Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Di Natale for his question. There are quite a few premises in that question that I fundamentally disagree with. The first and most important point to make is that the government is taking action to reduce Australia's carbon emissions and doing so in cooperation with the rest of the world. The best way we can respond, of course, to issues around climate change is to do so in unison and cooperation with the rest of the world, which we are doing.

A second point to make about Senator Di Natale's question and contributions today is how insensitive it is for him to be going out like this in such an inciteful and combustible fashion while people are still defending their homes. There is not an opportunity that Senator Di Natale misses to embarrass himself on these issues. He constantly uses people's tragedy and people's difficulty in tough circumstances to further his own political cause. He mentioned a number of groups in his question. Rather than paraphrasing others, I think it is better to directly quote from some. I will quote from a New South Wales government department of environment investigation on the link between climate change and bushfire risk. This is what the New South Wales government bureaucrats say, in a much more sensible way than Senator Di Natale does:

There is considerable uncertainty concerning the impacts of climate change on bushfire risk.

I won't be able to quote it all, but the report continues:

Summarising this research to determine the overall influence of climate change on bushfire risk in NSW is difficult. There is a clear need to integrate many diverse strands of evidence, including many interactions and feedbacks. However, broadly speaking the potential for significant increases in bushfire risk appears greater than the potential for equivalent decreases.

That is a sensible summary of the evidence in this field and that is how we should approach these complex and difficult issues that impact people's lives—not the narrow, base political exercise that the Greens seem to exercise in every one of these debates. It is not the right approach when dealing with these issues. The government is making a sensible decision to respond to climate change and, of course, to protect people's homes.