Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Morrison government's headline-seeking optimism about Australia's social, economic and budgetary forecast stands in stark contrast to what it feels like on the ground as we recover from the pandemic on the north side of Brisbane. The Morrison government gave itself an awful lot of kudos last night in the budget speech, taking credit for the hard work and sacrifice of the Australian people in getting our country through the pandemic. Australian aged-care workers and childcare workers stood on the front line, risking their own personal safety, and, on extremely low pay, helped us get through this crisis. Australians need structural reform in our economy to repair it post-COVID. They need structural reform to make the economy work better for them. Australians need a government with an actual vision for how we can build back better together.

The pandemic isn't over, and the fallout from the pandemic is causing too many northsiders to suffer. These issues were simply not addressed in the budget last night. The Zillmere Community Centre, in my electorate of Lilley, is continuing to see the fallout of the axing of JobKeeper and the cutting of the JobSeeker rate, with more northsiders ringing for emergency housing assistance. They're anticipating many more will follow. Many of the people that the Zillmere Community Centre assists lost their jobs during COVID, and the temporary increase in JobSeeker helped them just to pay the rent to get through those months. Now that the increased JobSeeker rate is gone, northsiders are telling Sharon and the team that they can't afford their rent or their mortgages. They're sleeping in their cars or on the couches of their friends, and their children are going without meals.

Northside Connect, in Nundah, now have at least 60 northsiders a week asking for food, and they've had to open their doors for an extra day per week to hand out fresh fruit and vegies and help north-side kids get enough to eat. The economy is not working for these northsiders, who can't afford to take their kids to the dentist. The economy isn't working for the northsiders who rely on these community centres for dinner. The economy is not working for the northsiders who are sleeping on friends' couches while they look for work that isn't there. Last night's budget didn't do anything for these northsiders.

Last week, I hosted the Lilley Seniors Forum at the Geebung RSL to find out what seniors felt they needed from the federal budget. The feedback I received was unanimous. Seniors feel ignored and unseen in Morrison's Australia. Their pleas on the deeming rates go ignored. Our aged-care system is fundamentally broken. There aren't enough My Aged Care packages, and too many older Australians are still stuck on that waitlist. The Treasurer last night announced $3.5 billion for aged care, and as a flashy headline it sounds very welcome, but the devil's always in the detail. This funding announcement is just one-third of what the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found had been cut by this coalition government over the last five years, and it's less than half the funding boost that the royal commission recommended. The government also announced 80,000 new home-care packages, which is good, but there are almost 100,000 senior Australians on the home-care waitlist. So what is happening to the other 20,000 people waiting for those packages? Are they going to continue to be left waiting? It's not good enough. On behalf of the Lilley locals who came to that seniors forum and who asked for our government to do better, and older Northsiders' families who are losing sleep at night worrying about what is going to happen to their parents when the time comes, I will keep fighting.

Australian workers can expect to receive a 2.25 per cent real pay cut this financial year and a 0.25 per cent pay cut next financial year because the Morrison government's submission to the Fair Work Commission's annual wage review opposed any significant increase in the minimum wage. This budget was supposed to be the Morrison government's mea culpa. It was supposed to take stock of their failings over the last eight years, beg for forgiveness and actually put in some real change that would make our economy work again. But they're not on the side of low-paid workers; they're not on the side of workers who are trying to plan for their future while trapped in insecure and casual work; they're not on the side of people who are looking for work, many of whom have now been pushed back below the poverty line because of the drop in the JobSeeker rate; and they're not on the side of older Australians who are still waiting for access to aged-care services in their own homes or who are at risk of being neglected in our private aged-system. We have aged-care workers in the building this morning pleading for real change to try and keep the people who want to be in the system there, and there was nothing on offer for those people last night. This government is not on the side of Australian women, including our frontline workers in the care economy who kept us all alive, safe and functioning during the pandemic. I guess, because they're not in high-vis, they're not on Team Australia.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are successfully paving the way to a full economic, health and social recovery for Australia. Last month, the unemployment rate dropped again, this time to 5.6 per cent. The Australian economy has recovered 85 per cent of the fall since the start of the pandemic. There were 70,700 new jobs created in April 2021 alone, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Consumer sentiment is the highest it's been in 11 years. Australians are confident in the Morrison government's ability to steer us out of this pandemic, businesses are no longer afraid to invest and other countries on the global map are looking to Australia's handling of this COVID-19 crisis. While the United Kingdom's economy contracted by 9.9 per cent, Italy's by 8.9 per cent, France's by 8.2 per cent, Canada's by five per cent, Japan's by 4.8 per cent and the United States' by 3.3 per cent, Australia, in comparison, was only down by 2.5 per cent.

