House debates Matters of Public Importance

Economy

Wednesday, 28 October 2026 House of Representatives

Matt Smith

Matt Smith Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party

4:17 pm

It's very sweet. Thank you, Member for Hunter. We're doing puns. The sugar industry is struggling at the moment. It needs a boost. An extra 44,000 tonnes being able to be exported out to Europe is a boost. An ethanol mandate which is currently being discussed about the cleaner fuels would be a boost. Is the opposition getting behind that? No. Would that lower fuel prices? Yes. Is that a holistic approach to a larger problem? Indeed it is.

When they talk about the housing and they talk about the climate, those are the No. 1 things that they're going to cut—and ideologically cut, no less. Cutting climate change initiatives is a really bad idea, not just on an economic level but on a national security level. We have done so much work to re-engage with the South Pacific. The South Pacific expects us as a leader in our region to stand up. We hear this: 'Oh, it's only one per cent.' Every time an athlete comes into this place, everyone gets really silly and tries to get something autographed or get a shirt with their name on the back. You would think, with the amount of people supporting sport, they would have heard about the one percenters. If you get enough one percenters, you win. Thirty-six per cent of the world's emissions are produced by countries who produce, on average, less than one per cent total emissions. Total it up. Everybody has a job to do here. This is this inward looking that I keep talking about. They're not looking externally. They're not understanding.

Comments

No comments