Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to take questions, but there hasn't really been any engagement with the detail of the bill before them. Nor has there been any serious engagement with the policy task before the Australian people, which is to reduce emissions.

Previously, under your government, there was an assertion that the safeguard mechanism would be the thing that you would use to reduce emissions. You didn't do it. Mr Hunt went down to National Press Club and made a whole series of propositions about what was going to happen to reduce emissions from the economy using the safeguard mechanism, but that didn't happen. Despite this having been a feature of your policymaking, you reach opposition and you still say no.

The bill before us matters a great deal. It will take us a step closer to reaching net zero by 2050. It is about emissions reductions, Senator Duniam and Senator Hughes, but it's also about the economy, and these two things can't actually be separated in the way you assert that they can. Our opportunity is to ensure that our economy is geared up to take advantage of the opportunities that will come as the world transforms itself and moves towards net zero. There are opportunities there for our industries: export opportunities, opportunities domestically, jobs in our regions—good jobs, secure jobs. And the reforms we are putting in place are designed to make sure the Australian people can benefit from those. It's why they have been supported by industry, including the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group. These are the organisations that called for certainty, these are the organisations that expressed such disappointment about the approach taken by the previous government.

Our reforms will help limit the exposure for Australian industry to carbon border tariffs, or carbon border adjustment mechanisms, that many countries around the world are implementing. And so the coalition, sitting over there, having learned nothing from the last 10 years, proposes on this occasion, like so many others, to say no. To just say no to the proposition before them. They've always got fear up their sleeves—it's an oldie but a goodie for the coalition. Frightening people is not the approach we take. We want to work with communities; we want to work with industries.

I've heard the comments about the consultation. I've heard you dismiss the significance of our efforts to work with stakeholders, but it's not insignificant, Senator. It's actually very important that we talk with the businesses in our community, and we have done so. Actually, I can't tell you how frequently since coming to government that people have said to me: 'This is so refreshing. It is so refreshing to have a government that we can talk to and that will actually listen.' Interestingly, that's not confined to any particular stakeholder group. It's right across the board, including the stakeholder groups that the coalition so frequently asserts they have a special relationship with. Plenty of businesses have been delighted to have the opportunity to actually talk with a government that is focused on the national interest rather than focused on squabbling amongst themselves, as your government was.

So, Senator Duniam, I have sought to answer the question that you've asked and the questions that other senators have asked. You have asked them repeatedly and in different ways and I've provided you with answers. I do think that I've tried to engage in good faith. I gather we are shortly to start considering the amendments before the chair, but I invite other senators to make any final contributions.