Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My home state of South Australia should not have to endure this government's failure on climate policy any longer, because their failure is costing my state. It's costing our environment, it's costing us in terms of the River Murray, it's costing us in terms of investment, it's costing us in terms of jobs and it's costing our children a prosperous future. The government's failure on leadership on climate change is a failure of the highest order. Instead of readying our country to take advantage of the economic opportunities of a renewable energy revolution, they have done what they do best: stoke fear, inflame division and mislead the Australian people on what is to come. We have seen this time and time again from the Liberals, like when the Prime Minister said that low emissions technology, like electric vehicles, will 'end the weekend'. We've seen it in the Prime Minister's embarrassing performance in Glasgow. Their failures on climate change policy have robbed Australians and they have especially robbed those Australians who have the most to lose from a changing climate.

South Australians will not be taken for fools. They see it. They get it. While people have, rightly, been focused on the pandemic for the past two years, beyond that, the one issue raised with me more than any other is the need for urgent action on climate change. South Australians want action on climate change because they know the environmental and economic future of our state depends on national leadership, on national action. But instead under this government they've had 21 different energy policies under three prime ministers, and another glossy document just recently—a pamphlet with no detail. It's an embarrassment on the world stage, where Australia should be leading and where we are capable of leading. Rather than increasing our ambition on tackling climate change, rather than being leaders, every time we get here the government are dragged kicking and screaming.

This is of the utmost importance to my state. People in my state have seen the impacts of climate change firsthand—the Black Summer fires. We know bushfires are predicted to increase in intensity and frequency. We know that if more action isn't taken to enhance and promote renewable energy we will see power prices go up. My constituents in South Australia want to know why the federal government are not seizing the opportunities to produce more cheap, reliable renewable energy; why they aren't taking advantage of this revolution. By investing more in our renewable energy sector we create jobs, we drive down power prices and we deliver South Australians a better future. South Australians, I can tell you, inherently understand what the coalition simply cannot grasp: meaningful action on climate change is critical for our environmental future, but also for our economic future, for the future of our children—for their future prosperity. Their inaction makes me angry, and I know it makes South Australians angry, because the government just can't grasp how important it is.

There are huge opportunities for my state of South Australia if Australia is to lead and deliver the jobs and the growth which we know a green energy revolution can deliver. We see this leadership from the state opposition in my state, from Peter Malinauskas and his team, with their plans to build a 200 megawatt clean-energy hydrogen power plant and storage facility. We've seen it from parts of the private sector who have driven investment in this space—not helped by the policy settings of the federal government, but more and more seeing the light, seeing the economic opportunity, taking that leadership where the federal government will not. State governments are stepping up to lead on climate policy where the federal government will not—where the federal Liberals have just divided, ignited fear, sought to disrupt and destroy any meaningful effort to tackle climate change.

My state risks being left behind unless the federal government get their act together. Our country risks being left behind unless they get their act together. South Australians know how urgent this is. They want the federal government to recognise that too.