Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware of analysis cited in the report of the Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change that a two- to three-degree Centigrade increase in the temperature could (1) bleach 97 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef, directly threatening a $1.5 billion tourism industry; (2) reduce livestock-carrying capacity by 40 per cent, directly threatening $17 billion in livestock exports over time; and (3) reduce water flows in the Murray-Darling by 15 per cent, resulting in reduced irrigation and a decline in GDP of three-quarters of a billion a year. In the light of these disturbing projections cited by business, why won’t the Prime Minister direct the Treasurer to commission detailed modelling of the impact of climate change on the Australian economy and on jobs?

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