Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was quite a journey, and it's late on a Monday night, but goodness me the member for Grey just gave us a snapshot as to exactly why a big chunk of his colleagues are no longer sitting in this place. His colleagues on that side of the House, like the members for Wentworth, Goldstein and Higgins, faced electorates that were sick of the ridiculous hyperbole that we just heard from the member for Grey. He's not interested in actual reasoned discussion about why we need to do our bit as part of the international efforts to tackle climate change; he's just interested in a long, rambling contribution that didn't address the issue.

President Biden had this initiative to try and reduce the amount of methane that the international community is emitting. We know methane is a really powerful greenhouse gas, and we know that we need to reduce it. The 30 by 30 methane pledge is one that signals to the rest of the world that Australia is back. Australia takes its responsibilities on emission reduction seriously. We are here to work with our international counterparts in order to do what's required and in order to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the global efforts to tackle climate change.

The member opposite did mention a few of the different initiatives as to how we do that. Obviously there are a range of methane emissions throughout our economy. A lot of emissions seep out during production in fossil fuel industries but there is also the agricultural sector, which plays a relatively significant part in methane production in Australia. In the budget we are investing $8 million in the Sustainable Seaweed Alliance to help commercialise livestock feed with asparagopsis seaweed, which has the potential to reduce methane production by more than 95 per cent. It's a really sensible initiative, and we will wait and see the outcomes of that.

Along with the our efforts to try and bring down the amount of emissions of our heavy emitters, we have said exactly what we are going to do and to bring industry along with us. We know how important it is to bring our regional communities along, and I am proud that the Hunter Valley has a Labor member. Those communities must have strong representatives fighting for them, like my friend the member for Paterson sitting here, and indeed, you, Deputy Speaker Claydon, representing the good burgers of Newcastle.

We are looking for new technology to invest in to bring our agricultural sector with us. We know how important our agriculture sector is in Australia, unlike those opposite, who are really not offering forward-thinking solutions about how we can work with industry to tackle climate change as part of the international community's efforts to tackle climate change. The only thing those opposite have is hyperbole, fear campaigns and the sort of rubbish we just heard from the previous speaker, and not just the previous speaker, but the Leader of the Nationals, the member for New England before the last election as well. His contribution to this debate wasn't reasoned. The National Farmers' Federation said farmers are leading the charge on climate change and have earned a seat at the table. The strong assurances and partnership provided by the government means the pledge will not negatively impact farmers or the agricultural sector. That was what the National Farmers' Federation said was reasonable. It was serious. They are clearly taking the potential anxieties of the sector seriously. Let's just contrast that with the member for New England, who said, 'Grab a rifle, go out and start shooting your cattle.' That was the contribution from the member for New England.

I will ignore the interjections from the member for Kennedy. We are working with industry and with the agricultural sector. We will work with the big polluters but we will also work with the international community to make sure Australia is doing its bit. It's what our responsibility is. Instead of the doom and gloom we heard from those opposite, instead of the climate denial, the decade of climate denial is over. Australia is back. We are a responsible international citizen and we will do our bit to tackle it, including the 30 x 30 methane pledge.

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