Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have a Prime Minister whose word cannot be trusted. Previously he said what he thought would make him popular, but now that he is Prime Minister and in a position to deliver on his statements he backs away from them. Whether it is on climate change, the republic issue or matters of social justice, Prime Minister Turnbull has shown that he is empty rhetoric. Even worse, he now sides with and openly supports policies that he previously tore down. Anyone who previously saw Prime Minister Turnbull as a champion of their cause should be bitterly disappointed—none more so than the people who entrusted him with Australia's climate change policies, as the member for Parramatta has quite rightly pointed out.

Last year was the warmest year on record. Climate change is real and global temperatures are rising. The Paris conference highlighted that. Yet the Prime Minister sticks to a flawed policy that he previously criticised and that he knows pays big polluters to keep polluting the world. He knows it will not work, and he has seen reports to prove that. And he sees the current records, which show temperature records being broken all the time. It is a policy that he knows will leave Australia lagging behind other nations and burden future generations with his failure to act. This is a Prime Minister whose true colours are rapidly emerging.