Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. This morning on social media the member for Hughes said, in response to Donald Trump's plan to cancel the Paris Agreement on climate change: 'Paris is cactus.' Is this comment from the member for Hughes consistent with the Prime Minister's announcement today that Australia has ratified the Paris Agreement?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has indeed ratified the Paris Agreement, and Australia is now the 104th country to do so. One hundred and ninety-six nations have entered into the Paris Agreement. It has been in force since earlier this month. My government is committed to meeting its international obligations under the Paris Agreement. We will meet and beat our 2020 target, and we are on track to meet our 2030 target. We are committed to ensuring that Australians' energy is secure, reliable, affordable and that we meet our international emission reduction obligations. That is our commitment. That is the commitment of the government. It has been made responsibly. It has been made with a full understanding of the costs that are associated and of the means to achieve it. The Paris Agreement was an enormous watershed in climate policy. For the first time, all nations made commitments which will enable us to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and, in doing so, ensure that temperature rises are limited to not exceed two degrees Celsius. That is the critical objective of the Paris Agreement. I was proud to enter into that agreement on behalf of Australia. My government is committed to it. We have ratified it. Ensuring that we maintain energy security, maintain energy affordability and meet emissions reductions is not a matter of ideology. It should not be a matter for political game-playing, as we have seen from the other side. It is a chance for us to meet our obligations, and we will do so, unlike the Labor Party, which is utterly unable to separate its obligations to provide secure, affordable energy and to meet emissions reduction. Unable to do any of those, the Labor Party retreats to ideology. We focus on the task ahead, and we are getting on with the job.