Last night, the Morrison government revealed the next stage of this government's economic plan in the 2021-22 yet. This budget will secure Australia's economic recovery, create more jobs, ensure that Australians have access to essential services and make sure we come out on the other side of this pandemic stronger and more resilient than ever. Included in this budget are a $1.7 billion Child Care Package to boost workforce participation; a $353.9 million investment to support women's health, including funding for cervical and breast cancer, endometriosis and reproductive health; a $1.2 billion Digital Economy Strategy which will provide the framework for ensuring Australia is a world-leading digital economy and society by 2030; the $1 billion Building Better Regions Fund to deliver infrastructure upgrades to regional airports, sporting precincts and health facilities; and a new National Recovery and Resilience Agency to coordinate and align Australia's national capability to build resilience, better prepare for natural disasters and recover from all hazards.

The data speaks for itself. It's written there in black and white. This is not a government that has fallen behind and it's incorrect to even suggest otherwise. We are leading by example and we are recovering strongly. Yes, there are still some bumps in the road, some creases to iron out and some challenges ahead, and there are sectors and regions out there that are doing it tough, but Australia's economic recovery is strong, broad based, resilient and well underway. This was confirmed by last week's national accounts. We will continue to lend our economic support to all Australians and businesses every step of the way.

Other figures which should be noted include that the Australian economy grew by 3.1 per cent in the December quarter, following a 3.4 per cent rise in September. This is the first time in recorded history that Australia has seen two consecutive quarters of economic growth of more than three per cent. Growth over the quarter also reflected a renewed pick-up in private investment, supported by government policy incentives such as HomeBuilder and business tax incentives. New private business investment also expanded by 2.6 per cent.

While out and about in my electorate of Longman, the main concerns brought up by my constituents as a result of this pandemic are employment, crime and support for small and medium businesses, which is why it's great to see our labour market has also remained resilient, with the incredible news that there are now more Australians in employment than there were pre-pandemic. I'm proud that to say that our information tells us we are the first OECD nation to achieve this. Leading indicators suggest the labour market recovery will continue in the near term, with the National Skills Commission vacancy index up by 11 per cent through the year to January.

As a business owner myself, I'm a big advocate for business investment in the electorate of Longman. With consumer and business confidence back to pre-pandemic levels, I'm hoping that more businesses will choose to invest as confidence continues to increase, which will see more businesses open across Longman.

These numbers are a reflection of one thing, and that is business confidence—confidence in the Morrison government's ability to manage the economy in a responsible manner during the most testing time since the Second World War. I look forward to this trend continuing while remaining in government and look forward to being a part of a government that will continue to inspire a private sector led and government supported recovery from the pandemic.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This was supposed to be the empathy budget. After hours and hours of empathy training, we were going to get a compassionate empathy budget. It was supposed to be the women's budget. After eight long years, this government finally acknowledged that they had not done enough when it comes to women's economic security. But whether it was an empathy budget or a women's budget, it was not a caring budget.

The back-in-black Treasurer handed out $3.2 billion into aged care with zero accountability. We know this government's approach when it comes to how they handed out JobKeeper to businesses that did not need it while denying JobKeeper to businesses and individuals who did. Last night we saw this $3.2 billion pumped into the aged-care sector with no guarantee that it will go towards food, no guarantee it will go towards higher wages, no guarantee it will go towards more places—just throwing public money around.

Today I met with members of the United Workers Union and their Aged Care Director, Carolyn Smith, to talk about what they saw in this budget. These are the people on the front line, the people who actually deliver aged-care services across Australia. One worker, Jude, who has worked in the sector for decades and is an incredibly passionate advocate for the sector and the people she cares about, told me it's projected that in the next two years there will be some 15,000 workers in aged care over the age of 60. That age is getting closer to the end of their working lives and closer to needing support themselves. Jude did not see a proper workforce plan in this budget.

