Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Speaker. It is a real pleasure to see you back in your role. It's a privilege for me to be back in this place as the member for Jagajaga. This is now my third opening of a parliament, and while I don't yet think I'm at the nostalgia stage, the ceremony and the first speeches of the past few days have certainly prompted some reflections for me.

I have in particular been thinking about one of the things that was a huge prompt for me to first stand for parliament, and that is the need for us to urgently tackle the climate crisis. When I first ran for parliament we were well into the decade of Liberal-National climate denial. It was a time when Scott Morrison brought his lump-of-coal prop into question time. At that time for me—and I think for many Australians—thinking about the need for climate action and the lack of it under successive Liberal-National governments could make you tend towards despair. The denial of successive Liberal-National governments meant we were drifting further and further away from the actions that needed to be taken.

In general, I am not someone who tends to lean into despair. I try to lean towards hope. A lot of that hope for me was realised in our first term in government. As a government we have been—and we are—working hard to recover the lost time and the lost opportunities, and we are making real progress. Labor is the party of climate action. We've legislated a 2030 emissions reduction target. We've locked in our commitment to net zero by 2050. We're investing heavily in clean energy projects. Since coming to office we've approved a record number of clean energy projects, and we're now at a stage where we're powering homes across the nation. From 1 July we launched our Cheaper Home Batteries Program, providing a 30 per cent discount on battery systems. We're scaling up climate adaptation, investing in disaster preparedness—all of this work that I am pleased with and looking forward to getting stuck into supporting in my role as the Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. I'm very aware that we're not all the way there yet. We must still push ahead with the ambitious action that allows us to land the clean economy future that this country deserves—the one that I want my kids and generations to come to benefit from.

There are still risks, and there are still deniers in the ranks. Most notably, there are deniers in the ranks opposite. Most recently is the member for New England, who's proposing the Liberal-National coalition abandon net zero. In his recent words:

… you have to find issues which are binary, which you are fully for and the Labor Party is fully against.

I suppose we've come to expect this type of attitude towards our science and climate action from the member for New England, but I must admit I was slightly disappointed to see he's being joined by the member for Riverina. I expected better from the member for Riverina, who I've always held to be quite a sensible person. The member for Maranoa seems like he might want in on the action as well. He's leaning into suggesting that perhaps net zero needs to go. The Leader of the Opposition has today refused to affirm her commitment to net zero. So, once again, we're back in the situation where those opposite are either deniers or they're a climate rabble. I say to the many Australians who I know are still deeply concerned about the need for climate action, who are urging our government to succeed in tackling this crisis, that we are up to the task, and we certainly won't be wasting this opportunity that this new parliament gives us to get on with this most crucial of jobs.

My final point of reflection tonight is once again not nostalgia, but it is deep sadness. Throughout the ceremonies and moments of the past few days of the parliament's opening, I've so deeply missed my good friend the former member for Dunkley, Peta Murphy. Peta and I gave our first speeches on the same day, six years ago. We spent the opening of the 47th parliament together, and I so vividly remember her excitement and her determination as we approached that first term of a Labor government. She made her time count, her determination aptly demonstrated—I told myself I would not cry! You don't need length of service in this place to make a difference. I so desperately wish we could have celebrated the opening of this parliament together, and I do feel like I carry a little piece of her with me into this one. I send my love to Rod, to her parents and to her sister, who I know must feel this ache even more constantly than I do, and I know I'm not the only person here who holds a little bit of Peta and her memory close into this new parliament.

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