Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Small. Yes, I can. The Morrison government is taking practical action to reduce emissions through technology, not taxes, and our plan is working. I know that Labor and the Greens don't like to hear these facts, but emissions are now at the lowest level since records began in 1990—more than 20 per cent below 2005 levels. We are reducing them at about double the rate of the average across the OECD, and we'll absolutely meet and beat our 2030 Paris target. To keep this momentum going, we will invest $20 billion in new energy technologies by 2030, unlocking some $80 billion of public and private investment over the decade.

Our Technology Investment Roadmap is about supporting a portfolio of technologies so that we can reduce emissions across every sector of the economy, so that we can create at least 160,000 jobs by 2030, so that we can deliver the cheap and reliable energy Australians deserve, so that we can keep the lights on without sending jobs offshore and so that we can secure Australia's future.

But, just last night in this place, we saw firsthand the very real danger that those opposite, Labor and the Greens, would provide if they were ever back on the government benches. They voted against $192 million of investment in lower emissions technology, significant reforms that would have seen even lower emissions and created thousands of new jobs. Even the member for Hunter described Labor's decision last night as ideological craziness. In fact, he has said that, sadly, the hard Left—the 'excessive progressives', as I call them—are just on an ideological bender. Senator McAllister, we know that you fit very much in that camp. The excessive progressives are in charge. It's all about dogma and ideology rather than the policies that work—bringing down emissions, growing jobs and securing our future.