We had other aged-care workers from South Australia and Queensland tell us that in the last two years we had 26,000 people die while waiting for a home-care package. If that's not proof that Australia is falling behind, I don't know what is—26,000 people dying while waiting for home-care packages. What we saw last night means we will continue to fall behind, because it doesn't clear the waiting list. I want to bring the words of aged-care workers into this place. They say, 'We get out of bed because we want to care for people.' They say, 'People are being burnt out; they are leaving the sector.' And they point out the absolutely obvious: 'After eight years of this government, you didn't need a royal commission to know that aged care was in crisis.'

And that's just one area. As this motion highlights, there are so many where Australia is falling behind. After eight years of this government, real wages are lower. Education outcomes have declined. We have the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions of any country in the world. After the glorious reign of former Prime Minister Turnbull and his amendments to the National Broadband Network, Australia is 61st in the world for broadband speeds.

But the real challenge this government faces when it comes to where we're falling behind is where it hits every working family's hip pocket: wages. Last night the Treasurer talked loudly and proudly about his government's plans for the economy, but there was one topic on which he was very quiet: wage growth. The Treasurer's speech last night was half an hour long—4,000 words. He managed to mention wages just once. It was not a paragraph, not a section of his speech but just one word. And we know why that is: because this government has no plan to grow wages. We know that the wage price index is estimated to rise just 1.25 per cent for June and 1.5 per cent for the year after—real wage declines. We've been told that Australia's economic engine is 'roaring back to life'. That was the quote of the Treasurer last night. It's clear that this engine does not roar when it comes to wage growth.

When we look at the report that's been prepared by the member for Bruce, we see that what this government does instead is make people dip into their own savings, dip into the wages they've already earnt rather than give them genuine wage increases. It was this government that forced nearly two million Australians to rip some $35.9 billion from their superannuation just to survive the pandemic. This government, for the last—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 11:57 to 12:08

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the outset I commend Julian Hill, the member for Bruce, for bringing this important motion before the House. This motion that's before the House is grounded in the very careful analysis that the member for Bruce has done, going through the myriad of ways in which the Australian economy and society have slipped backwards under this coalition government. He has documented that real wages in Australia were 0.7 per cent lower in 2019 compared to 2013. And in last night's budget we saw the terrifying news that, at the end of the forward estimates, wages in real terms will be lower than they were at the beginning of the forward estimates.

Let's just pause to think about that. The buying power of Australian workers will fall under this government's policies. Next year—just in one financial year—wages for the average Australian, after inflation, will go down $200. Australians, in buying-power terms, will be $200 worse off. This budget has a trillion dollars of debt. The party that once drove around the country with a truck, emblazoned on the side—the member for Forde's smiling here. He certainly remembers this truck. Do you remember the number, member for Forde? It was $315 billion, written on the side. We now have a trillion dollars of debt being delivered by the Treasurer who used to say how much he admired Margaret Thatcher. You could only imagine what Margaret Thatcher would think about a Liberal Treasurer who had 'back in black' mugs printed and then had to have them smashed and who has never delivered a budget surplus and never will deliver a budget surplus.

As this important motion highlights, Australia's government debt has blown out under the coalition. The Liberals had doubled the debt before the pandemic hit and now they're on track to double it again; yet there's no lasting reform to show for that. There's no legacy as a result of what's been done. Contrast this with past governments that have invested in the future. If you look at the legacy of the Chifley and Curtin governments at the end of World War II, they didn't simply say, 'Let's go back to the economy as it was in 1939.' No. Instead, they said, 'Let's aspire to full employment; let's aspire to increasing homeownership.' They delivered on those outcomes. By contrast, under the coalition we've had rising underemployment. One of the reasons the Reserve Bank now says that we ought to be aiming for a full employment rate that is not five per cent but four point something is that the level of underemployment has gone up. The benchmark of unemployment needs to be lower to deliver the same outcomes.

The work that the member for Bruce has done highlights the problems of Australian homeownership. Australia is now the third most unaffordable housing market within the OECD. It highlights Australia's household debt as a share of GDP, sitting at 119 per cent, the second highest rate out of 41 countries assessed. That high level of household debt is directly tied to the problem of housing affordability in Australia.

