Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

This is a big day. In this job we stand up here to speak a lot. Most of the time you feel or, at least, hope that what you are saying is being heard and that it matters—not all of the time, but most. On Monday, I spoke about what a privilege it is to be able to represent the people of Cooper in this House. I said that, when your term comes to an end, and also at the end of your life, you want to look back and say that you spent your time here with pride, that you made a difference, that you made a genuine, meaningful contribution.

Today, being part of the government legislating the climate change bills feels like a moment I will remember. The Climate Change Bill 2022 and the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022 are the circuit-breaker pieces of legislation which will kickstart our government's actions in tackling the climate emergency. These bills legislate Australia's emissions targets: a 43 per cent reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

As my colleagues, the minister and the Prime Minister have said, these targets are a floor; they are not a ceiling. They set the floor of our ambition in stone. For so long, when I've spoken to the experts, scientists, economists and researchers about what is holding Australia back from the rapid transition we've seen overseas, they've told me it's about providing certainty and sending a clear message to industry, to investors, to the public and to the world that we have a government that is serious about climate action, has genuine ambition and will put in place the policy settings necessary to enable such a transition.

As we carry out this work, we won't be engaging in policy on the run or policy by thought bubble like the previous government. We will be informed by the experts. The legislation will bring them back to the table by requiring independent expert advice from the Climate Change Authority when it comes to future emissions reductions targets and the actions we take to reach them. This advice will be public, and the minister will be obliged to both formally respond to it and take it into account in decision-making.

This has been sorely missing over the last decade. We saw a deliberate hollowing out of expertise from our Public Service under successive coalition governments. They chose to bury the evidence, ignore the experts and turn their backs not only on the dangers of climate change and the emissions that were happening on their watch but also on the opportunities that come from good climate action.

Our government is committed to returning transparency and accountability to this area. By requiring the minister to make an annual statement to parliament on the progress the government is making on climate change, governments can no longer avoid scrutiny. They will be directly accountable to the parliament and to the people and will have to explain the results of their actions with reference to independent expert advice.

These measures, contained in the Climate Change Bill, lay the foundations—rock-solid foundations—for Australia's climate action in the years and decades to come. They enable action and they bring certainty. They commit our government to emissions reductions and hold us accountable for getting the work done. There have been conversations in the media as to whether it's necessary to legislate, but what I say in response to that is: 'We want to get this right. We want to be beyond reproach and completely transparent, laying our cards on the table and committing future governments to doing the same.' This bill achieves that, and I'm incredibly proud to speak in support of it today.

The second bill, the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill starts the work of rolling out climate action across the whole of government. We know that, in order to do the real work of tackling emissions and addressing the climate emergency, we cannot look at industries, sectors and emitters in silos. We need to take the whole economy into account with a whole-of-government approach, embedding climate action and our climate targets in everything we do.

As assistant minister in the Health and Aged Care portfolio, I know this includes our health system. I was a founding member of CAHA, the Climate and Health Alliance, and have campaigned not only to reduce the emissions and waste from our health system for years but also to raise awareness of the serious health impacts of climate change. So I'm pleased to be an assistant minister in a government committed to making climate change a national health priority and to developing Australia's first national framework on climate change and health.

This bill ensures we embed similar action in a number of other Commonwealth agencies and schemes. This includes the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, two agencies we fought tooth and nail to defend against years of coalition attacks. It just makes sense that these agencies should have the emissions reduction targets at the core of what they do. It's madness that it's taken up until now to make it happen. This bill will insert the targets into the work of Export Finance Australia, Infrastructure Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Importantly, it inserts work towards the Paris Agreement into the functions of the CSIRO, the Climate Change Authority and our climate laws.

The previous government turned their backs on their obligations under the Paris Agreement. Under their complete lack of leadership, Australia was put squarely in the naughty corner by the rest of the world. We've all seen the reactions of world leaders to our Prime Minister since the election—simply put, they are relieved. And what this legislation says to the world is that Australia now has a government that takes climate change seriously, that knows the important role Australia has to play in climate action and that we now have a government that's taking action that all Australians can be proud of.

