John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I can confirm that the report indicated a number of things, including some of those alluded to by the Leader of the Opposition. It also outlined some key achievements in environmental management since 2001, including a fourfold increase in Commonwealth government spending on the environment; decreases in land clearing in many states, which in turn have had a positive impact on Australia’s biodiversity; advances in protection of the marine environment; generally good air quality in most capital cities; and, improved water management through the Commonwealth government’s national water reform agenda. The report also outlines key environment challenges for Australia, including pressures on some of our fisheries and population pressure on the coast; the need for continued waste reduction and recycling efforts; and, the poor condition of inland waters and coastal lakes in some parts of Australia. In the last five years, contrary to what is implied in the Leader of the Opposition’s question, the government has invested an unprecedented amount of funding in the environment—namely, $10.3 billion. That is an average additional payment of $2 billion a year.

The response of the opposition is, ‘That’s of no account. What you have to do is sign up to the present Kyoto protocol.’ The reasons we have not signed the current Kyoto protocol are manifold. One of them is that, even if everybody met their emission target, you would have a total of one per cent reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions. Another reason—particularly important to the interests of those Australian communities that depend on the resources sector, on the coal industry—is that if we had signed the Kyoto protocol in its current form it could have put Australian industry at a competitive disadvantage. The Leader of the Opposition is entitled to advocate that policy, but I am for the coalminers and the coal industry of this country. I am not going to have their great industry put at a competitive disadvantage. We need to do even more in relation to climate change. We need to invest even more heavily in clean coal technology. We also need to have an open-minded debate of ideas, including a debate on nuclear power.

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