Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have four young children and, like all parents, I want to ensure that my kids have a better future than our generation. I want them to have a clean environment and sustainable oceans, and to be able to enjoy the great natural beauty of the wilderness we have at home in Australia and across the planet. That promise to our kids is in jeopardy because of the failure of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government to develop an energy policy. When we talk about the year 2040 and beyond, this isn't a hypothetical future for the next generation; these years will be their reality and the world where they will be raising their own kids.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special report on global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius should be a wake-up call for this government. The report outlines the consequences of its continuing divisions over the need for real action to tackle climate change. The IPCC highlights the world we and our children face under the prospect of exceeding a 1.5 degree temperature rise by 2040. At such an increase we lose between 70 and 90 per cent of the world's coral reefs. In Australia that means that the vast majority of the Great Barrier Reef will disappear. Think about that: on our watch, because of the decisions that have been made by this government, we face the real prospect of the Great Barrier Reef being wiped out forever. The reef has already undergone severe damage due to bleaching events caused by climate change.

A rise of 1.5 degrees means more extreme hot days, more extreme droughts and more climate related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth. These are risks that we as parliamentarians cannot ignore. Australia and the world must take action to reduce carbon emissions and boost uptake in renewable energy. We know that this government has no energy policy. Many of those opposite didn't even bother to read the IPCC's crucial report. The Liberal Party has ignored local communities and the global consensus. Indeed they've outsourced policy development to the hard Right as part of an anti-science, anti-renewables and anti climate-change agenda. It's all about ideology over evidence. They're selling out their responsibility to our kids, to future generations of Australians.

Mr Morrison, the Prime Minister, and his divided Liberals have absolved themselves of any responsibility for tackling climate change. The latest data, which they've tried to hide, shows that carbon emissions are again on the increase under this government. They rose by 1.3 per cent last year. The government's own pollution projections also show that emissions will keep rising all the way to 2030. This exposed the Prime Minister's repeated claims that the Liberals don't need a climate change policy, because we're going to meet our Paris climate targets 'in a canter' as nothing more than a lie. That lie was further exposed by the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation, Laurence Tubiana, who said recently:

… the consensus in the scientific community is that Australia is not currently on track to reduce emissions and meet its Paris Agreement commitments.

Like Labor, Ms Tubiana points to the dangers and missed opportunities of failure to implement meaningful climate policy, saying that a failure will have 'profound consequences on the country's standing in the international community and its future prospects in terms of innovation and economic opportunity.'

The divisions and the turmoil within this government are badly damaging Australia's international standing and our reputation, particularly within our neighbourhood, the Pacific. That's why we welcomed Australia's decision to sign the Pacific Islands Forum communique and Boe declaration, committing member states to the Paris agreement on climate change. The declaration makes clear that Pacific nations regard climate change as the number one issue, as their greatest concern, saying:

We reaffirm that climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific and our commitment to progress the implementation of the Paris Agreement …

Pacific Island states need certainty that Australia, the largest economy in the Pacific, will support that declaration through actions, not just words. They need to see us commit to genuine action on climate change to meet Australia's Paris targets.

After snubbing the region's pre-eminent forum in one of his first acts as leader, the Prime Minister must now show that he's listening to what the Pacific Islands leaders are telling him is their most pressing issue. Yet the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government has given up on this issue and given up on finding a solution. It comes after more than five years of failure on this issue. It's been more than five years of war within the coalition between those who believe in climate change and support clean energy and a National Energy Guarantee and those who don't believe in the science.

We just want to end this climate war. Those of us in the Labor Party want to reach an agreement, a consensus, with the government to get on with finding a policy to reduce carbon emissions. We've been trying to do this now for close to four years. That's why we tried to reach an agreement with the government to tackle this climate change threat when they initially proposed an emissions intensity scheme. They asked the Chief Scientist to come up with this proposal, and he did, and we said that we would look to agree with them and work with them, and then they dumped it. Labor said that we'd look to and try to reach an agreement with the government when it came to a clean energy target—both mark 1 and mark 2 of that policy. Again we tried to reach an agreement with the government, and they dumped it.

Then we had a complete hat-trick when the government proposed the National Energy Guarantee. After they'd appointed a panel of experts, at the cost of about $10 million, to advise the government about developing a policy to reduce carbon emissions and, at the same time, reduce energy prices, they said that they would implement this, and then they dumped it. They not only dumped the policy; they dumped the Prime Minister as well. The Prime Minister, when he was still the Treasurer, pointed out that he'd not seen an initiative in his 10 years in the parliament with broader support than the National Energy Guarantee. But then, when he became the Prime Minister, his first act was to dump it. It shows what a hypocrite he's been on this issue. Business groups across the country were calling out for certainty and backing the National Energy Guarantee, yet the Liberals walked away from it. Somehow, again, they've managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Unfortunately, it's not going to end the bipartisanship. It will come if Labor is elected. It's in the interests of Australian consumers now and in the future that we transition away from dirty coal-fired power to renewables that bring an additional supply, provide certainty and ultimately reduce electricity prices for small businesses and households. This government promised to reduce electricity prices by $550 when they were initially elected. What's actually occurred is that, over the last couple of years, increases to electricity prices across Australia have been in the nature of $630. They haven't been able to make a decision on electricity for the last five years, and consumers have paid the price. We saw in Wentworth that communities are sick of having climate and energy policy dictated to them by the member for Warringah and the hard Right of the coalition party room. It's not good for our country, it's not good for our economy, it's not good for our Pacific neighbours and it's not good for our children, whose futures they are selling down the drain by this war that's going on within the Liberal Party.

If Labor is elected at the next election, we will end this climate war, we will get serious about action on climate change, we will take our responsibility to tackle climate change very seriously and we will have the policies to do that, including a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. Labor's targets will cut pollution, bring down power prices and transition Australia to a cleaner future with good news for jobs, good news for investment in renewable technology and, of course, lower electricity prices, because we all know that with renewables, once you get over the initial capital cost, the fuel is free.

It's time Australia had a government that cared about these issues and our international climate obligations. That includes taking real action to combat climate change. All governments across the world, including our own, are confronted with this grave responsibility of acting on climate change, and that means doing all that we can to ensure that our children and our grandchildren and generations beyond are able to live in a safe, clean environment.