On literacy and numeracy, every time the OECD's PISA testers come to Australia to test our year 9s in science, mathematics and reading they find that Australian teenagers are performing worse than they did on the previous test. We're going backwards not just in relative terms but in absolute terms.

The member for Bruce's motion highlights our climate policy, the fact that greenhouse gas emissions per capita have been the highest in the world, that Australia ranks second worst globally for government climate policy and has the second highest level of biodiversity deterioration in the world. On climate, we saw very little from last night's budget. There was no Biden-like investment in a clean energy transition and the jobs that flow from that; instead, there was just more rhetoric and a failure to deliver on tackling dangerous climate change.

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I like the member for Fenner, and being a member of the class of 2010 that comes with some level of credence. What I find fascinating is that in the member for Fenner's contribution he articulated exactly what this government is doing. He referenced governments post World War II and their actions to produce full employment, to increase housing affordability. That's exactly what this budget delivered last night and that's exactly what this government has been delivering for the past 12 months, through a whole range of measures, whether it's JobKeeper or the HomeBuilder package. I know, in my electorate of Forde, with over 13½ thousand people employed in construction and manufacturing, that HomeBuilder has delivered tremendous support to our local tradespeople. We're doing some stuff around the home at the moment, and to get a tradesperson to come and even just quote on a job is nigh on impossible. This is a direct result of the policies of this government by ensuring that we have the supports in the economy to assist the economy through this coronavirus pandemic.

I was recently at Stoddard Group at Ormeau, and they also have a depot at Loganholme. They make steel frames for homes. As a result of the increased workflow and increased building activity flowing out of HomeBuilder, they have employed 40 new staff in their business. The job sites they supply have increased from some 30,000 to some 36,000. To meet this extra demand, they have invested some $1.5 million in six new metal roll forming machines. This investment was made much easier by government's extended instant asset write-off program.

Additionally, the member for Fenner also raised, in his contribution, investing for the future. I'm very pleased to tell this house, and to let the people of Forde know, that we are investing as a government for the future. Over $1 billion has been invested and is being invested in the years to come in upgrades to the M1 between the Gateway Motorway and the Logan Motorway to finish that last section of upgrades that has been overlooked for so long.

We have spent multimillion dollars on safety upgrades to Beaudesert-Beenleigh Road, to Beenleigh-Redland Bay Road and to Tamborine Oxford road. We're spending over a hundred million dollars on upgrades to exits 41, 45 and 49 at Yatala South, Ormeau and Pimpama. We're investing $65 million for the relocation of the Loganlea Train Station and also additional commuter car parking. In addition to that, in the budget, we announced another $178 million investment in the upgrade of the rail line between Kuraby and Beenleigh to ensure that, in time, we can have faster train services between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. That is a key section on that line where there are a number of tight curves that make it difficult or not safe to run a high-speed rail. There will be a $37.5 million investment in the next upgrade project on the Mount Lindesay Highway in the west of my electorate from Stoney Camp Road and Chambers Flat Road. Work on that is now well underway.

In addition, we've had significant direct investments to our local councils through the COVID support packages for upgrades to community facilities, roads and other infrastructure. I know that people, particularly the people in Bethania, will be delighted by the nearly $1 million investment in the intersection of Logan Street and Albert Street, which is a very dangerous intersection. It will become signalised as a result of the investment by the federal government in assisting Logan City Councils. In addition to that, there is support for trainees and apprentices. Some 705 apprentices have benefited from our Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements. We are investing in the future. I am proud of what this government is doing. It is securing the future of our economy and it is delivering for the electorate of Forde.

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last night the government delivered a budget—a budget that does not address systemic economic and social failures in this country. We know this because, after eight years of inaction from this Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government, we have the data to prove it. How is Australia performing compared with other countries? How are Australians going in their eighth year of this government? The answer is detailed but also very simple. The member for Bruce has drawn on the most reputable sources of information in the world, and I thank him for this motion. The answer is clear: Australia is underperforming. We are all in a weaker position because of the Liberal government. Australia is less productive, more unequal, more corrupt, less happy, more indebted, less affluent and less trusting of public institutions than when this Liberal government was elected in 2013.

