Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The Green Army is designed to tackle climate change, and I am talking about tackling climate change. On tackling climate change, then Prime Minister John Howard said:

Australia will more than play its part to address climate change but will do it in a practical and balanced way in full knowledge of the economic consequences for our nation.

He was not talking about Direct Action; he was not talking about using taxpayers' money to subsidise polluters; he was talking about the introduction of an ETS. Following the election, then Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson also put the coalition support behind an ETS. He said:

We believe in an emissions trading scheme. We believe in a cap and trade system.

Of course, famously, Dr Nelson's successor as Leader of the Opposition, the member for Wentworth, is the No. 1 fan of the ETS. He put it very succinctly when he said:

You won't find an economist anywhere that will tell you anything other than that the most efficient and effective way to cut emissions is by putting a price on carbon

Sadly, the most recent change in leadership heralded a policy backflip and, for reasons unknown, an ETS has fallen out of favour with the coalition. Today, I ask those opposite to consider whether they really believe that the policy combination of the Green Army and Direct Action is a sufficient response to climate change. I ask them to listen to the experts, the scientists and the economists, to remember their own comments made not so long ago and to commit to a market based solution to climate change—a cap-and-trade ETS.

I also urge those opposite to wake up to the fact that, no matter how much merit this program might have as a vocational training program, it is no solution to climate change. An emissions trading system is the only way forward. (Time expired)

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