Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard and to table the explanatory memorandum.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

Today I rise to introduce the Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change (Kyoto Protocol Ratification) Bill 2006.

If this bill is passed, the Australian government will be required to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and become part of the international solution to climate change.

Climate change is real and it is happening right now.

The last four years has seen an unprecedented rise in the global level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The CSIRO chief scientist, marine and atmospheric research division, recently reported that 2005 recorded the highest ever growth of artificial greenhouse gases, up by 5.3 percent.

The CSIRO said 2005 ‘was a record for increases in greenhouse gas heating, the main driver of increasing surface temperature.’

Last year was the hottest year on record.

Five of the six hottest years have occurred in the past five years.

This century will see global average temperature rise by between 2 and 4.5 degrees.

The most recent northern winter has seen record areas of the Arctic Ocean failing to freeze. The Arctic temperature is rising twice as fast as the rest of the planet, threatening wildlife and the entire ecological stability of the region.

With the recovery of the ice in winter no longer able to amply compensate for the increased melting in summer, the Arctic is now locked into a cycle of irreversible climate change.

Within our lifetime there will be summers with no Arctic sea ice at all.

Closer to home we can already see the kinds of impacts that will only get worse as warming advances: the long-term drought in New South Wales, Kakadu being flooded by salt water, and coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.

The recent destruction caused by Cyclone Larry is a reminder of the severe weather events we must prepare for at home as our planet warms.

If for no other reason, Australia’s self-interest dictates we immediately ratify the protocol and engage with the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change.

If passed, this bill will require the Australian government to do several things.

First, it must ratify the Kyoto Protocol within 60 days of the commencement of the act.

Second, it must ensure Australia meets its greenhouse emission target set out in the protocol—108 per cent of 1990 levels.

Only Iceland has a higher target.

Third, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage must develop a national climate change action plan setting out our national strategy for meeting our greenhouse emission target.

Fourth, the minister must establish an annual greenhouse gas inventory and publish these results.

Fifth, the minister must also develop a framework for involvement in the international trading of carbon.

This would include emissions trading but also clean development mechanism projects in developing nations.

Given that Australia is on track to meet our emission target, there is no drawback to Australia ratifying Kyoto today.

If passed, the bill will enable Australia to be a part of the global market benefits harnessed by the other 150 signatories to the protocol.

A recent report by the Australia Institute confirms that the Government’s arguments for refusing to ratify the protocol are fundamentally flawed.

Staying outside of Kyoto, and not pricing carbon nor introducing emissions trading, carries significant economic risk.

The Australia Institute’s report confirms that the Howard Government’s policy locks Australia out of emerging carbon markets.

Howard Government policies retard the development of new, clean industries and fail to preserve the competitiveness of coal exports, this countries biggest earner.

If we are to meet the challenges and harness the benefits of a carbon constrained economy, planning is key.

We need to act now for the future of Australian business.

This bill sends a clear message to all Australians that we must start working actively on climate change because it is an issue affecting Australia’s future prosperity.

It signals to business we are taking a planned approach to shifting Australia towards a modern, clean-energy economy.

The chairman of Rio-Tinto Mr Paul Skinner has recently affirmed calls by business and industry groups for the introduction of market mechanisms as part of the global solutions to combating climate change.

Mr Skinnner confirmed that ‘ultimately, the challenge for the global political leadership was how the two components— technology and market mechanism—could be brought together for a long term solution’.

Just as science and technology have given us tools to measure and understand the dangers of climate change, so too can they help us deal with them.

The potential for innovation and business investment is immense.

It is about providing the market based stimulus for the deployment and transfer of clean energy technologies, the transfer of which the International Energy Agency has estimated at $27.5 billion dollars worth of carbon credits.

By not ratifying, Australia is giving the world a jump-start in this new dynamic global marketplace.

Australian companies are already being disadvantaged now by our exclusion from carbon markets and from the developing renewable energy technology markets. The investment is simply going elsewhere. Our technology and our know-how are heading to China instead of creating jobs at home.

In recent months the Roaring 40s company announced a $300 million deal to provide three wind farms to China.

More and more we are seeing Australian technology, know-how and Australian jobs go overseas.

More and more our isolation on this issue is becoming an international embarrassment.

The Kyoto agreement was hailed by the Prime Minister back in 1997 as a ‘win for the environment and a win for Australian jobs’. The PM got it right then but he is wrong now.

Despite signing the agreement at the time, the Howard government has had a change of heart, claiming it is flawed, even though 150 countries including the EU have subsequently ratified the protocol. Of industrialised nations only Australia and the United States remain on the outside looking in.

This situation is illogical. It makes no economic sense and jeopardises our future prosperity.

Labor takes a more sensible, practical approach on this issue.

We acknowledge that the nature of such agreements is that they are a product of compromise and, like almost every international agreement Australia is part of, we do not say it is perfect.

We also need to think beyond 2012, but by not ratifying Kyoto we are excluding ourselves from the negotiating table of future agreements.

Labor believes the Kyoto protocol is important for the economy, for jobs and for the environment.

Kyoto harnesses the power of the market by putting a price on the use of carbon. This trading market will be worth billions of dollars.

By staying outside the framework Australia is excluded from a range of opportunities.

We cannot leave future generations the escalating carbon liabilities of bad decisions made today.

We must ratify Kyoto immediately; speedy passage of this bill will provide for that.

I commend this bill to the Senate.

I table the explanatory memorandum and seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.