Slade Brockman (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that at 8.30 am today, 25 proposals were received. In accordance with standing order 75, the question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the letter from Senator Rice proposing a matter of urgency be chosen:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The mining and burning of coal, oil and gas is the primary cause of global heating and is causing more frequent and more intense floods, heatwaves, fires; and that to protect lives and livelihoods, no new coal, oil and gas projects should be started in Australia.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

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

At the request of Senator Rice, I move

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The mining and burning of coal, oil and gas is the primary cause of global heating and is causing more frequent and more intense floods, heatwaves, fires; and that to protect lives and livelihoods, no new coal, oil and gas projects should be started in Australia.

Don't take my word for this. This is what the science tells us. This is what the IPCC—the panel of climate change experts which comprises a couple of hundred of the world's most eminent climate scientists—tells us. It tells us that, on our current trajectory with our current 'business as usual' scenarios, this planet is on a three- to four-degree warming trajectory this century. Entire parts of our earth—our home—will be uninhabitable at a three- to four-degree warming scenario, not just because of drought, a lack of rainfall, pests and diseases but also because of extreme weather events. We think not only of the extreme weather events like the bushfires this country witnessed just two years ago or the unprecedented floods we've seen on the eastern seaboard in recent weeks but also of the unprecedented heatwaves we are seeing in the ocean that are destroying our beautiful and globally significant coral reefs, our seagrass beds right around the country and our giant kelp forests. These changes in the ocean have profound impacts on Australian communities right around this country. We think of the farming community and their livelihoods; we all rely on the food that they grow. No-one is more vulnerable than they are as an industry to our changing climate and to global warming.

The sole thing we can do—which is also the most important thing we can do to reduce our emissions targets and our 2030 emissions targets in particular—is to stop all new oil and gas production and all new fossil fuel production in this country. But, once again, don't take my word for that. Listen to the International Energy Agency, which said that 2021 was the year that we needed to leave all new fossil fuels in the ground and transition as rapidly as possible to 100 per cent renewables. But what do we do? What do we get from this government? Just today we found that Mr Angus Taylor, the so-called minister for emissions reduction, is bringing before the parliament regulations to give more public money to a fossil fuel project. They've given hundreds of millions of dollars in grants for fossil fuel projects at a time when we know we've got to be transitioning away from fossil fuels.

Every time I talk to people about climate change and every time this issue is raised with me as a senator—and whether it's by Greens supporters, Labor supporters or Liberal supporters doesn't matter—I highlight to every person I speak to the simple fact that climate change is not first and foremost an environmental problem, nor is it an economic problem, even though it's caused by unregulated externalities from business activities. It is first and foremost a political problem. Only politics can solve this. People can change their behaviour, and that makes a difference, but it is a systemic issue that this parliament can help to solve.

We have more reasons than most to show global leadership in taking the climate action necessary to limit emissions and warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. But what do we do? We do the exact opposite. We are a global embarrassment. We have been called out by the UN, by UNESCO and by countries all around the world—including our friends and allies, like the United States—as being a global embarrassment on climate change. We are not only a laggard; we are also deliberately undermining climate action because of the politics of climate change in this place. The Labor and Liberal parties are captured by fossil fuel interests. That's the problem. Until we clean up politics, we'll never fix it. This issue has to be first and foremost in the minds of Australians when they go into their polling booths. They need to vote for climate action. They need to vote Greens.

Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of urgency from the Greens. As always, the Greens overexaggerate on climate change for their selfish political purposes. It is disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful, to politicise recent natural disasters and tragedies, trying to score political points on the back of human misery and suffering. Shame on you. Shame on you for doing that. That is just terrible.

Let's look at some of the claims that the Greens are trying to push. They're claiming that climate change has caused the flooding that we have seen recently in eastern Australia. These claims simply do not stack up. The CSIRO, in their Climate change in Australia report, showed that rainfall extremes in northern New South Wales have been only slightly above average, and in South-East Queensland they have been average. We have other rainfall records to back this up. The Brisbane River, for example, experienced a major flood last month, but there have been 10 floods that have been greater over the past 150 years. In fact, dangerous floods have occurred in every Australian state over the last 150 years. We can name some of them: in 1852, Gundagai in New South Wales; in 1916, Clermont in Queensland; in 1934, Melbourne; in 1893, Ipswich, Queensland; and, in 1927, Brisbane, Cairns, and Townsville in Queensland. That 1927 flood caused 47 deaths, destroyed 16 homes and caused an estimated 300,000 pounds in damages. This was at a time when our population and the value of property destroyed were far lower than they are today. Can you imagine the effects of that flood today? These floods go back over 100 years. These are not a new phenomenon, as the Greens would have you believe, Madam Acting Deputy President.

