Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a pleasure to speak after mortgage-tax Matt Canavan and talk about North Queensland and Central Queensland. It's where I have spent the last couple of weeks before coming back to Canberra. I've been in Gladstone, Emerald, Townsville and Mackay, all the way up to Bamaga and Cape York and, of course, in my home town of Cairns. In Gladstone they're talking about hydrogen and in Townsville they're talking about the minerals that you need to power renewable energy. In Cairns we already have hydroelectric power and renewable energy projects.

Those people over there don't stand up for the regions. They're not standing up for the national interest. They're not listening to what people are saying in regional Queensland, because if they were they would understand that people in regional Queensland want the job opportunities that will come from making a decision and a plan around net zero. It is self-interest that drives the National Party. It is self-interest that drives the Liberal National Party in Queensland. We know the job opportunities that we are losing because this government has failed to back renewables in regional Queensland. They are going missing. Those jobs are going overseas. People in Queensland are missing out on those jobs because this government has failed to deliver a plan and a target for net zero.

We're not talking about hypotheticals here. The government literally vetoed a wind farm in Far North Queensland which would have created 250 jobs. They stood in the way of 250 jobs because it was against the government's energy policy to create jobs in renewable energy. We know that the increase in insurance prices, the increase in severe weather events, drought and rising sea levels are all going to happen in regional Queensland. It's happening right now. Then there's the impact on the Great Barrier Reef and the jobs that rely on the reef. Those are also in regional Queensland.

When you have those people over there talking about the fact that they stand up for the regional areas of our country, what they really mean is they stand up for themselves. They stand up for their own political interests. We've seen that time and again. What we expect from our government is for it to govern for our whole country, and a pathway to net zero is significant to every Australian, know matter where they live.

The past eight years have shown us that in Scott Morrison we don't have a leader who is willing to fight for us. He's weak and unable to act in the national interests. He's more interested in making hollow announcements than actually delivering when things are tough. What about the backbone of these so-called moderate Liberals who aren't prepared to step up and show any leadership? Where are they on this? I'll tell you where they were about half an hour ago. They were voting with the Nationals against net zero. They've always sat next to them in parliament, they've always voted with them, they're in government with them, they're in cahoots with them and they're still so silent on this important issue.

The pantomime of the last few weeks and the last eight years has been about avoiding responsibility and accountability in every corner of this government. It's quite cute, isn't it? The Nats pretend that they aren't even members of the government and so they're not responsible or accountable for the fact that after eight years Australia has no climate policy. They're in cabinet. They have the Deputy Prime Minister. There are ministers in the National Party. But apparently it's not up to them to govern the country. Then we have the Liberals on this side, who conveniently are able to pretend they're not responsible for the Nationals and so it's nothing to do with them and they're not responsible or accountable for the fact that there hasn't been a climate policy for the last eight years. They are in government. The Liberals and the Nationals are in government. The Prime Minister is the leader of the government. But, according to him, it's not up to him to lead the country. Minister Angus Taylor said today, 'The Nationals' interest is aligned with the interests of the Liberal Party.' But the problem is that neither are interested in the national interest. After eight long years of this Liberal-National government we still have no climate policy. It's clear whatever deal gets cut, whatever $20 billion pork-barrel fund gets created, the only way to fix this mess, the only way to get action on climate change, is to get rid of Scott Morrison and his entire Liberal-National government at the next election.