House debates Questions without Notice
Climate Change
Peter Garrett Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage
3:31 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain is committed to a long-term greenhouse reduction target? Is he also aware that at least 15 states of the of US have done likewise, including former Republican governor George Pataki of New York and the Republican governors—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Members:
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The member for Kingsford Smith will be heard.
Peter Garrett Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage
They don’t like the questions, Mr Speaker—it is painfully obvious. It is obvious to us and it is obvious to them.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Members:
David Hawker Speaker
I will take control of the member for Lyons in a minute. The member for Kingsford Smith has the call. He will be heard.
Peter Garrett Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage
I will begin again. My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain has committed to a long-term greenhouse reduction target? Is he also aware that at least 15 states of the US have done likewise, including former Republican governor George Pataki of New York and the Republican governors of Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island and Utah, and the most famous of them all, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Members:
Peter Garrett Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage
who has set a reduction target of 80 per cent by 2050?
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Honourable Members:
Peter Garrett Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage
I am coming to the point, Mr Speaker.
Bob Baldwin Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources
Mr Baldwin interjecting
Peter Garrett Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage
Does the Prime Minister still believe that a commitment to long-term targets is just a Eurocentric idea?
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The answer to the first part of the question is yes. The answer to the second part of the question is probably yes. But I would imagine that—
Warren Snowdon Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs
Mr Snowdon interjecting
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
while some of those governors may be committed to the principle of a target—
Lindsay Tanner Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
You’re quick on him, aren’t you; what about them?
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
they may not be committed to a particular target. Let me in total good faith, through you, Mr Speaker, engage the member for Kingsford Smith in this issue. You can believe that, as part of the architecture of dealing with climate change, you should commit to a target before you have actually decided what that target is and quite sensibly decide that, before you commit to a specific target, you find out what it means. That essentially is the difference between this side of the of House and the other side of the House. We both accept the need for a target but, unlike those who sit opposite, those on this side of the House say that you have got to work out what a specific target means before you commit.
I can say this in relation to Senator McCain and many of the other people that you have referred to.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Alexander Downer Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Mr Downer interjecting
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
I can say this about them. I do not believe that any of those Republican governors or Republican figures have been so foolish as to commit themselves to a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020, because I think they have some regard to the economic consequences of that target. While the member for Kingsford Smith is talking about Senator McCain, I direct his attention to Senator McCain’s view on the American commitment in Iraq.