Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

That is the figure of ABARE. If you wish to challenge it, do so; but we have yet to see any credible challenge. So we draw a distinction here between two things: between the action at present and the hypocrisy as presented by the now fleeing member for Grayndler. The action on the one hand is what has occurred under the current watch and leadership of Senator Ian Campbell, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, the foreign minister and the Prime Minister; and what is being alleged by, and the silence and hypocrisy that comes from, our friends on the other side of the chamber.

Minister Campbell has done essentially three critical things in Australian greenhouse policy, which has put Australia at the forefront of international initiatives on greenhouse. Firstly, he has said clearly and categorically that from a government perspective there is an acceptance of the science. He has done that. He has pushed the position forward and he has made it absolutely clear. It is a categorical position and it is one which is underpinned by $1.9 billion in investment by the Australian government. Secondly, he has acknowledged and been an international advocate for the fact that there has to be a 50 per cent reduction globally in greenhouse gases over the course of this century. That is not a denial. That is not the action of somebody who wants to see something hidden. That is a bold and courageous pronouncement, and it sets over the coming years the direction, the test and the challenge for Australian policy. We make no apologies for that hard position.

The third, and I think the most profound and the most significant, thing the minister for the environment—along with the minister for industry and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with the support of the Prime Minister—has done is to help establish and found the Asia-Pacific partnership, or the Sydney partnership, as it is sometimes known. That brought together countries that produce 50 per cent of the world’s emissions. It brought together Australia, the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and India. China and India are the largest emerging economies in the world, economies which for the most part are not included and not covered by Kyoto. This addresses a volume much greater than Kyoto does. This partnership sets those countries together on a path which included the world’s first true greenhouse gas aid initiative, something which was dismissed by not just the member for Grayndler but also the Leader of the Opposition. Unfortunately for them the member for Batman pulled the rug out from underneath them and showed precisely that it was a worthy initiative and a critical initiative. That is what we have done on the one hand.

I can talk also about my own experience here. Dr Geoff Love, the Director of the Bureau of Meteorology, an organisation for which I have responsibility, very early on in my career talked about the reality of climate change. My view is very simple: you make that case directly and as forcefully as possible to as senior people as possible in the government. That presentation was made to senior ministers, with the support of Senator Ian Campbell, the foreign minister and the industry minister. It was critical in doing two things: firstly, in encouraging action within the Bureau of Meteorology—

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