Let's talk about bushfires. The CSIRO admit that there is no evidence linking climate change with bushfires at this stage. As they state in their Climate change in Australia report:

… no studies explicitly attributing the Australian increase in fire weather to climate change have been performed at this time.

Yet the Greens, shockingly, try to blame government policies for the deaths and destruction of property in fires.

All these events are tragedies. It's a tragedy for someone to lose their life, their home, their livestock or their pets in a flood or a fire, and we shouldn't be politicising and trying to score cheap points on the back of these tragedies. But not all tragedies have an actual human cause—someone you can point the finger at and say, 'You did this.' The Greens try to. They point to the Prime Minister and say, 'You did this.' That is just absolutely ridiculous. These are natural weather events. We've been having floods, fires, tsunamis, hurricanes and cyclones for as long as we've got records, and we can even point to these events happening back before we had records.

Even if the Greens' outrageous claims were true—they're absolutely not true, but let's pretend for a second that they're true—their attempts to pin the blame on Australia for these outcomes would be completely ridiculous and absurd. Let's have a look at what Australia does produce. We produce six per cent of the world's coal, 3.7 per cent of the world's gas and 0.6 per cent of the world's oil. Even if Australia were to shut down all our coal, oil and gas tomorrow, it would make no difference to the temperature of the globe or to any of the natural disasters that the Greens are trying to pin on it.

If we look at carbon dioxide emissions by country, China accounts for 29 per cent; the USA, 14 per cent; India, seven per cent; Russia, 4.5 per cent; Japan, 3.4 per cent; Germany, two per cent; and Australia, 1.1 per cent. In 2020, China emitted greenhouse gases equivalent to 13.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide. By comparison, Australia emitted the equivalent of 512 megatonnes. That's roughly one twenty-seventh of China's emissions. In 2021, China was running 1,058 coal-fired power plants. That is more than half the world's capacity. China's emissions have more than tripled over the previous three decades. They emit more greenhouse gas than the entire developed world combined. Yet the Greens want us to wreck our economy and our way of life for the massive 1.1 per cent that we contribute.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't do our bit in reducing all types of pollution, and I'm not just concerned about global warming and climate change. We've got a lot of other things to worry about, such as plastics in our ocean. Maybe the Greens could show a little bit of care for our oceans instead of banging on about what Australia does to the world's climate. I can tell you that our little millifluff of a percentage of emissions is not going to do a damn thing—even if we cut it to zero—to the effects of greenhouse gases on the world's climate.

As we can see from what's happening in Europe today, if Australia were to stop mining coal, oil and gas then we would only strengthen countries like Russia that threaten to bully, and are invading and killing, their neighbours. Europe is currently paying Russia more than $1 billion a day for coal, oil and gas. Europe has reduced its own gas production by 30 per cent over the past decade, while its consumption has decreased by less than 13 per cent. Europe has more gas reserves than Australia, so its extra reliance on Russian gas is completely self-inflicted. This is why, when Ukraine asked us for help to fight Putin, they asked us to send coal, not solar panels.

Europe's dependence on Russian gas is partly because it has allowed Russian funding of anti-fossil-fuel campaigns to remain unchecked. We have a lot of evidence that Russian oligarchs are funding some of the anti-fossil-fuel campaigners and the activist groups that are campaigning—certainly overseas and even right here in Australia. Isn't it ironic that the Greens have a slightly well-hidden dirty little secret? Their campaigns are actually helped by the funding Putin provides to anti-fossil-fuel organisations. That's right—funded by Russia, with love!

Senator Whish-Wilson also talked about food. Well, if we look at food security, products of the oil and gas industries account for approximately 45 per cent of the world's food production. We all know that urea, which is part of the composition of most of the fertilisers that we use in this world, comes from the oil and gas industry, which they want to stop. They want to stop this industry with 45 per cent of the world food production. So the Greens not only want us to freeze to death they also want us to starve to death. This will hurt the world's poorest nations.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today also to speak on the urgency motion that Senator Rice has put forward. As most of us understand in this chamber—but not all, I'm sad to say—climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. In Australia, indeed, we have seen its devastating impacts, which have increased over recent years and even months: tragic fires, floods, cyclones and more.

