The decisions we make today will shape the Australia that future generations will inherit. They deserve to enjoy the places we love and to look forward in confidence. We have a responsibility to act now to protect that future. Climate change affects the homes we live in and the natural places that we care about. It affects decisions families make about their future. Our response will help shape the lives of children growing up across Griffith and across Australia today.

I am proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government that accepts that responsibility and acts on it. We have legislated stronger emission reduction targets. We are helping Australians install batteries and making cleaner cars more accessible. We're investing in renewable energy and supporting industry to cut pollution. The Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026 continues this work. This is a bill to help deliver emissions reductions that Australians can trust. It supports people doing valuable work on the land and strengthens the rules that make their contribution count. I support the bill with the same purpose that guides my wider work on climate and the environment: protecting the people and places we love and giving the next generation a safer future.

Across Griffith, people already give their time to that work. I think of the volunteers with the Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, the Norman Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee and the many environmental groups we have right across Griffith. They care for waterways and restore the habitat that wildlife needs. Their work takes patience. Native plants need care after they go in the ground. Sadly, weeds return. A patch of damaged creek takes time to recover, yet people keep turning up. They bring their knowledge, their energy and willingness to get their hands dirty.

During Landcare Week I spoke about environmental care starting in our own communities. Our local groups show us what that looks like, and I am grateful for the work and for the care that they give to places that belong to all of us. Future generations should be able to see native wildlife close to home and enjoy our creeks and bushland. The care we give these places today will help make that possible. The people working towards that future deserve a government that does its share. Our national responsibility is to reduce the emissions driving climate change alongside the work to protect and restore nature. Local care and national action must support each other.

Australians understand how much extreme weather can take from a family or a community, and certainly all of the residents in my community of Griffith know this. CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology tell us Australia is experiencing more extreme heat, longer fire seasons and more intense and heavy rainfall. Their findings give us clear reason to act. For me, that means listening to the science and getting on with the work. It means making decisions now that give future generations better prospects in the decades ahead. There is hope in that responsibility. We have ways to cut emissions, and Australians are already using them. We can generate electricity from sun and wind. We can store more of that power and use it in our homes, cars and workplaces. Government can and should help make those choices available to more people, and that is the work the Albanese Labor government has undertaken and is work that I am proud to support.

One of our first acts in government was to give Australia clear, legislated climate targets. We legislated a 43 per cent reduction in emissions below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. We have since set a target to reduce emissions by 62 to 70 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035, accepting the independent advice from the Climate Change Authority. Those commitments give Australians a clear measure of what their government must work to deliver. They help businesses plan investment and give communities a basis for holding us to account. I am proud that Labor has set that direction. I am proud that we are backing it with policies that change how Australia produces and uses energy.

Our task is to turn those commitments into lower emissions year after year. That requires sustained work across our economy. It means supporting new electricity generation and helping households use clean energy. It means working with industries whose equipment and processes take longer to change. Every part of that work needs attention. A national target brings those efforts together and keeps our responsibility in view, and we are seeing results. The national inventory update released in August estimated that Australia's emissions fell by 7.5 million tonnes over the year to March 2026. Renewable generation helped drive a 5.6 million tonne reduction in electricity emissions. There is more to do, but those reductions are real progress. They give us good reason to keep going. Our goal of 82 per cent renewable electricity by 2030 is central to that effort.

Australia has extraordinary solar and wind resources, and we have the opportunity to put them to work for households and businesses across the country. The Albanese Labor government is supporting investment in new renewable generation and storage through the Capacity Investment Scheme. We are investing in the electricity connections needed to carry that power to the places that use it, and we should celebrate the progress already made. Renewables supplied more than half of the national electricity market's electricity across the final quarter of 2025. Last month, that market recorded its lowest monthly fossil fuel generation on record. Queensland, my home state, recorded its lowest monthly fossil fuel generation in more than 26 years of the market's history. These changes reflect years of work by people building projects, installing systems and making decisions about the energy they use. They reflect the value of a government committed to clean energy and prepared to support its growth. We have come a long way. The next step is to keep building the generation, storage and connections needed for reliable electricity with lower emissions. That work deserves persistence. It deserves a government willing to make the decisions and deliver the investment required.

For many households, the clean-energy story starts on their own roof, and that is very true in my community of Griffith. A family with solar panels can generate power during the day. A home battery lets them save some of it for later, including the evening, as everyone comes home and electricity use rises. Our Cheaper Home Batteries Program helps families meet the upfront costs of their battery. By August, Australians had installed more than half a million batteries under the program. In my community of Griffith, 2,258 solar batteries have been installed, with a combined usable storage capacity of 66,090 kilowatt hours. That gives our community more capacity to save solar power during the day and use it after sunset. It means more households can use their own solar electricity after the sun goes down. They can buy less power from the grid and gain greater control over their energy use.

