John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Climate change is real. The world is warning. The overwhelming majority of scientific opinion acknowledges that this is a result of human activity. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow unabated, the problem will get worse. Of course this is not Australia’s problem alone, but we must do our bit as a responsible member of the international community.

Madam Deputy President, I suppose I have some form on this issue. As environment minister in the Keating government, I suggested they consider a low-level carbon levy. I admit that at the time I was virtually alone in my advocacy for such a measure. But I suggest the doubters do as I did: read the reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, and those of our own scientists at the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, which clearly show the climate is warming, and it will continue to do so as a result of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity.

The time to act is now as Australia faces potentially disastrous environmental and economic costs from the impact of climate change, particularly on coastal communities, infrastructure, water security, health, agriculture and energy supply. The IPCC’s fourth assessment report finds that ‘warming of the climate system is unequivocal’. The IPCC reports that emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities have grown by 70 per cent between 1970 and 2004, and states that most of the ‘observed increases in global temperatures since the mid 20th century are very likely to be as a result of human activities’.

The CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology combined last year to present our most recent picture of Australia’s climate. Both these organisations have decades of experience observing and reporting on Australia’s weather, and conducting atmospheric and marine research. On temperature rises, the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology have observed that since 1960 the average temperature in Australia has increased by about 0.7 degrees. Whilst temperatures have varied in different locations, the overall long-term trend is clear and there can be no denying Australia has experienced warming over the past 50 years. Furthermore, the number of days with record hot temperatures has increased each decade over the last half-century. The decade from 2000 to 2009 was Australia’s warmest on record. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, 2010, 2005 and 1998 were the warmest years on record globally.

The CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology have also reported that the rate of sea level rise increased during the 20th century. From 1870 to 2007, the global average sea level rose by close to 200 millimetres. Over the period 1993 to 2009, sea level rises have ranged between 1.5 millimetres to three millimetres per year in the south and east, and seven millimetres to 10 millimetres per year in the north and west of Australia. They have also reported that over the period of the last 50 years, the surface temperatures of the oceans around Australia have increased by about 0.4 degrees Celsius.

As for the future, the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology have projected that Australian average temperatures are going to rise by 0.6 degrees Celsius to 1.5 degrees Celsius as soon as 2030. They said, ‘If global greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at rates consistent with past trends, warming is projected to be in the range of 2.2 to 5.0 degrees Celsius by 2070.’ The effect of this on Australia and Australians will be devastating. It is a catastrophe in the making. How irresponsible would it be for Australia to sit on its hands? You cannot pull up a drawbridge against rising sea levels. You cannot change global warming by putting your head in the sand and doing nothing. Climate change is real and is caused by human action. All around the world governments are taking action to reduce carbon emissions. Thirty European countries have had a price on carbon for the past six years. It is time for Australia to do the same. (Time expired)