Here in the Labor Party, we have always been committed to strong action on climate change. We saw that when we were last in government and we committed to net zero by 2050 some seven years ago. In Labor's view, that is an essential starting point. This is a goal that the CSIRO says will deliver higher wages and incomes, and also lower power costs for Australians. Why? Because we know that renewable energy is in fact cheaper than bringing new coal or fossil fuel power online. It's a goal that the University of Melbourne says will deliver a 20 times greater benefit to the economy than any costs. It's a goal that is not only the right thing to do by future generations here in Australia and around the world but is also the right thing to do by our economic and social goals right now, today.

But as the motion before us, put forward by the Greens—which we don't support—seems to argue against, we need a real path to get there. We can't have passionate speeches; they're not worth much without discernible action and a real plan to get the job done. We want to see in our nation—and Labor has a plan for it—job-creating investment that delivers real emissions reduction. This is a plan where we will need to bring the Australian people with us. I speak to many voters in the course of the upcoming election about their desire to see real action on climate change. But I also speak to voters—the vast majority of voters—who aren't about to vote for a plan that's going to see them out of work and out of a job. That's why they have confidence in Labor's plan and Labor's approach in addressing action on climate change. That's because we know we can have a productive economic future and create a path to zero emissions by 2050.

The Labor Party is the only party that has a medium-term commitment to get us to 2050 with that zero emissions outcome. Its impact on the economy is modelled properly. That is how you get sustainable, enduring and long-lasting action on climate change—not stunt motions here in the Senate. Australia has the potential to become one of the world's renewable energy superpowers, but only if we have the leadership and vision needed to bring Australia together to seize the opportunities in front of us. This can't be about wedge stunts. It has to be about a real path for jobs and that includes the jobs that exist in our fossil fuel industries currently.

The Greens fail to note in their motion the obvious truth that changing where countries buy their fossil fuels from doesn't reduce global emissions one bit. We have seen this happen before with much of the offshoring that's already happened in Australia. We have seen jobs go offshore to countries with dirtier fuels, lower safety standards and lower labour standards. So we don't support the motions before us today, but what we do support is a strong plan. Labor's put forward a strong plan that will deliver $24 billion in public investment to Australia's efforts to address climate change and energy transformation, energy transformation of our coal- and gas-powered electricity generation here in Australia. That public investment is absolutely critical to increasing the penetration of renewables in the electricity grid. The independent modelling of Labor's plan shows that we can reach 82 per cent penetration of that production of energy by 2030—that is, 82 per cent of our nation's electricity by 2030 will be renewable.

We know that this transformation is already happening. Renewables and storage are already the cheapest form of new energy. We know that the international outlook for coal is becoming more constrained. Ultimately the market and a commitment to global action will be the decider of timing of fossil fuel exits. But, I have to say, the market is already deciding. Eighty per cent of global GDP is already decarbonising. This will have serious implications for our resources sector in coming years. We will be here to support the sector to reorganise itself to create the jobs of tomorrow.

We've got more than 140 countries worldwide signed up to the NZE2050. But this government's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his National Party buddies like to pretend that the world won't change. They've got their heads well and truly in the sand. The simple fact is—and we know that the Greens know it already, but they have to find a deeper way of politicising this to wedge the Labor Party—Labor knows, business knows, Australians already know that global capital is already moving.

Here with Prime Minister Morrison we have yet again a man without a plan. We have a Prime Minister without a vision and a path to get us to the future, to get us to that better future that we all, as Australians, deserve. There hasn't been a new coal-fired power station built in Australia since 2009. Given how renewable energy generation has now become dominant since then, the Labor Party doesn't see that changing. The Greens would have Australia exit coal and gas tomorrow, but with no plan for workers, communities or our energy system. We are making those plans for that transition.

The government tries to use taxpayer funds for coal-fired power stations that the market won't even touch. Labor knows that this exposes taxpayers to a massive carbon liability. So here we are with clowns to the left and jokers to the right. We have an opportunity here for a solid, stable government that believes in real action on climate change. We will have that opportunity before us at the next election. We're confident in the way that we are taking our climate change policies out to the Australian people. They have strong support from business, strong support from environmental groups and strong support from the community.

