The Gillard Government welcomes the Western Australian Government's creation of the Horizontal Falls and Eighty Mile Beach marine parks.

This is in line with the work we are doing to protect our unique marine environment—which resulted in the Gillard Government creating the world's largest network of marine reserves last year.

The Eighty Mile Beach Marine Park adjoins the Eighty Mile Beach Commonwealth Marine Reserve, which I announced last November as part of the new Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network and which extends well into the continental shelf environments of this area.

"The Gillard Government has acted to protect our precious marine environment through marine reserves, just as we have done on land national parks,'' Mr Burke said.

"It really is bewildering how Norman Moore and Tony Abbott can have such a passionate opposition to national parks in the ocean. Yet when their own party does the same, Norman Moore goes missing and Tony Abbott goes missing.

"This exposes the Liberal Party's relentless negativity for what it is."