Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

and, as we do that—while I stand here and Senator McKenzie and Senator Hanson-Young yell at each other across the chamber, one wanting everything and one wanting nothing, which is the cry we hear from both of you all the time. You are the problem, people. You are the problem. So taking action requires our colleagues to get a grip. Senator Hanson-Young said, 'It's not the economy, stupid; it's the environment, stupid.' Well, I would say that it's the economy and the environment, stupid. You cannot just pick one. You say: 'Right, everything for business and let's trash the environment. Everything for the environment and let's trash the economy.' Come on! There is a pathway through the middle here. If you guys would get on board—just get on board!—we could make some fundamental changes. We could move quicker, Senator Hanson-Young, if your party were not so obstructionist.

So we have made significant inroads. We have a very strong policy agenda to reduce emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Yes, we know that there are those out there who would like those things to happen tomorrow, but that's not practical. That's not going to happen. The transition will happen, but it will happen in a managed fashion that keeps this country moving forward to be stronger, to be more sustainable, to protect our environment, to reduce our emissions and to do what we can right now and plan for the future of a zero-emissions future.

We have got some of the world's best resources: wind and solar. We've got some of the best technologies. We've made great inroads in renewables and battery storage, connecting it into the grid. We can make our systems more reliable, both in the grid and in our household systems. We have hundreds of thousands of solar panels. We are leading the charge in putting solar panels on houses. And we are now, as of the more recent Labor policy and action on battery storage, providing opportunities for people to put batteries on their houses. This will make a difference not only to our emissions profile but also, significantly, to the cost of energy for households. We've got a Climate Change Act that has very clear emissions reduction targets in it. It is a strong, articulated pathway—not just an idea, not just a target, but a plan and a pathway to actually achieve it.

Our Capacity Investment Scheme, which is ensuring we have enough affordable and reliable electricity, will be brought into the grid to meet that demand from now through to 2030. This scheme has exceeded all of our expectations. We received bids that were 4½ times what the actual tender was for. That sort of interest being shown is excellent to see. It shows that we have the capacity to ramp up. It shows we have the capacity to increase and improve what we're doing in these areas. We know that our emissions for the year to December 2024 were 27 per cent below our 2005 levels. That's not nothing, I say to my colleagues on the Greens benches over there. That is not nothing; that's a 27 per cent reduction. That is a good step.