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

The 'continue polluting regardless scheme' was brought in by the Labor Party to allow big business to go on polluting the planet—but the Greens stood up against that. Do you know what we achieved? We went to the next election, we had a record vote and we worked with the Gillard government to bring in the clean energy package, which included a price on carbon that was going to become an emissions trading scheme, a $10 billion record investment in renewable energy through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and a whole range of different things. It was considered the gold standard around the world in terms of action on climate.

I commend Labor for working with the Greens at that particular time. It was the only time, until the last couple of months, that Australia reduced its emissions. I don't know why it continues to get ignored and why Minister Watt and others continue to try to erase the legacy of Julia Gillard as the prime minister that worked with my predecessor in this place, Bob Brown, Christine Milne and other MPs to do good work for the climate. We can do it again—although I will ask Minister Watt to reflect on his response to my question and why he continues to ignore this fantastic legacy of Julia Gillard. We remember it, and we'd like to see more of that kind of cooperation from Labor— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.