We've seen in the last two months alone the closure of three coal-fired power stations in our country being brought forward. With the election imminent, we're not here blaming Scott Morrison and his energy minister for those closures. The fact is that those closures have nothing to do with government policy. This is about the market operating.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, all I can say is: here we go again. The Greens, Labor, Liberal and Nationals seem to think that science occurs when someone says the words 'the science says'. That is a lie; that is a delusion—a dangerous lie and a dangerous delusion. Empirical scientific evidence, measured observations, decide science when presented within a causal framework that proves cause and effect. The Greens never present empirical scientific evidence showing cause and effect.

Let's assess each of the Greens' statements and implied claims and the empirical scientific evidence that exists. Their first claim is there is global heating. The global atmosphere has not warmed since 1995, especially when you include analysis of natural El Nino cycles. There has been no increase for 27 years. The longest temperature trend in the last 140 years has been the 40 years from 1936 to 1976—40 years of cooling. It was warmer by far in Australia in the 1880s and 1890s. It was far warmer than today. Today is now cooler than 97 per cent of the Holocene—that period of Earth's history of the last 10,000 years since the last glaciers. There's no heating—end of story.

Let's continue. They make the statement that the burning of coal, oil and gas is the primary cause. Human use of hydrocarbon fuels leads to the production of water vapour, H2O, and carbon dioxide. Water vapour has a net cooling effect on the planet. Human carbon dioxide is a plant food. It's essential for all life on this planet. It increases plant growth as it gets higher in the atmosphere and it has a net cooling effect because of the vegetation.

The next question is: does human carbon dioxide affect the level of carbon dioxide in the air? That's fundamental. During the global financial crisis we had a natural experiment for the whole planet. We saw a seven per cent reduction in the level of carbon dioxide produced by human activity, industrial and transportation activity, yet the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continued to increase. So we cut our carbon dioxide and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased. In 2020 we had a second planetary experiment with the COVID restrictions. We had a bigger decrease in human carbon dioxide output yet the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continued to increase.

Human production of carbon dioxide does not and cannot affect the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—full stop. Nature alone controls the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, regardless of what we do. Each year nature alone produces 32 times the level of carbon dioxide that we produce. Entire human activity is just one thirty-second of what nature produces. Nature produces 97 per cent of Earth's carbon dioxide every year. The oceans contain, in dissolved form, 50 to 70 times the carbon dioxide in Earth's entire atmosphere. Slight cooling in the ocean temperatures leads to absorption of carbon dioxide, and slight warming leads to release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Nature alone controls the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Let's have a look at some other statistics. Let's look at floods in Brisbane and South-East Queensland. In the last 100 years there were two major floods. In the previous 90 years there were nine major floods in 1893 and 1841—far higher than any recent flood. In the summer of 1893 Brisbane endured three floods within three months. There has been no increase in tropical cyclones. There has been a slight decrease or flattening in frequency and severity. Today's fires are far less than in the past. Heatwaves are much shorter and much cooler than in the 1880s and 1890s. Don't believe me? Go and see the Bureau of Meteorology data. Next is reef bleaching. It's natural. Record cooling in the southern Great Barrier Reef in June 2008 saw the coral bleaching. It's caused by symbiosis in the corals.

Who pays for these lies? The people of Australia, especially the poor. The Greens' lies are dishonest, treasonous and a betrayal of Australia and Australians.

Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

ANTIC () (): Here we are again on groundhog day—more alarmist rhetoric from the Australian Greens, who choose to take up the Senate's time moving a motion straight from the mouth of the child prophet of their climate cult, Greta Thunberg. It's a motion so out of step with the global crisis in Europe. It's one that would destroy jobs, industries and livelihoods all across Australia, particularly in regional Australia. What is most concerning about this is we know that, if the election goes the way of Labor, there's more to come. We know that because this will be the ransom for the Greens to support the Labor government. Every bill, every motion and every vote will depend on the Greens' support.

Petrol prices have risen dramatically following the breakout of war in Ukraine, climbing from $1.60 per litre in December to over $2 in March 2022, and there doesn't appear to be any sign of it slowing anytime soon. Former US President Donald Trump was absolutely right to work towards making America energy-independent. He understood that relying on foreign powers, like Russia, China and the Middle East, was not a practical long-term option. These are nations that do not have our best interests or the best interests of the West at heart. Their values are not compatible with ours, and to remain dependent on energy in which they are involved is dangerous.

