Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

The government will be supporting this urgency motion today. However, we do not support all of the substance of Senator Pocock's motion. Let me be clear. The Albanese government does agree that action on safeguards is urgent. We agree with Senator Pocock on that point. That urgency is exactly why the government has legislation before the parliament right now that will alter the safeguard mechanism to ensure that Australia's biggest emitters do their fair share when it comes to emissions reduction.

I was with the energy minister, Chris Bowen, in Gladstone at the start of the year when he announced this policy and set out the details of the consultation process that we will go through. We have proposed a fit-for-purpose safeguard mechanism that will provide policy certainty for businesses and the regional communities they support and will deliver genuine emission reductions. The safeguard legislation will be a test for senators in this place. For the first time in a decade we have a parliament of senators and members who are willing to deliver what the Australian people have been crying out for: real action on climate. At the last election, Australians voted for an end to the division, the climate wars that have plagued government policy for a decade. Now they have an Albanese government that is ready to deliver and wants to deliver. We're getting on with the job and taking action on climate, just as Australians expect us to do.

But we cannot do that on our own. We require majority support in this Senate. So I ask Senator Pocock and other senators: what will you do when the safeguard legislation comes before the Senate? There is going to be a clear choice that will need to be made. Senator Pocock can join with the government and take decisive action to get emissions down, to take 205 million tonnes of emissions out of the system to 2030—the equivalent of taking two-thirds of Australian cars off the road. Or it can choose to join the obstructors. And let's be clear. They have been obstructing action on climate change in this chamber for decades, both in government and in opposition. That is their record. He can sit alongside the climate wreckers and climate deniers on the opposition benches and block action on climate. That is the choice senators will be facing. We know what happened when the Greens faced that same choice in 2009 and 2010. Instead of voting for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, they sat with the Liberals and Nationals of Tony Abbott and blocked climate action. The reality is that their choice derailed climate action for a decade. I say to Senator Pocock and other senators thinking of standing in the way of safeguards: do not let history repeat.

There are good-faith discussions happening between the government, the Greens and other senators, including Senator Pocock. I thank these senators for their engagement, which stands in stark contrast to those opposite, who, under the Leader of the Opposition, are determined to oppose everything and take no responsibility for cleaning up the mess that they created. The Albanese government will continue to work constructively with those who are willing to be constructive and important partners on this task as we look to reduce emissions. But this is an opportunity too important and too urgent to miss. That's why we agree that this is a matter of urgency today, and we will be acting on this issue as a matter of urgency in coming weeks. But if Senator Pocock really believes this is a matter of urgency and wants to keep faith with the people of the Australian Capital Territory, who have been national leaders when it comes to climate action, he will back our legislation when it comes to the Senate later this month.

As I mentioned, I was with Minister Bowen in Gladstone when he announced our proposals around the safeguard mechanism. The important point about that is that we want to work with industry to ensure that they can lower their emissions, because a lot of these industries are very important not only to our national supply chains but to the task that we face in rebuilding manufacturing in this country. Unlike the Greens, who operate in a silo on these issues, we know how important it is to work constructively with industry, who want to bring down their emissions, and we want to provide the government leadership to enable that to happen. That's what we want to do through the safeguard mechanisms. That's what Minister Bowen announced when we were in Gladstone in January. That's what the government intends on delivering on over the coming weeks in this chamber.

I call on all senators to engage in constructive discussion to ensure that we can pass this safeguard mechanism, because it is of vital importance for Australia's future. It also of vital importance for Australia's industries that they can continue to operate and deliver the employment that so many regional families rely on. That's what we want to deliver.