Pre-COVID, Australia sat third last in the OECD, out of 35 countries, for wages growth. Last night the government published their plan to keep wages down, particularly the wages of women. Over the eight years of the current government, Australia's productivity rate has been steadily declining, from 2013, when Australia was ranked 10th among 34 OECD nations, to 2018, when Australia was ranked fifth last. This government delivers marketing solutions to real-world problems, and the result is a poorer, weaker, underperforming and uncertain Australia.

Last night this government set out to take a victory lap on the back of the economic and personal sacrifices made by the Australian people and their state governments. The problem for the federal government is that Victorians remember what happened. They remember that the Andrews government called on Victorians to come together to do what was needed to keep us all safe—and Victorians did. They remember the sacrifice they made to keep their families, their communities and their country safe. They remember that it was hard; it was very hard. But they know it was the right thing to do, because every state and territory has followed Victoria's leadership and because the places that didn't lock down are disproportionately suffering now.

They also remember the Treasurer coming into parliament and shrieking about lockdowns. They remember the Prime Minister playing political games with his cabinet about COVID restrictions in the Labor-led but not coalition-led states. Victorians know that the Treasurer can and should take about as much credit for this economic forecast as he can for the weather forecast, because Victorians know that any improved economic outlook belongs to their sacrifice. They know that this forecast belongs to them.

Everything the federal government touched through COVID got botched. They shirked their constitutional responsibility for quarantine and the vaccine rollout. Consequently, we've lost months and months of valuable time in which to deliver a timely and effective rollout. And they put all their eggs in one basket with the AstraZeneca vaccine—not a wise decision. But we should not be surprised, because botched ideology and mismanaged media strategies are what this government has presided over for eight long years. The growth forecast is improved, but the debt has more than doubled, and wages have not increased. The government have hung a 'mission accomplished' banner out, without doing enough to fix the system and protect the vulnerable in the aged-care sector. And the economy will still suffer, because this government cannot get it into their head that child care is an investment. Last night we saw the kinds of political fixes that give birth to the long-term problems raised by this courageous motion by the good member for Bruce—eight long, hard years.

Labor have different priorities, and our leader will tomorrow night outline these priorities to fix the broken system under the coalition government. Our priorities are secure, well-paid jobs alongside cleaner and cheaper energy and robust emissions reduction targets. Our priorities are getting the settings right so that this country rewards effort, not inheritance. Our priorities are about working towards an Australia that can again take pride in what we make here, how we treat each other, how we treat women and how we provide opportunities for all. This is the Australia that the people of my electorate are striving for and one that I will fight for every day.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is one line in this motion by the member for Bruce that sums up the absolute desperation of the motion's contents, and that is the line that says that the Australian government has racked up over one trillion dollars worth of debt 'with nothing to show for it'—intellectual dishonesty throughout this motion. What an insult to the people of Australia. What an insult to the hardworking men and women, those frontline workers who went to work every single day and put themselves in the face of danger. We have 'nothing to show for it', according to Labor.

Look at the state of our nation's health. You only need to look across to the United States, India and Great Britain to see what they are facing. It is through the hard work of this government, the early intervention by this government, that we do not have tens of thousands of deaths, just like those countries across the ocean. What an insult to those men and women and children who locked themselves away for weeks and months at a time to say that we have 'nothing to show' for it.

Then there is the economic recovery. What an insult from the member for Bruce to those men and women who continued to work from home or continued to go to work, where they could, and keep our economy going; who were resilient; who changed their business habits to keep employing, through the government's JobKeeper scheme, those employees who had been with them for years, if not decades. What an insult to the men and women who kept going, despite not knowing where this pandemic was taking us.

That is the way that Labor wants you to think. Labor need to think about who they want to be as a party and as people. Are you going to be the person who says to your grandchild in 30 years time, 'I worked with the federal government to ensure that our country got through this pandemic,' or are you going to be that person who says, 'I kicked the country and the people while they were down, and I filed notices of motion to say the government have done nothing over the past 12 months.' The member for Bruce should be not only embarrassed by but ashamed of this notice of motion. He should be apologising to the people of Australia for not recognising the work that they have done over the past 12 months.

