Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

These figures are from CSIRO reports, Climate Institute reports and various other reports. So CSIRO is spreading a scare campaign according to those opposite.

Then we have a further report from the Climate Institute of 1,200 to 1,400 more heat related deaths a year in major population centres. Putting all those things into their global context—the impact of overall temperature rises—the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that the global economic costs associated with an increase in average global temperatures of 2.5 degrees could cost between 1.5 per cent and two per cent of global GDP a year. The case on this question is clear for those who are responsible about long-term planning for Australia’s economy, long-term planning for the future of our rural industries, long-term planning for the future of our public health and long-term planning in terms of what needs to be done to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

This government came to the election with a very clear-cut policy. We would ratify Kyoto. Those opposite remained committed to opposing the ratification of Kyoto. Prior to the election we were committed to the introduction of something called an emissions-trading scheme. Prior to the election, those opposite were also committed to the introduction of an emissions-trading scheme. Prior to the election, those opposite committed further on the question of an ETS. They said that the transport sector should be included in that ETS—and the member for Wentworth seeks to hide once again in his notes. The bottom line is that, if you are responsible about long-term planning for the environment, it means embracing these long-term challenges.

We have a clear-cut strategy for dealing with climate change, a clear-cut strategy for dealing with emissions trading and a clear-cut strategy when it comes to acting on new technologies which assist in dealing with what is not just a global problem but—

See this speech in context