Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I will attempt to address my comments through the chair. I was distracted by the interjections. My point is that there is more to delivering for the environment than simply trying to play politics. There is more to delivering for the environment than simply asserting something which is unachievable. It is not a responsible environmental position to say, ‘You should stop taking any water out of the Murray River,’ including for your own home town. It is not a responsible environmental position to sit with those who think that climate change is absolute crap and ensure that Australia does not get a price on carbon. It is not a responsible environmental position to simply move a censure motion because you want to get into the media debate.

I am very happy to have a discussion with the Greens or anyone else in this chamber about sensible policy. We will not always agree. I am happy to have a debate about policy, but I think it is incumbent upon the Greens to decide whether they are a party of protest or responsible parliamentarians. At the moment it appears that they are the former, as evidenced by the fact that they sat on the other side of the chamber when Australia could for the first time have put a limit on its carbon pollution. They could have delivered the bill. That is a stark reality that they cannot hide from. It is extraordinary that a party that says, ‘We’re pro tackling the environment,’ somehow also says, ‘We’re going to vote it down because it’s not perfect.’ It was quite an extraordinary position when the extreme ends of politics combined to stymie this reform.

As I said, this is an opportunistic motion. Senator Milne made some comments about jobs and Senator Birmingham made some comments about the tragic deaths. I know Senator Milne, and I do not think that she would have meant to suggest that the government does not care about jobs. I hope she would know that we of course do. I do not think anybody in this chamber—