The swift action from the minister and Prime Minister in updating our nationally determined contribution to the United Nations sent a strong message in our first days of government. This bill, which we're hoping to pass through parliament prior to the next Conference of the Parties meeting in November, will be the next clear signal to the world that the grown-ups are back. I call on every member of this parliament to work with us to make sure that happens.

If you believe in climate action, you should vote for these bills. If you believe in ending the climate wars, you should vote for these bills. If you want Australia to return as a global leader in climate action, you should vote for these bills. I don't think I'm alone—in fact, I know that my electorate and communities around the country are behind me—when I say that I want the division in this place and beyond to end when it comes to climate action. We need to start coming together.

I'd like to commend the minister for his work in bringing people together on climate action. This is no small task, but, through careful consultation, he has done an incredible job bringing unions, environmental groups, business groups and hopefully our crossbench groups together to come behind these bills. He has done the legwork out in the community to put an end to the climate wars.

I'd advise all members from across the political spectrum in this place to pause and reflect on the amazing amount of work that has been done in this place, and on the opportunity we are presented with by this legislation. As I've said, it sets out very firm foundations from which we can leap, from which our government's climate action can move beyond. These bills deserve the parliament's support and I hope to see them pass with multipartisan support.

In passing these bills, we can confidently get moving on the massive task ahead. We find ourselves in an incredibly transformative period, particularly now that our country has a government with the will to tackle climate change head on, and to grasp the opportunity that climate action brings with it. By sending signals to Australia and investors that our government will back in renewables, will back in future technologies, will back in low-emission technologies, we know we will be spurring investments in new projects. And that, of course, means jobs—new jobs, more jobs, good jobs.

We know Labor's Powering Australia plan, which we took to the election—the most comprehensive climate policy of any party—will deliver 604,000 jobs. It's a huge and wonderful undertaking. Powering Australia means massive investment in renewable energy generation, in transmission and in projects that will reduce emissions from the industries that today contribute significantly. It will empower individuals and families to adopt the low-emissions technologies of the future, like electric vehicles.

The former government failed Australians by turning their back on these opportunities, through their refusal to act and, for some of their members, their refusal to even acknowledge climate change is real. They scared off investment, they squandered opportunities—opportunities for the massive job creation we will see from Powering Australia.

I have spoken to companies who will deliver this technology. It's projects like the Star of the South, which was put on hold while the previous minister let the approvals collect dust on their desk. That's a project that is anticipated to deliver 2,000 jobs and around 20 per cent of the energy needed to power the entire state of Victoria. And for pure political reasons, in order to continue stoking the tensions of the climate wars, the previous minister did nothing to get that project moving or to deliver those jobs for workers in Gippsland and across Victoria.

I've also spoken to companies with solar farms that would have loved to expand, but they were already producing more power than the grid could handle. That is absurd. These projects were ready to go: they had the investment ready, they had done the work and they had jobs lined up for communities. Yet the inaction of the former government squandered them. Today is a step forward for those jobs—jobs for the communities that have powered Australia for so long, the communities that have the most to gain from the climate action we desperately need to take.

In concluding I'd like to reflect on the campaigners who have worked so hard over the decades to get us here. I have said many times, both personally and in this place, that the activists in my electorate provide a mountain of advice, expertise and strength to me in pushing for greater climate action. I cannot thank you enough. You all know who you are—from the members of my Climate and Environment Reference Group to the Darebin Climate Action Now people, the Tomorrow Movement activists, the school strikers, the Parents for Climate Action, our forest activists and our creek groups, and the list goes on. If I name individuals, I know I will forget someone and I will never forgive myself. Thank you. The level of expertise and passion in my electorate for climate action I think is almost second to none. These bills and our party's strong commitment are a credit to each and every one of you.

I know we are living in a climate emergency. I know how urgent it is that we take action, and so does this government. I've told you since I was elected that I would stand up for real change. Well, I stand here today as a member of the government supporting these climate bills that will begin to deliver that change. I have to tell you that I'm just a little bit proud. I can't wait to continue the work alongside all of you back home.

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