Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Renewable Energy Amendment (Feed-in-Tariff for Electricity) Bill 2008. This is an extremely important debate and I thank Senator Milne and the Greens for their continued efforts in the fight against climate change and the opportunity to speak on this bill.

Before I come to the specifics of the bill, I would like to put on record how important this issue is to the Rudd government and outline some of the good work that has been achieved in under 12 months. Unlike those on the other side of the chamber, who still deny that global warming exists and after 11½ years failed to take any sort of action on the issue, the Rudd government is working full throttle to combat climate change. It was one of our key election commitments, one of our key policy areas 12 months ago, and I am happy to report that we have kept our promises.

One of the first decisions that the Rudd government took after our election was to ratify the Kyoto protocol and end our international isolation on climate change. The Liberals at the last election completely missed the boat on this issue. We can all remember that they refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol or put in place any lasting changes to fight global warming. They seem to forget that Australia is an extremely dry continent and that we have more to lose than other countries. The longer we take to act, the more Australia’s economy and environment will be hurt by droughts, less water, reduced food production and the devastation of natural ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef and the Kakadu wetlands.

The costs of inaction are too great—and not just to the environment but also to the economy. As Professor Ross Garnaut recently said in his report on an emissions trading scheme, we face a diabolical challenge. He is right. There is no doubt that climate change is the challenge of our generation. However, in considering a policy response, we should not allow ourselves to focus just on the costs and forget the immense opportunities that have been presented to us.

We stand now with the potential to place Australia at the forefront of the international green revolution. Worldwide green investment in renewable energy and biofuels exceeded $100 billion last year. Green jobs worldwide now exceed 2.4 million. It is becoming more and more accepted that this green revolution will provide as many opportunities for countries, business and communities as the Industrial Revolution did over 200 years ago. This is an opportunity to build a modern Australia and a modern economy for the long term. But we need to act now.

To not act, knowing what we know about the effects, would be irresponsible not just to this generation but also to future generations, to our grandchildren and their grandchildren. I have heard the argument numerous times that somehow Australia is leading the rest of the world and that we should wait and be in the middle of the pack. That is not true. In fact, we are lagging behind the rest of the world in action on climate change. When you look at what is happening in Canada, Japan and the EU, we are falling behind.