Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all know the important role the Australian government plays in addressing climate change and in reducing our nation's carbon footprint. Government members believe that climate change is real, and we are taking action because we want Australia's 1,000 largest polluting companies to pay for producing carbon. Those opposite want to let our nation's largest polluters off the hook. We know that a carbon price will provide an incentive for the big polluters to reduce their carbon footprint. Making polluters pay is the most effective way to cut pollution and drive investment in the clean energy future at the least cost to the economy. We will provide households with assistance where those opposite will be making households pay over $700 a year to subsidise the polluters. The government have committed that all revenue from a carbon price will go to providing households with fair and generous assistance to support jobs in the most affected industries and to invest in clean energy and climate change programs.

It was back in September 2009 that the Leader of the Opposition visited Beaufort near my electorate and told the local Liberal Party faithful that 'climate change is absolute crap' and went onto announce that he was a climate change sceptic. Nothing has changed. While those opposite continue spruiking to their Liberal Party colleagues about how crap climate change is, we on this side have got on with the business of tackling it. We believe climate change is real. Those opposite deny it. As part of our plan to tackle climate change, we are also looking to renewable energy. Renewable energy generation is playing an important role in reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, and the Australian government has introduced a number of initiatives that will significantly increase investment in renewable energies. We have seen great support in the community for tackling climate change and for renewable energies through the 100 per cent renewable energy campaign. I want to recognise and commend the work of my local community organisation, BREAZE, who have been working very hard to spread this message, doorknocking some 600 households in my electorate to talk about renewable energy and to garner support for renewable energy being part of the government's carbon pricing.

The government have acted on renewable energies. We have set a renewable energy target of 20 per cent for Australia's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020. The RET includes incentives to help Australian households, businesses and communities to do their bit on climate change. We are also investing $5 billion in the Clean Energy Initiative, which provides a comprehensive range of measures to support development, demonstration and introduction of low-emission technologies that are not yet commercially competitive in Australia's electricity sector. Only last week we announced funding to build the largest power station in the world as part of the government's $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program. We are also investing $1.8 billion in the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships program. Including a price on carbon is fundamental to the long-term sustainability of our nation's environment and to our economy, and we are complementing our plan for a carbon price with our strong support for renewable energy. (Time expired)