If we want to look at the real facts, unemployment is almost down to where it was prior to the pandemic. There are over 100,000 more jobs available than pre the pandemic—and yet the member for Bruce says we've done nothing and have nothing to show for it. Consumer confidence is at a 12-year high and job vacancies at a two-decade high. The intellectual dishonesty oozes through this notice of motion.

Hang your head in shame, Member for Bruce, because Australians are better than that. They're not stupid. They can see what this government is doing and what this government has done, and last night is a perfect example of that. We are providing hope. That's what politicians do. We provide hope for our nation and we provide direction, and that is what we will continue to do for all our people. Whether you vote Labor, whether you vote Independent or whether you vote coalition, we will be here for you, providing those supports, just as we have done over the past 12 months. Once again I say to the member for Bruce: hang your head in shame and apologise to the people of Australia.

Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the contribution from my colleague the member for Cowper and I share his disappointment that this motion is grossly inaccurate. I will actually mention that I have seen the member for Bruce contribute very positively in this place. He is passionate about helping others, including those in nations around the world who find themselves in trouble. However, I do have to point out some inaccuracies and I feel also compelled to passionately defend the record of this Australian federal government during the response to the pandemic and indeed now, during this recovery phase.

Australia is the envy of the world right now, and this is absolutely no accident. It's through the careful and practical approach that has been displayed by our Prime Minister, our Treasurer, our health minister and indeed our whole team. The Treasurer put it very accurately last night when he said:

We are better placed than nearly any other country … to meet the economic challenges that lie ahead.

Indeed, our economy has recovered strongly and is set to return to pre-pandemic levels nine months earlier than expected, and our unemployment rate is set to recover five times as fast as after the 1990s recession. Australia, on both the health front and the economic front, has outperformed all other advanced economies in 2020. Consumer sentiment is at its highest in 11 years, and more Australians are now in work than ever before. We're delivering personal income tax cuts, business tax incentives, new apprenticeships, more jobs, more infrastructure, and record funding for schools, health care, aged care and the NDIS.

I was elected to represent the people of Stirling, so let's have a look for a moment for what that means for my constituents in Stirling. As to the Morrison government's JobKeeper program, I still have people coming up to me and saying, 'Vince, I want to just pass on that JobKeeper helped save my job,' or, 'It helped keep me able to employ others and move through that initial response and into this recovery phase.' In Stirling, there were 5,800 businesses who benefited from JobKeeper. That's translated to 23,800 employees whose jobs were saved. Those businesses are now back to high levels of vibrancy and profitability.

Around 62,100 taxpayers in Stirling will benefit from tax relief this year. There are 1,750 apprentices right now in Stirling, and this is set to take off, with more investment in apprenticeships and trainee places. Twenty-one thousand six hundred businesses in Stirling will be able to write off the full value of any eligible assets, and $1.6 billion is being committed in Western Australia for projects that will ease congestion, connect communities and improve road safety.

HomeBuilder is another resounding success in the way it has been adopted and in the aims it has sought and achieved. In Western Australia, there have been 17,752 applications, and these continue to support jobs in the construction sector and assist owner-occupiers as they build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home.

Now I'll move to the part in this motion which specifically refers to the Morrison government's environmental record, and I am very pleased to provide some important corrections in this regard as well. We have strong targets, an enviable track record and a clear plan for the future. Our approach—technology, not taxes—is already delivering results. Indeed, we beat our 2020 target by 459 million tonnes, and we're on track to meet and beat our 2030 Paris target. Last year was a record for new renewable energy capacity being installed in Australia, with seven gigawatts of new renewable capacity. That is more renewables in one year under the Morrison government than under the whole of the previous Labor government. Unlike Labor, we're not going to try and reduce emissions by shutting down whole industries or taxing and regulating industries off the planet. We have a clear target, we have a proven ability to get there and we will continue on this pathway.

But it's not just government but also businesses and key agencies who play an important role. My former employer Woodside support the Paris agreement and have set their own clear targets to reduce emissions. And, of course, there are agencies who are championing LNG as a marine fuel. I congratulate Tony Brooks and BE&R Consulting for partnership with the Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for the debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.