Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Why on earth would a government try and hide a report or not disclose a report on the risks of climate change to this nation? What possible reason could they have to sit on this report? I raise this in the context that this government has recently supported a select committee to inquire into the impacts of climate disinformation, which we know fills the vacuum out there of information that's important for us to assess the risks of climate change.

The World Economic Forum's global risk reports for the last two years in a row have labelled disinformation as the biggest threat to human society right around the planet and, coupled with the impacts of climate change, the biggest long-term threat to humanity. The United Nations, at the COP coming up in Brazil and maybe the COP that we're going to have in Australia next year, if we get it, is putting climate disinformation on the agenda as one of the most important outcomes from those climate talks because they have identified climate disinformation as being the biggest global barrier to climate action in the parliaments of the world. Did it even occur to the government that, when you're hiding from the Australian people a report written by experts in this area, you just make it so much harder to get the action that we need on climate policies?

We all know that information is power, and it has never been more true than today. Those who have agendas can control or influence the dissemination and publication of information. They can control public debates on issues like climate change. They can control policies on climate change in places like this parliament. And they can even today, thanks to the tech platforms we have, control and influence the outcomes of elections in democratic countries like Australia and the United States.

We know how much money they are putting into the deliberate propagation of lies and deception around climate change. It's not just the good old-fashioned, homegrown climate denial that we see from the likes of One Nation. The information they are putting out on climate change has been very effective in stymieing action everywhere, and we need to work out who is behind this, who is paying for this and how we deal with it in these parliaments.

I honestly, genuinely just do not understand why you wouldn't release this report. These are the experts commissioned by this government to write a report on the risks of climate change. We know we are talking about tens of trillions of dollars a year in damage just from extreme weather events caused by climate change. At the same time as this government is sitting on this report, I noted that the National Farmers' Federation and other farmers' groups have also publicly called for the release of this report. That's because they're under a relentless assault from the National Party and the right-wing culture warriors in the LNP who are also trying to stymie climate action and rip up any chance of getting to net zero in this country.

By the way—just like they always have since the day I stepped into the chamber 13 years ago—they have done nothing but try to disrupt or destroy climate action, and they have been successful, as they have been in the US and as they are doing right now. We are seeing things that I never thought were possible to see in the political universe we live in. We're seeing this mass political psychosis on climate in a place like the United States, with the US President signing executive order after executive order to remove protections for the environment and remove climate change from reports. He's talking about shooting the NASA climate satellite out of the sky. We are talking about Donald Trump, the leader of the so-called greatest nation on the planet.

At this time, when we have a government that is claiming that they are going to act on climate, why would you hide a report? The exact thing we need to be doing is talking to Australians about the risks. If we don't have that open, transparent and honest conversation, if we can't provide that information, how are we ever going to win? We know that there's billionaires, fossil fuel companies and all sorts of dark money and dodgy people promoting climate disinformation, deliberate lies and deception to muddy the debate and make sure they get the outcome that they want, which is ripping up net zero in this country and throwing us and future generations of Australians under the bus. It's all so that they can make more bloody money, hold on to political power or run their political agendas.

I ask the government: please reconsider. There are a lot of good people behind this report that I know want to see this published. They know this is an important document. And I commend Senator Waters and—I don't know if I'm allowed to say this to you, Acting Deputy President—others who have tried to bring this issue up. We need to see this report if we are going to win the fight for climate action. The worst thing we can be doing is burying the evidence from experts. If we believe in the scientists and the experts—and they are our only hope. They are our Obi-Wan Kenobi in this battle. The worst thing we can do is bury the evidence for political agendas. I urge and I beg the government to release this report so we can see what it says and have honest discussions with stakeholders.

I would like to talk to farmers next week. We're having an event at the Press Club with Farmers for Climate Action, and agricultural stakeholders will be there. I will be speaking, as will, no doubt, other MPs and senators. I want to be able to say to farmers, 'I've got the evidence that your future is in jeopardy: the droughts, the pestilence, the extreme weather events—all the things—and the disruptions to food chains, supply chains and food security.' We need to see that evidence. I ask the government to reconsider. Next time the Greens put up an order for the production for documents, let's have a look at it.

The last thing I would like to say is that, when I started in the Senate, I had a similar situation with an order for the production of documents on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. I remember sitting down with the then clerk of the Senate, Rosemary Laing. I said to the Clerk, 'Clerk, what do you do in these situations when a government won't respect a decision or the will of the Senate?' She got Odgers' out and she showed me the right sections. Unfortunately, I can't remember off the top of my head what sections they were, but I do clearly remember Rosemary Laing saying to me: 'It's your job to disrupt the agenda of the Senate if the government won't provide a document after an order by the Senate. It's your job to disrupt the Senate.' I remind Senators: that is what it says in Odgers'. We might get a different interpretation from the Clerk today, but that is my very clear recollection of her advice: do what you can to get the government to produce this document.

I think it's well worth considering that we entered this parliament with the idea that we would work constructively together with the government on issues like climate change. I thank you for supporting the select committee into climate disinformation, but please realise you are making our life so much harder if you can't release basic, important information, the truth in this really critical debate.

Question agreed to.