Here in Australia we're blessed with natural resources—oil, coal, gas and uranium. We have the resources to ensure Australia is less dependent on foreign powers. So why don't we do it? Because we're continuing to pander to nonsense like this. The Greens Left obsession with climate change is making this country weak. They've failed to grasp the importance of ensuring Australia's energy independence, ignoring the fact that drilling can actually be done safely and efficiently, and that it ensures that we don't remain precariously dependent on other nations for our energy security. These are the same Australian Greens who have so little regard for this country that they stand on a defence policy platform which seeks to reduce our defence spending. It's a platform which seeks to slash defence spending at a time when the prospects of conflict are rising every single day.

Listen to this, Senator Thorpe; you'll learn something. This is a policy platform which seeks global cooperation facilitated by peaceful, non-violent conflict. This is true. It's straight from their website. It says:

Nonviolent conflict resolution is the most effective way of promoting peace.

Those are two fairly realistic prospects, right there. I can just see it: if the Labor Party make government, they'll make Adam Bandt the foreign minister. They'll send him off with his little hemp bag, and he'll sit down with Putin and Xi and they'll talk about peaceful solutions. It's hilarious.

When an unexpected crisis comes up, like Russia's invasion of Ukraine, pressure is brought to bear on the international energy market, and it's Australian families who end up spending more on petrol and who endure the tremendous financial strain. That's a matter that's lost on our friends across the chamber. That means Australians have less to spend on their groceries and on their lifestyle, and it causes the economy to lag. This is because, frankly, too many in this place and too many in the community aren't prepared to stand up to the petulant Left. This is a movement which has been telling us for the past 50 years that we're going to get a mass extinction episode in the next decade, one after the other. The Greens would rather have us dependent on China, Russia and the Middle East than energy independent.

Despite the Norwegian company Equinor having, sadly, been forced to pull out of drilling in the Great Australian Bight, there will be others that will seek to do so, and we should be ensuring that we allow every possible opportunity for them to do so. Rather than shamefully celebrating the bullying of these projects out of town, these green Left activists should put down the French champagne, turn off the Tesla and stand up for Aussie jobs. What's important is that the Australian government continue to ignore the voices of the radical Left and encourage companies to explore and drill the bight, which could still be, if we make it so, Australia's North Sea. Let's be clear. I'm happy to call for drilling in the Great Australian Bight. It should be explored, drilled and used safely for the greater Australian good, not left on the shelf to aid and abet phoney crony capitalists and the interests of our strategic foes like the Chinese Communist Party. Australians need to reject the false prophets of green politics.

The same applies, by the way, to nuclear power. If the climate catastrophists are so concerned with carbon emissions, why not utilise a form of energy that produces zero emissions and is energy efficient as a way of generating power? The science tells us it's safe. Remember the science? Could it be that following the science is simply a rhetorical sleight of hand to bully others into not questioning their ideology? We have to make the most of those opportunities that living in this country affords us and be prepared for crises like what's happening in the Ukraine as they arise. We're blessed to live in this country. Its natural resources are plentiful. Yet we continue to ignore what's available on our doorstep to appease the climate cultists.

Like Australia, the US is languishing under increased fuel prices, due mainly to its energy dependence under President Biden, who could have kept alive the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would have seen almost a million barrels of oil carried from Canada to Nebraska in one single day. Construction of the pipeline had been revived by President Trump after being cancelled by Obama, only for it to be cancelled by Biden again. Look what's happened. As usual, this kowtowing to the green Left leaves the West and countries like the United States in a far more vulnerable position, for the non-existent greater good of fighting climate change, while they continue to completely ignore countries like China and India, which pollute far more than any Western country.

How often is the extreme Left going to beat the drum of climate action in this country? No emissions reductions will ever satisfy them, because, if they admit that there's nothing more to talk about and that Australia's doing its fair share, their political relevance drops away. This country has in fact, as we have said so many times in this chamber before, both met and beaten its 2020 targets. Emissions are 20 per cent below 2005 levels, which was the baseline for the Paris Agreement, and emissions have fallen faster than in many comparable advanced economies, outpacing reductions in the United States. The latest projections show Australia is on track to reduce emissions by 35 per cent by 2030. Yet it's still not enough. It will never be enough. It's as if green activists are actually interested not in the environment but just in their job-destroying ideology.

