House debates
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Bills
Clean Energy Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Household Assistance Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge — General) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Auctions) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge — Fixed Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Customs) Bill 2011, Clean Energy (Charges — Excise) Bill 2011, Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011, Climate Change Authority Bill 2011, Steel Transformation Plan Bill 2011; Consideration in Detail
8:00 pm
Sharon Grierson (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source
We hear from the other side: 'What's the hurry? What's the big need for this legislation?' The facts in this debate are simple. Climate change is real. The evidence is overwhelming. We are already seeing the impacts of a changing climate. Human activities are triggering those changes, and we are witnessing it in the global climate. The International Energy Agency has found that last year greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount and that an estimated 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon were released worldwide. The IEA advised that to avoid the worst effects of global warming we must stop short of 32 gigatonnes a year by 2020. It is worth noting that even this target is 'starting to seem impossibly optimistic.' We will act. It is important to act.
I also hear: 'Why act early? We're going out before anyone else.' No, we are not. That is not at all true. As the minister explained today, that claim conveniently ignores the action that is occurring all around the world. It disregards that it is in our national interest to be part of that change, part of that competitive economy. China is spending one per cent of its GDP on renewable energy. That is a huge market. We cannot afford to be left out of that. We want our slice of that. We cannot ignore the fact that we are the highest emitters per capita amongst developed economies. Our future prosperity does depend on us embracing change—on embracing a cleaner, carbon-free economy.
I note that the minister also drew attention to the fact that 90 countries representing 80 per cent of global emissions and over 90 per cent of the global economy have now made pledges to undertake mitigation action. China, I know, intends to have a national scheme by 2015. So it is something we cannot afford not to be part of. We are not acting early. We are acting responsibly.
People also say, 'Isn't this a great big tax on everything?' and 'Isn't this a Labor government that's putting the needs of working people aside?' No, that is not right. This is a typical Labor policy.
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