Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

To the member for Bass, let me make this point. Firstly, as I noted earlier, you were personally an absolute champion, an indefatigable champion, for the Tamar River recovery program. Secondly, as one of the Tasmanian team, the member for Bass, along with all others advocated for the replenishment of the Antarctic program.

There are two parts to this: the capital acquisition and the research. The interesting thing is that the need for a new icebreaker was self-evident. The Aurora Australis is the best part of two decades old. It has really reached the end of its operation lifetime, which will be strung out for longer perhaps than it should be, but I am assured that all the safety protocols can be met. Nevertheless, we have needed for some years now a new icebreaker. In this budget we made the commitment to acquire a new icebreaker, and the funding has been set aside. There was a black hole—critical national infrastructure was not funded. It is now funded. The exact amount will be subject to a tender but, as I have said elsewhere and earlier, a global figure of $500 million covers the cost of the icebreaker and the Bureau of Meteorology's supercomputer easily.

What will this do? It will allow us to have a world-class research platform. It will allow us to have a world-class logistics and supply vessel. It will enable us to reinforce the bases at Mawson, Davis and Casey. In particular, it will allow us to ensure that our sovereignty is established beyond any point of doubt whatsoever. Under the Antarctic protocols and treaties, what is fundamental is usage, and if you are not maintaining a presence and usage then you place at risk your claim for sovereignty. For all those reasons, the new icebreaker is fundamental. But in terms of scientific research we could not have a more valuable fundamental platform.

This brings me to the second part of our commitment. There are three programs which we have endorsed which are going to assist with the long-term research and logistics capability of our Antarctic program and are all about establishing Tasmania as the global gateway for Antarctic activity. Firstly, we have reaffirmed the $25 million for the cooperative research centre on Antarctica. Secondly, we have established the global gateway partnership between the University of Tasmania, the CSIRO and the magnificent staff at the Antarctic Division—all world-class researchers, but I am particularly proud of the researchers at the Antarctic Division led by Tony Fleming.

The third thing we have done is to provide $48 million for the extension of the Hobart runway. That $48 billion serves many purposes. It serves purposes for general commerce, general tourism and general trade within Tasmania, but in particular it equips the runway to be a logistics hub for activity in and out of the Antarctic. When you put the new ship, the new research and the runway together, this is the biggest single investment in Australia's Antarctic program in Australian history. This is a very important step forward. It is critical. It is the right thing to do for the environment. It is the right thing to do economically, because many other countries have expressed deep interest in having Hobart or Tasmania as their logistics hub for Antarctic activities. And it is the right thing to do in terms of our national strategic interest.

Just before I conclude, I want to thank all the members of the department and my office who worked on the budget. The department staff were led by Matt Whitfort. He and his team did an extraordinary job during the process of the budget preparation. Within my office, I want to thank my chief of staff, Wendy Black, and Tamay Rigzin, as well as all the other staff.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Agriculture Portfolio

Proposed expenditure, $485,125,000

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