The invasion of Ukraine has meant that Western nations are thoroughly distancing themselves from Russia, which has meant that a large portion of our oil must be sourced either from elsewhere or from inside our own borders. China has been spouting concerning rhetoric regarding Taiwan for some time now, and the day may soon arrive when there is an attempt at invasion. We have to ensure that we're self-reliant. We have to ensure that we're not dependent on other countries whose values do not align with our own. It's time to stop pandering to the ideological Left. There's no good reason for Australia not to be far more energy independent. If we are to prioritise our long-term national security, not to mention our economy and the wellbeing of the Australian family, there's really no other option. So I say: let's start drilling the bight.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose this motion, which is yet another Greens stunt. I suppose we are drawing to the end of this parliamentary sitting, and every week of this parliamentary sitting has been characterised by Greens stunts, so why would anything change now as this parliament comes to an end?

Climate change is a real issue. We are feeling it, seeing it and experiencing it every day right now. As we speak, northern New South Wales is flooding again. South-East Queensland has had heavy rainfall. We see heatwaves and bushfires more often and of more intensity. All of the scientists tell us that, unless we take serious action on climate change, the situation will get worse with more natural disasters more frequently and more intensely.

So climate change is a real issue and it is one that the parliament should take seriously and it is one that, as a country, we should take action on. However, the way to deal with it is through a real plan that has been thought through, costed, modelled and which establishes exactly what needs to be done in the most effective, most efficient way. That is the plan that Labor has put forward.

Labor has put forward a comprehensive plan, as opposed to the Greens putting forward a three-line motion. That's the extent of the Greens plans for dealing with the very real challenge that we have around climate change. So, it is only Labor that has a real plan to deal with the challenge of climate change. On the one hand, we have the government which doesn't even believe in climate change if you just scratch below the surface. We have had under this government a lost decade of action on climate change where we've seen temperatures increase, we've seen sea levels rise and we've seen natural disasters become more frequent and more intense with no action, and simply denial from this government about the need to do anything. Finally, when they were dragged kicking and screaming to committing to net zero emissions by 2050, all they had to back it up was a flimsy booklet marketing-man style from the Prime Minister which. It relies on technology that has not even been invented yet as a way of the getting to net zero by 2050.

Their policy is a complete joke. It has more holes in it than a piece of Swiss cheese, and the reason for that is that they don't fundamentally believe that climate change is a real risk. What they do believe is that they are now in danger of losing seats, particularly to Independents in Sydney and Melbourne. That is the only thing that has prompted the government to even come up with a flimsy booklet that relies on technology that has not yet existed. That's the government's position.

On the other side, we have the Greens who argue that we should and can exit the use of coal and gas tomorrow. That's what this motion goes to. They have no plan for the workers who will be affected by that. They have no plan for what that means for the energy grid. They don't recognise that until we do have renewables at scale we will continue to need coal and gas to back up our electricity system. That's just a reality. Unfortunately, the Greens are denying that reality and they have no plan for what happens to workers, the energy grid or people's ongoing need to use electricity. The Greens plan also says nothing about the fact that other countries continue to consume coal and gas, continue to mine it, continue to supply it and continue to use it. Even if we followed the Greens motion, it would do absolutely nothing about the rest of the world's use of coal and gas and in fact we'd probably see dirtier resources being used rather than those produced in Australia.

In contrast to the Greens and the LNP, Labor is the only party that is taking a real plan to deal with climate change to the coming election. Our powering the nation policy, which we launched at the end of last year, will create jobs, cut emissions and power prices. They are the things that we need to do as a country to tackle the economic challenge that we have around our future energy sources, and that is the policy that will deliver real change and real action on climate change, not stunts like this from the Greens party—three-line motions that will do nothing to fix these problems, that won't deliver cheaper power, that won't reduce emissions and certainly won't look after people's jobs.

I'd encourage the Greens to reflect on their behaviour and the way they approach this issue. This is a significant issue. It deserves a well thought-through plan, and that is not what the Greens are offering us.

