House debates Questions without Notice
Renewable Energy
Peter Garrett Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage
3:12 pm
My question is for the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Will the minister raise Australia’s mandatory renewable energy targets?
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
Unlike the opposition, which has developed a closed mind on climate change issues, which seems to owe more to—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
Very good; thank you. The response to climate change is a complex one. It requires an open mind, and it requires practical measures. What the opposition is giving us now is some kind of cramped political theology. Nobody is allowed to doubt. Sceptics are to be banned. Anybody with an open mind is to be banned. Anybody who considers a solution is to be banned. What do the International Energy Agency say about the responses needed to reduce greenhouse gases? They say that the measures will be energy efficiency, clean coal and nuclear power, in that order. What does the opposition do? It takes the third biggest contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions off the agenda totally. The government will consider—
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As you would have observed, that was a nine-word question—very specific. Will the minister raise Australia’s MRET?
David Hawker Speaker
The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. I was listening carefully to the minister. I believe he was about to answer the very point that the Manager of Opposition Business raised.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
David Hawker Speaker
Order! I have not called the minister yet. The minister does not have the call. Members will come to order or I will take action.
Lindsay Tanner Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
Mr Tanner interjecting
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
The government approaches the climate change challenge with an open mind, and the mandatory renewable energy target has been particularly successful. We are on track to meet our Kyoto target and are committed to doing so. We are investigating emissions trading, just as we have investigated the options for nuclear power. All measures which are capable of combating climate change and of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and which do so in a manner that protects and preserves our standard of living, will always be under consideration.