Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your election as Deputy Speaker. I say to the previous speaker, who isn't a bad bloke: for goodness sake, speak about facts when it comes to climate change. Yes, we should listen to the facts and we should listen to the science, because the science is very clear: we need to act. And the facts are very clear: by acting, we can actually create economic activity and create jobs.

The fact is that, in our first month in office, we updated our nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement to reflect the target that we were elected on—43 per cent by 2030—and to set Australia on the path to net zero by 2050. We sent a message to the world, to our friends, to business and to our trading partners that, for the first time in a decade, Australia has a government that takes climate change seriously. We have a government that understands the opportunity which is there, particularly for the regions, in acting on climate change.

Passing this legislation will send a great message to the people of Australia—that we are taking real action on climate change, that the decade of inaction and denial is over, and that Australia is out of the naughty corner in international forums and is once again engaging with the global community, who understand the importance of acting on climate change and understand that this is not just an environmental issue but the biggest economic transformation that we will see globally in our lifetime—as big and as significant as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was based upon fossil fuels. It brought great prosperity, but we also know that it is changing our climate. That is why we need to respond to the science. Australians knows that, by responding, we can create that certainty and can drive new jobs, new industries with new technologies and a new era of prosperity for Australian manufacturing.

This legislation is also about our national security. One thing we found when it came to the pandemic was that Australia needs to be more self-reliant. We need to be able to stand up for ourselves and our economy and to be more self-sufficient. One of the things that cleaner, cheaper energy will do is drive advanced manufacturing in this country. We should continue to export our resources that we have, but where possible we should value add because when you value add you create jobs and economic activity there.

The risks of climate change are here right now. This isn't some economic debate in an academic journal. Australians in recent times have experienced first drought then bushfires, flood and more flood. Australians have experienced the catastrophic consequences on human beings, families and communities. They've also experienced the economic costs of climate change, with whole towns destroyed by fire and with devastation by floods. Some parts of Sydney in the member for Macquarie's electorate have been impacted by bushfires and then three floods in a very short period of time. I don't know what it will take for those opposite to wake up and say: 'Yes, we were wrong. The science is clear. The science told us that there would be more extreme weather events and they would be more intense, and that is what is happening.'

I remember when the bushfires were occurring here and government members and ministers were standing up saying: 'How dare you relate that to climate change. That that was being woke.' The people of regional Australia and the people impacted by those bushfires, whether they be in Gippsland, Eden-Monaro, the Blue Mountains or other communities on the North Coast of New South Wales, know the harsh reality of climate change. That's why we've seen a real transformation in the amount of support that is there for action.

I thank those on the crossbenches who have been prepared to engage with us constructively on this legislation. They've been prepared to put forward their ideas within the parameters that we weren't about to change—our essential mandate that we had of 43 per cent by 2030. When you put in place the mechanisms that are there in the Powering Australia plan, you will see the market operating to drive that change through the economy and to drive those jobs through the economy. That will drive that change.

We also understand that we need to bring communities with us, to make sure, where there are changes in the nature of work in communities, that communities aren't left behind. We're determined to do that as well. That's why, when we signed the nationally determined contribution to the UNFCCC, the minister and I stood in front of the Business Council of Australia's secretary and president, the Australian Industry Group representing Australian manufacturers, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Farmers Federation, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Clean Energy Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation and others, including Greenpeace and others who've come out in support.

What you have is people not quietly but loudly screaming out for action, saying, 'Enough is enough.' We need to actually get on with the business of transition, of putting in place structures that will encourage that investment to occur. Because when that investment occurs, we know, from the modelling that we did through RepuTex, over 600,000 jobs will be created, and half a million of those will be in regional and rural Australia. We know the incredible opportunity there will be from the change that will happen in our economy.

We see it with innovative Australian businesses. We particularly see it in the regions. Projects like Sun Cable, which will be the world's largest solar farm, will use renewable energy. Those opposite are a bit obsessed by nuclear. Well this is the largest solar power plant. It's power's from up in the sky—and it's free! The Sun Cable project will use solar power to help power up to, and perhaps beyond, 20 per cent of Singapore's power needs. This is what we mean when we talk about being a renewable energy superpower, as Australia can actually export that energy. And, because it's renewable, because it's free, it's not finite. It's infinite what we can achieve in this century, whereby renewables will dominate the century as we go forward. That's why this is such an opportunity.

The market for batteries, for example, is only going to grow. We've already introduced our legislation to make electric vehicles cheaper. We have nickel, we have copper, we have lithium, we have everything that goes into a battery. Why aren't we making things here? There's not a solar panel in the world that doesn't have some intellectual innovation that was created here in Australia at UNSW or ANU just up the road. But we hardly make any of them here. If we actually open our eyes to the opportunities, we can transform this economy. We can create jobs. We can make such an enormous difference going forward.

I think this is as important a piece of legislation as will come before this parliament. It's a matter, as well, of our responsibility, and I say this to the young people out there: when you know that pollution is being created, you have a responsibility to act on it. Just as we don't accept people just putting their rubbish on the ground so someone else will pick it up, we have a responsibility to not say, 'We won't worry about emissions; we'll worry about future generations fixing it.' We have a great responsibility to this beautiful island continent that we live on to make sure we act on climate change. This government will. And then we can tell our children we stepped up, we took responsibility and we met the moment.

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