Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

which are in themselves a very important issue, but not related to this particular debate today. What it really means is that the minister had run out of excuses, run out of ideas and was running out of time. Unfortunately, that relates directly to what is happening globally. We are running out of time. This minister was given 15 minutes to explain what he and his government would be doing to tackle one of the planet’s gravest problems it faces today; the minister spent the last five minutes he had speaking about whales.

This government does not understand what needs to happen. This government just simply does not get it. Their story on climate change has been the story of two truths: an inconvenient truth, one that clearly spells out the climate change reality, the problems we face and the mounting evidence that exists—I don’t think anybody is a denialist any longer; I think people really understand it—and the propaganda truth, which is their answer to climate change. That is the government’s only solution for climate change. It will be an expensive mail-out to eight million homes, a ‘be alert but not alarmed’ fridge magnet that will somehow save the planet. I don’t think so. This is the government’s only response.

While the rest of the world tackles the serious issue of climate change, of carbon emissions, of water quality and a whole range of other problems—while there is a consensus building outside in the global community—this government spends time ridiculing experts, ridiculing the states and attacking the opposition but delivering no solution itself. This is a government that is out of control. This is a government that now exists in a permanent mode of spin and propaganda—a government that takes no action; it just puts out propaganda to say that it is looking at these issues. I think that people in the community certainly do get it. They do understand it.

This disinformation being provided by government is doing them more damage than they understand themselves. We see more money spent now on propaganda advertising campaigns than on actual programs. This is a government gone completely mad. The two truths I mention highlight the direction that Australia is going in. We need a government that will listen—a government and a minister that will understand the issues. This government says that nobody has done more than them on climate change, but what have they done?

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