks.  We will ban exploration and drilling on and near the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and extend the Reef region to the Exclusive Economic Zone boundary.  This means there will be no exploration or drilling which could damage the Reef.  Our policy will also prevent run off from local agricultural activities that harm the Reef.

Labor will continue to oppose the development of new uranium mines, including Jabiluka, in the vicinity of Kakadu National Park.  We must ensure that international heritage listed sites, such as Kakadu and Uluru, retain their environmental status into the future.  And in government, Labor will also ensure that a nuclear waste dump is not imposed upon the people of South Australia.

Protecting the coast

As an island continent, more needs to be done to protect our coastline and beaches.  With 85 percent of Australians living by the coast, and more choosing a ‘sea change’ lifestyle, we’re in danger of loving our coast to death.

Our 37,000 kilometre coastline is an important fishing, tourism and environmental asset and we can’t let it be destroyed by stealth.  Inadequate development, poor planning laws, runoff from our catchment zones, damage from exotic pests and loss of coastal vegetation are despoiling our bays and ocean beaches.

A Labor Government will nominate more coastal areas for protection under World Heritage listing, starting with Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia.  We will also invest $31 million to protect the environment surrounding our coast. This will include better management of wetlands and catchment areas, improved planning and design provisions and the elimination of damaging pests and weeds.

For example, the Bitou bush has infested most of the New South Wales coast, especially around Merimbula and Bateman’s Bay.  Labor’s Beaches and Coast Policy will fund its removal.

The Urban Environment

A Labor Government will also put urban environmental issues on the national agenda.  Our lifestyle decisions can be very damaging to the environment, both in our cities and along the coast.

The environment is all-important, not just in forestry and wilderness areas, but in the places where most Australians live – our cities.  It’s time to expand the debate so that we examine the sustainability of urban policy.  Many environmental problems are city-based problems, and many environmental solutions are city-based solutions.  The environment is an urban issue. 

While land clearing, for instance, is often presented as a farm management problem, it is also a big urban issue.  Large amounts of preventable land clearing occur on the edge of our major cities.  So too, the problems of salinity and rising water tables affect residential areas.

The water debate is often limited to difficult arguments about agricultural irrigation in the Murray-Darling basin and the future of thirsty crops like cotton and rice.  In truth, the city is just as important.  Most of our capital cities have had to impose water restrictions.  More than half of all domestic water is used to flush toilets and water gardens.  Vast quantities of drinking water are also lost.  If real reductions in water use are to be achieved, urban areas must be part of the solution.

Just as many environmental problems lie in the cities, so do the answers.  A number of measures are needed to manage the environmental impact of our cities.  The Housing Industry Association, for instance, has done great work through its GreenSmart concept, promoting new technologies and practices to improve our built environment.

Building best-practice homes can eliminate waste in the construction process, as well as reduce water and energy consumption.  We have the know-how, now the challenge is to act.  I want to spread the success of good ideas like GreenSmart, not just in new homes but also in retrofitting old homes.  This is a win-win policy: big cost savings for households, big energy and water use gains for the environment.

The other big issue is urban sprawl, the over-development and congestion of our cities.  This not only weakens the environment, polluting our air and wiping out bushland, it also weakens social capital.  Every hour that a commuter spends in traffic is an hour away from his or her family and friends.  In the debate about work and family, this is a neglected issue.  People need to be able to live, work and learn in the one community.

Tackling this requires us to re-think the whole idea of the city.  Every year, a lower proportion of our population commutes to work or to shop in the centre of our capital cities.  In 1980, for instance, 50 percent of metropolitan jobs in Australia were CBD jobs.  Today the proportion is just 15 percent.

We are witnessing the rise of ‘edge cities’.  The traditional CBD model and radial transport networks are no longer sufficient.  Edge cites need to be developed with a full range of cultural, recreation and educational facilities, closer to the urban fringe. 

We need to see our cities as complex networks, self-contained on the edge, with cross-regional links and integrated public transport, rather than sprawling residential corridors.  This is the best way of meeting the public demand for a more self-contained lifestyle: living, working and learning in the same community.

This is not just an important lifestyle agenda.  It is the key to environmental sustainability.  Self-contained cities are energy efficient cities.  The big reductions in greenhouse emissions and air pollution come from cutting commuter-travelling times.  Unless all levels of government are serious about an edge city agenda, our urban environment will continue to decline.

We also need to recognise that good urban and environmental policy requires a national population policy.  Cities and States like Adelaide and Tasmania and most regional centres want more population and more migrants to sustain economic growth and service levels, while Sydney is struggling to cope.  It’s become a victim of its own success, with rising house prices, traffic congestion and over-worked infrastructure.

Our population isn’t just about overall numbers, but dispersal.  The solution lies in encouraging migrants to settle outside Sydney.  The Chifley Research Centre has made a number of recommendations aimed at achieving a target of 45 percent of new migrants settling in regional and rural Australia.   These incentives and policy options will form the basis of Labor’s plan to put Australia’s population on a more sustainable footing.

Most of the factors driving the fast pace of change in our cities are national responsibilities: globalisation, migration and major transport and service infrastructure decisions.  It is no longer sufficient for the national government to leave these matters to the States and local government.  Labor will place cities on the COAG agenda: water and energy efficiency and the integrated planning and development of edge cities.

Conclusion

Jim Fraser was a great believer in listening to the people.  He served the more than 60,000 electors of the ACT as if they were members of a local Council ward.  He was so well regarded that when he initially lost preselection for the 1969 election, more than 8,900 voters signed a petition calling for the decision to be overturned.  It was probably the only example in Australia of a US-style primary system for selecting a candidate. 

Jim turned Canberra into a safe seat, winning more than 65 percent of the primary vote at the ’69 poll.  It was said at the time that Canberra looked like Toorak but voted like Cessnock.

Part of the reason was that Jim spoke directly to the people about the issues that mattered.  Canberra in the 1950s and 60’s was trying to cope with rapid urban development – housing quality, transport links, building schools and hospitals, and the environmental impact of growth – and Jim took strong stands on all the local issues.

Along with the many committed public servants and other local representatives, Jim left Canberrans with a fine legacy – a territory that’s not only a capital city but a liveable city.

Jim’s other legacy lies in his contribution to the Labor Caucus during the great rebuilding of the Party in the 1960s.  A period when Labor established itself as the only major Party that cares for the environment and heritage of this country. 

It’s a legacy that led to the ratification of the World Heritage Convention, protected the Great Barrier Reef and the National Estate, and saved our rainforests and the Franklin River.

Our task today is to carry on this work by leaving the most important legacy of all to our children – a clean and rejuvenated national environment, an Australian contribution to a sustainable world.

That’s what I aim to achieve after the next election: a government dedicated to the environment, meeting our international responsibilities and fulfilling our national agenda, for our rivers, wildlife, forests, coastline and our cities.

That’s what I aim to achieve through the election of an Australian Labor Government.