Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Climate Change Bill 2022. Bringing people together is what the Albanese government is all about. We're about bringing together those millions of Australians who want sensible, lasting action on climate change. We're about bringing together the states, the territories, investors, business, unions, the community and, with this legislation, parliamentarians. We're about together delivering the strongest and most ambitious climate policy to ever become law of this land. This is what we achieve when we do work together. This is the message we send to our communities across Australia—that we can work together and we can, after a wasted decade, get moving once again.

Look at the message we send about Australia across the globe. We send the message that Australia will be a renewable energy superpower. We deliver this legislation by working together, consulting widely and, in one of many changes from the previous government, we are not only consulting a committee of one, the member for New England; we have consulted across the parliament.

I'm pleased to support this legislation and the sensible amendments which enable us to deliver on Labor's election platform—including the amendment from the member for Curtin, which sensibly states that we will ensure that we are 'drawing on the best available scientific knowledge'. It's very sensible, and I commend the member for Curtin for that amendment. And I'm pleased that the Albanese Labor government is delivering on our commitment to the Australian people.

I must say, I respect the opposition for honouring their commitments: their commitment to denial, their commitment to making it a full decade of inaction, their commitment to those nine wasted years and all of the policy chaos that they choose to continue and their commitment to an obsession with nuclear power. Their commitment goes all the way back to when they elected a leader of the Liberal Party who believed that climate change was 'absolute crap'. Their commitment means they now have a leader who—I'll quote from the Guardian, 'Peter Dutton jokes with Tony Abbott about rising sea levels in Pacific nations'. Their commitment means they had a deputy prime minister who said that the Pacific islands will survive the climate crisis because they 'pick our fruit'—that's real commitment there. Their commitment means that they have chosen a leader now, in the Leader of the Opposition, who was described by former Prime Minister Turnbull as leading an 'insurgency' against him and leading an extraordinary 'madness'. And, if you think that's all in the past, I'm sorry to say that I see an article in the Oz from today, 3 August, that says, 'There is a new climate war looming around the Liberal Party.' So I give them full marks for consistency in their climate denialism.

But despite the opposition, today it has become clear that the climate change bill will pass both chambers of parliament, creating jobs, reducing emissions and delivering on the promise that was made to the people of Australia at the election on 21 May. I think it's really worth noting—and I will conclude with these points, because I want to see this bill become the law of the land; that means that some of us might have to cut our speeches a little short—that there is one very simple reason why we can put this legislation through the parliament: communities across Australia chose to change who they sent to this place, including communities across Western Australia, where the member for Burt and I campaigned incredibly strongly to make sure that Western Australia sent people who wanted action on climate change and wanted legislation passed through this parliament.

I've sat in this place and listened to incredibly inspiring speeches from new members. I won't quote them all, but I will quote the member for Swan; it is great to have the member for Swan now serving her community in this place. In a beautiful speech around climate change, she put it so simply when she said:

Climate action is good for people, the community, the environment and the economy … We've had the climate election. The climate war is over. Climate ambition is back!

That was a brilliant speech.

We had the member for Hasluck ask what Australia will look like in 20 years time on the basis on the decisions we made in this, the 47th Parliament. She said: 'an Australia that can look back over 20 years of sure action on climate change and be proud, and more than a little relieved'.

We had the member for Pearce give a brilliant speech, in which she talked about her strong community values and the sense that she is here as the community of Pearce, in all its colour and vibrancy, representing them so brilliantly in this place. She said:

I am proud that our government has a strategy and target of achieving net zero by 2050. It is an investment in our local and global futures.

It's so true, and I commend the member for Pearce for that speech.

As for our other fabulous new West Australian colleague, the member for Tangney, we'll have to wait until September for his first speech, but I'm looking forward to it.

I'll conclude with this. This bill is what the people of Perth have been calling for. This bill is what the people of Perth have sent me to vote for. This bill, and the policies within it, I've consulted on with the now minister in forums in my electorate, and I'm proud to support this legislation becoming the law of Australia.

See this speech in context