The savings differ between households, but the purpose is clear: we want more Australians to benefit from cleaner energy and lower running costs. I'm proud that our government is helping make that possible. Families should be able to take part in climate action in ways that work for their household budget. Support with up-front costs can bring a purchase within their reach and help them benefit for years afterwards. We must keep extending those benefits to renters and people without suitable rooftops. Everyone has a stake in affordable electricity and a cleaner energy system.

We are bringing that same practical focus to transport. For a family choosing a car, the cost of running it is part of that decision. People need a vehicle that suits their work, their children and the trips they make each week. Labor wants Australians to have more choice in cleaner, cheaper-to-run vehicles. Our electric car policies and the new vehicle efficiency standards support that choice. They encourage suppliers to bring a cleaner range of vehicles to Australia. By September, cumulative Australian electric vehicle sales had reached more than half a million, and I see that shift on our own streets, in my own community. Since 2022 the number of hybrid electric vehicles in Griffith has increased by 141 per cent. The number of fully electric vehicles has increased by 573 per cent over that same period. More local people are choosing cleaner cars for their everyday trips. For households that are able to charge from rooftop solar, an electric car can help reduce running costs. A suitable home battery can help them use stored solar power at other times. These are practical changes in how Australians power their daily lives.

The bill makes small timing changes to help the vehicle standard operate as intended. Its broader purpose remains to support cleaner vehicles and lower emissions. We will keep helping Australians access choices that suit their needs and reduce the cost of getting around. Cutting emissions requires work beyond our homes and roads. Farmers, landholders and First Nations communities can contribute through projects that reduce pollution or store carbon in the land. The Australian Carbon Credit Units Scheme helps pay for that work. An approved project might grow native vegetation that stores carbon. Another might capture methane from waste. Projects earn credits for verified results, and those credits can be sold to help fund the work. Each credit represents one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions avoided or stored, measured in carbon dioxide equivalent.

Put simply, the scheme gives people a financial reason to undertake additional work that benefits the climate. For a landholder, that can provide another source of income. For a regional community, it can support employment. A well-designed native planting can provide habitat alongside its contribution to storing carbon. Those benefits are worth pursuing. Our largest industrial facilities can use eligible credits to help meet their emissions obligations under the safeguard mechanism that supports reductions elsewhere as industry invests in cleaner operations and develops new technology.

The quality of those credits is important to our climate goals. We need confidence that the work has delivered the reduction claimed. That is where this bill makes its contribution. This bill strengthens scrutiny of carbon projects and gives the regulator better tools to address problems. It improves independent oversight and supports greater public access to emissions information. It allows future government purchasing to consider wider benefits, including benefits for nature and communities. The principle is easy to understand. Australians should be able to trust that a carbon credit represents a real contribution to reducing emissions. People undertaking good projects deserve that confidence, too. They invest time and money in work that often continues for years.

This government commissioned the independent review led by Professor Ian Chubb and is acting on its recommendations to improve the scheme. The reforms draw on extensive consultation. The department received 73 submissions on the exposure draft. Webinars and workshops attracted more than 600 stakeholders, alongside targeted engagement and First Nations consultation. The Carbon Market Institute welcomed the proposed reforms and described implementation of the review's recommendations as critical in strengthening overall integrity in the Australian Carbon Credit Units Unit Scheme.

I particularly welcome the bill's stronger recognition of First Nations rights. Traditional owners must have a proper say in carbon projects on their country. These projects can involve long commitments about how land is managed. This bill strengthens consent requirements for native title holders and registered native title claimants. It puts consent earlier in the process, before project registration, with further consent about project operation before credits can be issued. The Indigenous Carbon Industry Network has advocated for stronger recognition of these rights for years. Its chief executive, Anna Boustead, said the proposed changes 'mark a meaningful shift towards recognising and protecting Indigenous rights and interests within Australia's carbon market'.

Indigenous carbon businesses already support work on country, including through savanna fire management. Project revenue can support jobs, ranger activities and cultural heritage programs. Climate action should respect that knowledge and the authority of traditional owners. It should support fair partnerships and give communities a greater say in decisions affecting their land. I am proud these reforms bring us closer to that goal.

I began with our responsibility to future generations. The decisions before us have a bearing on that future. So does the work we do every day to deliver on our climate commitments. I am proud of the Albanese Labor government's record. We have set stronger targets and backed them with action. Australians are installing batteries, choosing cleaner cars and generating more renewable electricity. This bill strengthens another part of that effort. It helps people contribute through work on the land and supports emissions reductions we can trust.

Our local environmental volunteers keep returning to the places they care about. Their commitment is a reminder of the patience this work requires and of how much people are prepared to give for a better future. We owe them that same commitment here in this place. I want future generations to be able to look back and know we listened to the science and we acted on it. I support this bill, and I look forward to continuing that work on behalf of my community.