Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to participate in this urgency debate. Senator Milne’s motion goes to two issues: the latest climate science and an equitable contribution by Australia to the global challenge of decarbonisation. I am not one of those senators who argue for the precautionary principle; I am convinced by the science. I participated in three inquiries into the CPRS and climate change in this country, and every reputable scientist who came before those committees has argued that we must take action on climate change. I do that not only from an economic perspective and an environmental perspective; I support this because, like many senators, I have got grandchildren. Like many senators who have got young children, we have to think about what their future is on this planet, not some crazy debate that as Senator Milne has said has bypassed us and gone everywhere else in the world. I want a future for my grandchildren.

I have had the benefit of the overuse of carbon around the world but I think there comes a time where we have to pay a price to overturn that, and I think a price on carbon is absolutely essential. As a union official some four years ago, I attended a conference in the UK where the president of Ford Europe gave an overview of where Ford were going in the future. This is one of the biggest corporations in the world, and they were arguing that there was no debate about global warming. There was no debate about the need to make change. They were setting about looking at how they could develop the technology, designs, materials, new work practices and new manufacturing processes to make sure that Ford could survive in a changing environment and a changing world. When you have some of the biggest corporations in the world accepting that we need to make change, I think it is important that the parliament of Australia accepts that we need to make change as well.

There are different points of view, but, in my estimation, they are not instructed by science; they are instructed—when it comes to some in the coalition—by short-term political gain and a refusal to accept the reality of the science on climate change that faces the whole world. You only have to look at what is happening around the world and at some of the scientific models that have been there for some time to realise that the modelling is becoming reality. We see floods in Asia and massive heatwaves in Russia and yet in some parts of this Senate we try to pretend that it is all just, as the Leader of the Opposition would have it, ‘crap’. It is not crap; it is the reality of climate change; it is the reality of us having to face a situation that we can do something about. We should not allow that position to be hijacked ever again by the extremists, the climate change deniers or the climate change sceptics—because I want a future for Amy and Scott, my two grandkids. They are the important ones for me for the future. Even the precautionary principle as was outlined by Senator Milne should be enough for the coalition. They should accept that their children and their grandchildren deserve the benefit of the precautionary principle.

We will need to get through this very tough economic, environmental and political debate. I do not think the government or the Labor Party should ever, ever walk away from what is important in terms of making sure that there is a future for future generations. We have paid a heavy political price for not being clear and unequivocal about our position, and I am convinced that we will not make that mistake again. We will not be intimidated. We will not be confronted by the misrepresentations, the short-term politics and the lies out there in relation to global warming, because global warming is real. Global warming is something that we must face and deal with. It is not rubbish, as has been said here today.

The scientific facts are clear. We must make cuts to our carbon footprint and we must play our part. We need to get through the political problem that we have in convincing not only this parliament but also the community that it is appropriate to take changes forward and make the necessary sacrifices to ensure the future of not only future generations but also this planet. I want to do that in conjunction with the leadership of the Labor Party in a courageous but scientific way, because we will need to be courageous to confront some of the lies and misrepresentation that will be out there on global warming. We will need to confront those that would go out and run a short-term scare campaign at the expense of the long-term future of this country.

We would be able to make deeper cuts and wider changes to deal with carbon emissions in the community if we had a consensus in this parliament. But there is no consensus because the extremists in the coalition have taken over. I notice that Senator Birmingham will be speaking on this debate next and I do not include him in that description.