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

I've just come back from Larrakia country, Darwin, where I listened to and sat with around 40 traditional owners, senior law people and junggayi. They told me to give you this message: 'We need all of the governments to listen to us. We don't want no fracking in the Beetaloo. This is our land, our future, our water, our life.' Aunty Nancy McDinny told me to tell you fellas to actually go to Borroloola, go drink their water, live like they live and go and give them what they need, because none of you have. You all talk about it in here. None of you have been there. You get to sit here and make decisions for country you don't know and could never know or understand. Traditional owners do not want fracking—not now, not ever. Some of you probably have Aunty Nancy's paintings in your offices. When it comes to actually listening to what she wants for country and community, you're all of a sudden not interested, but you'll rave and rant about your dot paintings, I'm sure. Do not frack the Northern Territory.

We also heard how the Northern Land Council is helping these mining companies, like Santos and Origin, destroy country and water. Both those companies had to be summoned to attend a separate hearing because they flat out refused to look traditional owners in the eye in Darwin. Shame! Traditional owners told us that the Northern Land Council just refuses to hear the word 'no'. Traditional owners have time and time again said no to fracking, no to destruction of country and heritage and no to the poisoning of water. The Northern Land Council is complicit in the lies that gas companies are telling our people. What's worse is that the NLC is meant to be protecting country and working with traditional owners. It's absolutely shameful and disgraceful and disrespectful. The sooner that this parliament investigates the dodgy dealings of these land councils, the better. I say to these dodgy land councils: I'm watching you. Our people are watching you, and we are coming. You are on notice.

In conclusion, I would like to thank my colleagues Senator Cox and Senator McCarthy, who sat with traditional owners, who were part of the story and who were part of listening. How powerful it was to see three deadly, staunch black women senators sitting in front of these people, genuinely listening to what they had to say and genuinely taking on their fight and their voice and bringing it into this place. Thank you, my sisters.

Don't frack the Northern Territory. Respect the traditional owners. Again, if you have a dot painting in your office that you admire each day and you tell your family and your friends about, then maybe look at the story of that dot painting, because you're killing the person who painted it. You're killing the land of the people who painted them. You're taking their children, and you're doing all you can to destroy everything that they are and everything that their country means to them. Give up your dot paintings or don't frack the NT—it's pretty simple. I urge all of you senators with the dot paintings to go back and have a look at them. If you don't take them down, I hope they haunt you.

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

If the Greens political party is going to treat this chamber like a sort of youth model United Nations, I'd prefer it if the motions were a little bit more interesting and original. It is nothing if not predictable. We got the usual thundering speech at the beginning from the barefoot investor. It is good for the social media posts—I get it—but it is a tired contribution from a party that looks and sounds exhausted. They have been in this Senate for 34 long years, and this is all that they have, and a record of zero achievement. A few decades ago, there was at least some energy to them. Perhaps they had enough of the old activists still around to put some fuel in their ideological tank. Instead, the party of protest has become the party of performance art and street theatre. They've lost their ambition. They've lost their drive. Now this is all just about securing the little 10 per cent that each of them need to come back here. It keeps them occupied, I suppose—

Honourable Senator:

An honourable senator interjecting

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

It's going to get better! To turn to the substance of this motion—although 'substance' is an optimistic assessment of what we have before us—Labor won't be supporting it, but that's a foregone conclusion. It was written so that Labor would oppose it; that's what it was for. It's so the Greens have something to share on social media, so they can continue to justify their position in this chamber. The Greens aren't talking to the communities that actually have to live with the consequences of their ideas.

The Labor Party is the only political party in this country that's capable of enacting real action on climate change because we actually come from those communities. Consider Labor's candidate for the Hunter, Dan Repacholi, who actually works in the mining industry. Dan Repacholi has a more sophisticated understanding of climate change and what action on climate change means for the Australian energy system than the entire Greens caucus combined, because he lives it. It's his workmates, his family and his community who are in the middle of this debate. And as the future member for the Hunter, he will continue to fight for them and he'll continue to fight for their future, instead of treating this like a debating society.

I understand that it's attractive to have a fight between the Greens and the citizen scientists over there: poor old Senator Roberts, Senator Antic and some of those other characters who sit at home and twiddle the dials and fill out their own spreadsheets and try and work out what's really going on because the scientists must be conning them. Poor old Senator Roberts does it on the vaccines, too. Actually, there is a more serious issue here that goes to the heart of how this country is going to deal with the failure of the last decade and the climate conflicts of the last decade that have left us stone-cold, motherless last, instead of leading the world on these questions.

