Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to start my contribution by reading from a document. The first part is about an inland rail:

One double-stacked container train would take 276 trucks off the road, save 100,000 litres of fuel and prevent thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere on a journey from Brisbane to Melbourne.

A little bit further down in the same document:

The way society reacts to the issue of climate change will impact greatly on regional Australia. As our country grapples with the extent and effects of climate change, we must remember that agriculture is the cure, not the disease. Farmers have been adapting to the variables of the Australian climate for many years. The adoption of advanced farming techniques, such as zero-till methods of crop production, best-practice management in the irrigation industry and advanced pasture management techniques …

That document, 19 February 2008, happens to be my maiden speech to this House—nearly 14 years ago—so I will not be lectured by people on the other side about the concerns of adapting to climate change. Since that time, with the Inland Rail, in 10 days time the first grain train from Moree will go over a newly completed section of that line that is now well underway from Melbourne to Brisbane, delivering grain to the port in a much more efficient and effective manner. Since that speech, large-scale solar farms have been constructed, with the assistance of this federal government, at Broken Hill, Gunnedah, Moree, Nyngan and Nevertire, and a massive wind farm has been built at Silverton, west of Broken Hill, with proposals for a large battery to go in at Broken Hill to supplement it.

I'll just say to the people opposite: you need to get out more. For the people of my electorate, this is not a philosophical debate about what you believe. They're actually doing it. They're living it. They're adapting, they're growing to it, and they will not be lectured about their inability to adapt to climate change.

In 2020, last year, Australia invested $7.7 billion, which is equivalent to $299 per person, in renewables. That's ahead of Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the US. My electorate has the highest uptake of rooftop solar anywhere in the country, probably anywhere in the world. In places like Dubbo, 50 per cent of houses are covered by rooftop solar. We have irrigation farms that have large solar arrays, pumping water in conjunction with a hybrid diesel plant. On my own farm I have two solar arrays pumping water for livestock. In terms of the jobs that that are being proposed for the Parkes electorate, we have a lithium mine being proposed for the Fifield area, a cobalt mine being proposed for Broken Hill, a rare-earths mine at Toongi near Dubbo—thousands of jobs coming down the pipeline because of the direction, the investment and the guidance of this government.

My great frustration during this debate has been that somehow we're at the starting line of adapting to climate change. This government has been doing this since day one. We have progressed right through. It might be fine for the other side to have a scare campaign. I listened to the members in the corner here, the member for Melbourne and the member for Warringah, but I don't see any evidence in their electorates that anyone is doing anything personally to adapt to climate change. If they really meant it, we would have an offshore windfarm at Manly, or maybe North Heads could be covered in solar panels, but we don't see that. The member for Melbourne lectures day after day. I've been there at night, and they don't even turn the lights off in their offices when they go home. This is a serious issue. This government has got in place policies for the future that are going to make sure that Australia not only is doing its bit but is actually leading the world in adapting to climate change. My electorate so far has a proud record—and will continue to do so—of reducing its emissions and making our planet a better place for future generations. I will not be lectured by people here who are treating this as some sort of high school debate on who believes in something more. We actually do things in my electorate; we don't just talk about it.

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