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

This is a question for the Deputy Prime Minister. You've not released the ONI report on the security risk of climate. We're still waiting for an integrated national climate risk assessment. Do you agree with the internationally accepted findings that the impacts of climate change will drive political instability and fuel regional and international conflict? What specific policy responses does the government propose to risks like food security, mass migration and the destabilisation of markets?

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. She raises a critically important issue in terms of the geostrategic position that we face and the strategic landscape that we face. The short answer to your question is: I do accept that the pressures of climate change will give rise to a more complex and volatile strategic landscape for the world but a strategic landscape that we must face as well. That, in terms of our landscape, is reflective of the fact that a lot of the pressures in relation to climate change and its impacts on populations around the world happen in respect of populations around us. So we will need to be very mindful of the way in which we posture ourselves in respect of that, hence the fact that ONI has been deeply engaged on this question, as has Defence planning. This is an issue which was given consideration in the Defence Strategic Review in terms of the demands that have been placed on the Australian Defence Force, but it is also, beyond what was described in the Defence Strategic Review, an issue which is being considered in the context of the geostrategic landscape that we face and what issues that might give rise to in the future. This is a really important issue. I very much thank the member for raising it. We are very keen to engage with not only the crossbench but the entirety of the parliament about the way in which our country can plan for that future.