Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable senator for his question. I again make the point that I made yesterday, which was this: at the last election Australians did vote for a government that would take action on climate change. I think the Australian people understand that the costs of failing to act, the costs of neglecting to act, will be far greater than the costs of responsible action now. What they have on this side of the chamber is a government which will take responsible action by ensuring the least cost path through this economic transformation to shift the Australian economy to a lower carbon future. I am waiting to see exactly what the opposition’s position on climate change is. On the one hand they want to play short-term opposition politics with it, yet Mr Nelson seems to believe that the challenge of climate change is ‘the most significant economic, political and moral challenge that will face our generation’. The question is really whether those on the other side agree with their leader that this is an issue—