Duncan Kerr (Denison, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science and Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Will the minister update the House on climate change science and why taking action on climate change is in the national interest?

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Denison for his question. Today, the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology have released the State of the climate report on the science that underpins climate change. It is the latest in a long list of credible, peer reviewed scientific reports into the science of climate change. The report shows that Australia has warmed significantly over the last 50 years and, in fact, that some areas have experienced a warming of 1.5 to two degrees Celsius over that period. The report notes that the evidence indicates a mean increase across the country over 50 years of 0.7 degrees Celsius. The report also examines the evidence of human influence and finds that it has been detected in the results concerning ocean warming, sea level rise, continental average temperatures, temperature extremes and wind patterns. This is the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.

The report also finds that about half of the observed reduction in winter rainfall in south-west Western Australia can be explained by higher carbon pollution levels. It confirms that climate change is real and that we do need to reduce our contribution to it and to adapt to its impact. It shows that climate change is already beginning to impact Australians and will affect us significantly in coming years. Megan Clark, the CSIRO chief executive, had this to say:

Climate change is real. Our records show there is no disputing that, and the next step is to meet this challenge through mitigation and adaptation.

As I have indicated on previous occasions, in answer to questions in the House, no government that is responsible can ignore the evidence before it, ignore the facts. It must be recognised that action on climate change is needed and that we need to take it now. We need to reduce carbon emissions and we need to act as part of an international effort in that regard.

All of the evidence, including this from the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, is in stark contrast to the utterances of the Leader of the Opposition on this issue. He, notoriously, has contributed that the evidence about climate change is ‘absolute crap’ but that some kind of fig leaf is needed because the politics of the issue are difficult for the opposition. The Leader of the Opposition does not accept the climate science and is more worried about the politics. We know, and the community knows, that that side of politics remains split into two camps. Apparently, as my colleague the Minister for Human Services indicated in an earlier answer in question time, in a program to air on the ABC this evening the former Leader of the Opposition, the member for Wentworth, averts to this again by confirming that he thinks the stance that the Leader of the Opposition took was entirely political—nothing to do with policy but all about politics.

Yet the evidence continues to mount about the need for policy responses to deal with climate change. The national interest of this country is best served by taking credible and economically responsible action to reduce carbon emissions—not the grab bag of picked winners that has been articulated by the Leader of the Opposition as a fig leaf political response to this important issue. The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation is in the Senate. The evidence has mounted. You should support the legislation.