Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Reid, who, on behalf of the member for Jagajaga, has brought this motion before the House. Whilst advanced and wealthy countries argue about the realities of climate change, the changes they may have to make to their way of life and the costs that those changes may cause, developing countries of the world, such as Australia's near neighbours in the South Pacific, live with the greatest fear, the greatest cost and the least ability to defend themselves from what may happen in the future if the climate change trajectory continues.

People of the South Pacific have, for decades, been close friends and partners of Australia. They have relied on Australia in times of need and they have been allies and reciprocated whenever they could. Regrettably, over recent years—and particularly during the term of the last coalition government, contrary to the comments of the member for Riverina—Australia's relationship with our Pacific neighbours has deteriorated. They have been particularly disappointed in Australia's paltry response to climate change, which in turn signalled an indifference to the serious consequences that climate change predictions posed for their people, particularly those people living in the South Pacific. These are predictions that they take seriously and which they, understandably, cannot ignore. For them, the consequences could be catastrophic.

If climate change projections continue, sea-level rises will very likely see much of their land disappear, while in the interim extreme weather events will cause massive destruction to what little infrastructure they already have. We are seeing that currently in Pakistan, with a third of that country under water and a humanitarian crisis that the world needs to respond to in order to help the people of Pakistan.

Over the past five years, in both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere, extreme weather events, including cyclones, hurricanes, floods, fires, extended droughts and changed climates, have caused the loss of thousands of lives and billions of dollars of destruction, and countless new weather records have been broken. In the Pacific region, sea-level rises of 30 centimetres have occurred since 1990 in some places, causing extensive coastal erosion, seepage of salty water into land areas, the loss of biodiversity and agricultural land and even the loss of housing. If current trends continue, by 2100, sea-level rises are predicted to reach between 0.6 metres and 1.3 metres. That level of rise would be catastrophic for many of the Pacific islands. Indeed, some of the Pacific atolls, I understand, have already disappeared.

Climate change problems in the Pacific will ultimately impact Australia as well. As a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, which was founded in 1971, Australia will be expected to respond, as it has in the past, with aid, resettlement, food, medicine and so on. It's not simply a matter that we say, 'Climate change might affect people elsewhere but our priority is here in Australia.' What happens elsewhere directly impacts on the people of Australia, and, in turn, on what we need to do to support them.

If Australia is to regain the trust and confidence of its Pacific neighbours, we must take the threats of climate change seriously—in particular the threats to the people in the Pacific area. We must take them seriously by responding with meaningful mitigation policies. That's why the Albanese government's climate change legislation, currently before the Senate, is important. That legislation represents a credible response to climate change and its impacts throughout the world.

This motion highlights the importance of Australia, once again, rebuilding its relationship with the Pacific island countries with whom we have worked together for so long—which, as I said earlier, deteriorated under the last coalition government. It's pleasing to see the Albanese government recognises that and is trying to reshape the relationship with those islands.

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