Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a question for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. The government recently approved the release of 10 new fossil fuel exploration sites, demonstrating that it's willing to continue developing fossil fuel projects into the future. This is incompatible with Australia reaching its 43 per cent emissions reduction target and incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. If new oil and gas projects are to be developed, which sectors will be expected to cut their emissions more deeply to make room in our carbon budget for these projects?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question and, as I have before, thank her for her engagement on these issues in a very constructive way. As the honourable member knows, our climate change bill should, if all goes well, pass the Senate tomorrow and become the climate change act of Australia, and it will enshrine that 43 per cent emissions reduction in the law of the land, which sensible honourable members agree is a very good thing. It provides that certainty and that signal to the rest of the world.

As the honourable member also knows, 43 per cent is an economywide target to be achieved by the whole country, but we do have policies that achieve that on a sector-by-sector basis: rewiring the nation when it comes to electricity, the electric vehicle strategy when it comes to transport, and the safeguards mechanism when it comes to big emitters, particularly oil and gas. The safeguards mechanism is an important way for oil and gas emissions to be reduced. We have a discussion paper out there at the moment, and all honourable members are encouraged to make a constructive suggestion, if they have any. I know honourable members of the crossbench may well do that, because it's a sensible process to go through, including how new proposals are dealt with in the safeguards mechanism. And we're open to constructive advice. The Minister for Resources did, a couple of weeks ago, release for exploration an invitation to explore those areas. It's an annual process which occurs every year. The Minister for Resources has done that in an appropriate way.