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

There's an app you can get called Let Me Google That For You. I do encourage you to examine the literature produced by the IPCC over many decades, because it provides a summary of the many thousands of papers that are available to you, should you choose to read them.

Senator Roberts, it might be that you and I don't agree on the science. Whilst you hold out the prospect for agreement, I am more pessimistic. But I do think perhaps we might find more agreement around questions of business. I know that you have a former association with the mining sector, and I wonder if I could point you to the evidence that was provided by the Minerals Council of Australia to the Senate hearing in February. Tania Constable said:

The mining industry recognises that there is a very big task that is required to reduce emissions, and we have been on that path for a long time. The minerals industry has signed onto net zero by 2050. We have not been sitting on our hands waiting for policy change. We have been making that change over time. In 2020, the Minerals Council of Australia and its members released our first climate action plan. Since that time we have reported on an annual rolling basis our activities across the industry. It has been measured and, as I said, it has been recorded. MCA members have around about 39 separate activities that go from fuel switching—changing out of current energy sources to new energy sources—autonomous operations, renewable energy, battery storage, digitisation, a whole range of issues on site and in our headquarters, so across all of our operations. That is ongoing and will continue to be ongoing. It is a hard task, but every member is taking action.

When I read Ms Constable's evidence, I went and got the report that she referred to, the progress report that they published in 2022. It actually talks a bit about how important this work is. It talks about the fact that it makes a difference not just here but internationally because it provides the opportunity for Australian industries to support people all around the globe—millions of people all around the globe—in their journey to decarbonisation.

Senator Roberts, the business sector has been calling for certainty around our climate and energy policies, and they have made the point repeatedly that the lack of certainty in this regard was a problem under the previous government. For example, BP, a company I know you would be familiar with, said this:

bp reaffirms its support for reforms to the safeguard mechanism to provide incentives for large emitters to reduce their emissions in support of Australia's emission reduction targets. We support the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and believe ambitious climate policies, like the safeguard mechanism reforms, will be essential to enable the world and Australia to meet these goals. We look forward to working with the government as the reforms are finalised.

Rio Tinto has a similar story:

Rio Tinto supports the use of a reformed Safeguard Mechanism as part of a suite of policy measures to incentivise genuine industrial abatement.

Origin said they are supportive of developing a policy framework that is consistent with ensuring safeguard facilities deliver a proportionate share of national emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement. Woodside said:

A fair, robust and transparent Safeguard Mechanism ('Mechanism') can support a reduction in Australian emissions, as well as encourage businesses and industries to further innovate and adopt smarter practices and technologies in line with our collective emissions reduction targets.

APPEA said that, if appropriately designed, the safeguard mechanism can form part of an economy-wide package of measures that encourage low-cost abatement while supporting economic growth.

The business community understand that they are working in a global environment where their investors and trading partners expect us to have a plan to reduce our emissions as a country, and they expect businesses to have a plan to reduce their emissions. We've talked about it already in this chamber, but 80 per cent of the facilities covered in the safeguard mechanism have already adopted a net zero target by 2050 or a net zero target of some kind; some of them actually have one in advance of 2050. These decisions, these changes to business practices and these prospective investments in technology are already factored into the way that many covered businesses have been thinking about their businesses, their investment plans and their pricing. What the reform we are progressing here today will do is give those businesses certainty and give them a clear understanding of the expectations that will be placed on them by government. I reiterate that we are not the only entities that place expectations on these businesses. Shareholders increasingly make it clear that the provision of capital is dependent on a clear pathway being established towards decarbonisation. It's one of the reasons that so many of these businesses are already on this path.