Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing Australia, our region and the world. We are already seeing its impact in our communities, with more frequent extreme weather events, rising temperatures and increasing risk to our homes, infrastructure and natural environment, and affecting our health and way of life. `Of course, across our region, our Pacific neighbours are confronting the very real threat that rising seas pose to their homes, livelihoods and futures. These challenges demand serious leadership and long-term action. They also present an enormous opportunity for Australia. With our abundant renewable energy resources, skilled workforce and our growing clean energy industries, we have everything we need here to be a leader in the global clean energy transition. But, of course, that opportunity depends on the decisions we make today.

We do need to be investing in renewable energy, strengthening our electricity grid and supporting communities as we move away from ageing coal-fired power stations. We need governments that are prepared to make those decisions rather than continue the political arguments that have held Australia back in this space for far too long, which brings me to my grievance today. While the Albanese Labor government is getting on with the job of driving the clean energy transition, the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation seem determined to take Australia backwards—back to dirty coal, expensive nuclear reactors and the same old climate wars that played out for more than a decade. After nearly a decade of division and inaction by those opposite, it seems they've learnt nothing. And Australia cannot afford to lose another decade.

We know what happens when the Liberals are responsible for climate policy. We did see it during their time in government: nearly a decade of division and dysfunction and of wasted opportunities. They went through a few prime ministers, but the climate policies cycled as well, and Australia lost valuable time. It seems, as I said, that they have learnt nothing from these failures and are looking to drag us back to that decade of inaction.

The Liberals have now abandoned the commitment to net zero by 2050, which was a commitment made by their own former government. Just yesterday they announced that they plan to cut $16.7 billion from climate and clean industry programs. They want to cut support for renewable energy, scrap funding for cheaper home batteries and electric vehicles, and turn their backs on the clean industries and the jobs of the future. The Liberals claim to care about household energy bills, yet they want to rip away the very support that is helping families to bring those bills down. They talk about Australian jobs, while they're proposing to slash investment in the very industries that will create them and sustain them into the future.

And what are they offering instead? More power from coal, from ageing, expensive, dirty plants, and—possibly—from unrealistic, prohibitively expensive, nuclear reactors. They want to keep ageing coal-fired power stations running, while gambling Australia's energy future on expensive nuclear reactors that would take decades and decades to deliver. Our coal-fired power stations here in Australia are approaching retirement, and this is a serious factor that we are confronting. It is why Australia needs investment in cleaner generation, storage and transmission now.

The Liberals wasted nearly a decade holding Australia back on climate action, and now they are trying to tear down the progress that this government has made. They have no credible plan to replace ageing coal-fired power stations, no credible plan to reduce emissions and no credible plan to deliver the affordable, reliable energy that Australians need and deserve. They are more interested in reopening the climate wars than in taking responsibility for Australia's energy future. Australians cannot afford another decade of Liberal division, delay and denial.

I'd like to say it's just the Liberals, but, of course, then we have One Nation, and their position on climate change is equally as bad. They want Australia to abandon being part of the Paris Agreement, scrap net zero and invest further in coal-fired power generation, as I said—expensive, dirty, ageing technology. Their climate policies question the overwhelming scientific evidence of human-caused global warming. At a time when countries around the world are investing in clean energy, One Nation wants Australia to retreat from international climate cooperation. At a time when businesses are investing in new technologies, they want to prolong our reliance on dirty coal. At a time when communities are confronting increasingly severe climate risks, One Nation continues to question the science.

Climate change does not disappear because politicians choose to ignore it. Australia cannot build a credible long-term energy policy by rejecting the need to reduce emissions. Now, the Liberals and One Nation might have a few details that are different, but, essentially, both are now arguing against the long-term net zero commitment that once had bipartisan support in this place. They owe Australians an explanation about how their policies will prepare our country for the future, because the truth is: they will not.

The Albanese Labor government has taken a very different approach when it comes to securing Australia's energy future. We know that Australia needs a serious plan to reduce emissions while delivering reliable and affordable energy. That's why we legislated our 2030 emissions reduction target of 43 per cent below 2005 levels, and, last year, we announced our 2035 target of reducing emissions by 62 to 70 per cent.

We know that targets are not enough. We're investing in renewable energy, battery storage and the electricity grid. Through the Capacity Investment Scheme, we're supporting new renewable generation and storage projects. Through Rewiring the Nation, we're helping to build the infrastructure needed to connect clean energy. With our Cheaper Home Batteries Program, we're helping households store their rooftop solar power and use it when they need it. This is practical, realistic action that Australians need. It's making energy more affordable, supporting new industries and building an electricity system that will be fit for Australia's future. I've seen this firsthand in my community in Jagajaga, where families are installing solar panels and batteries. We've had more than 2,000 households locally install a battery through our Cheaper Home Batteries scheme. Our community organisations are reducing emissions, our local businesses are finding opportunities to operate more sustainably. Of course, transforming our electricity system presents challenges, and we do need reliable supply, more storage and stronger transmission infrastructure. We need to support workers and communities connected to existing energy industries, but the answer is to manage those challenges, not to pretend that they're not there. The answer is to build for the future, not try and take us back to some imaginary past. Australia has enormous advantages in renewable energy, critical minerals and the skills needed to develop new industries. As a government, we are working to make sure we make the most of these opportunities.

I am also currently in my role as Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience, focusing on the impacts of climate change that communities in Australia are already experiencing. Last year, our government released Australia's first national climate risk assessment, alongside our national adaptation plan, and the findings of both of these were clear: climate change is increasing risks to our homes, our infrastructure, our health, our environment and our economy. More severe heatwaves, bushfires, floods and coastal hazards will affect communities across Australia. We need to reduce emissions to limit future warming, but we also need to set our communities up to be able to deal with the impacts that are already unavoidable.

This does mean building resilience into our infrastructure, supporting local communities and improving how we prepare for extreme weather. This, I think, is important for all of us now and into the future. It is why we are investing in cleaner energy, it's why we are working to protect communities and make decisions that are responsible both now and for that future that all Australians should have. We absolutely cannot risk another decade of arguing about climate action while those risks continue to grow. I say to those opposite: this is the time to take Australia's energy future seriously. We've seen how it plays out when you retreat to denial, we've seen how it plays out when you try and pretend that technology that is no longer fit for purpose and no longer meets the needs of a modern Australia or a future Australia is the way forward.

We cannot be extending the life of dirty, expensive, ageing coal power plants. We cannot think that our future depends on unproven, prohibitively expensive nuclear technology here in Australia. We have an enormous opportunity before us: to continue to invest in renewables to boost our grid and to help households who are already installing, in record numbers, cheaper home batteries. This is the path the Albanese government has focused on. All of this is at risk from our opponents. Australia's future is far too important to risk on the climate denial of those opposite.

Sitting suspended from 13:38 to 16:00