There is an alternative strategy and there is an alternative plan. Do you know what people should do? They should get behind it. This resolution comes as the floodwaters are working their way through the Richmond River and Wilsons River systems in Lismore. Once again, families are facing up to the consequences there. We should not be ambulance-chasing about these issues; we should be solving problems. After 34 long years, we've got to do better than this.

There is an alternative plan: the Albanese Labor plan. With $24 billion of public investment, it is a fully costed plan. It is the most effectively costed plan from an opposition in Australian political history. There will be 604,000 jobs, with five out of six of those jobs in the regions. By 2030, 82 per cent of the power in the electricity grid will be from renewable sources. Power prices will be down; that's guaranteed. There's a 43 per cent target by 2030 and a target of net zero by 2050 with a pathway to get there. There will be investment in manufacturing. You can choose. My view is that people ought to get behind a plan that could actually work.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution to this urgency motion calling for a moratorium on new coal, oil and gas projects. We are in a climate crisis. There is no way around this, and coal and gas are the leading causes of climate change. This is not just the opinion of the Australian Greens. This is actually detailed in the IPCC report. The science is perfectly clear, and every tonne of coal and gas burned increases the intensity and the speed of changes to the climate. Across Australia, there is a climate crisis. It's caused by the mining and burning of coal and gas. The continued mining and burning of coal and gas is causing more frequent floods, heatwaves and bushfires that we are watching in real time. And, unfortunately, it's costing lives.

In my home state of Western Australia, we know this all too well. Over the summer, we experienced record-breaking heatwaves and devastating bushfires. Those heatwaves were both in Perth and in the Pilbara region, and we watched those bushfires in real time in the South West. Parts of this beautiful country are now becoming unlivable due to the extreme temperatures, and I wish other senators had hung around for this detail: in Fitzroy Crossing, in Western Australia, currently they experience 67 days per year over 40 degrees. If we are to stay on track with either the government's policies or the opposition's policies, by 2050 they'll be experiencing 155 days over 40 degrees, which is basically unlivable.

We need real climate action now. We need real climate action, meaning phasing out coal and gas by 2030 and keeping climate-destroying coal and gas in the ground, where they belong. Real climate action means banning new coal and gas projects and stopping the gaslighting that is happening—the false narrative that is being created by this government. Real climate action means protecting our environment for future generations, both mine and yours.

The burning question here is: what's stopping the Liberals and Labor from taking action on climate change? Well, it's no secret that both the Liberals and Labor take millions of dollars of donations from coal and gas billionaires and big corporations. So this is for the folks out there watching, the Australian public. In fact, in every budget, the government slips into the books billions more of your taxes, earmarked for coal and gas corporations. From these tax breaks that they give to those billionaires and big corporations, they give handouts. They spend public money on making the greatest challenge that we face far worse by backing more coal and gas projects across this country. So you won't hear Labor criticise the Liberals' fossil fuel handouts, which is why only putting the Greens in the balance of power will stop the pouring of more fuel onto the climate fire.

Dirty donations explain why the Labor Party is also giving the green light to climate-wrecking projects like the one that's operating in my backyard in Western Australia: the Scarborough project, on the lands of the Murujuga people. The Scarborough gas project is a climate bomb and will create pollution equalling that of 15 coal-fired power stations every single year. It's worse than Adani. In fact, it will be like Juukan 2.0. This federal government, as well as the state government, claim that major oil and gas projects like Scarborough will create jobs. But what they won't tell you is that, in WA, their workforce in fact does not create jobs for Western Australians. They would be better off supporting literally any other industry, because it's less than one per cent of WA's workforce.

Political capture by the big coal and gas corporations through donations, through that revolving door of lobbyists and through job offers and well-funded disinformation campaigns continues to see the Labor and Liberal parties throw money at their incumbent fossil fuel companies, all at the expense of slowing down that ever-present transition that we need to make. I'm proud to be from the only party that doesn't take money from the fossil fuel industry or big corporations, because we won't take money from the Woodsides and Rio Tintos of this world.

The Greens have a plan for real action on climate change, but the only way we can do that is to kick the Liberals out and to push a Labor government further and faster on climate action, by voting 1 for the Greens. A small change in the vote can put the Greens into shared power again so we can push Labor to go further and faster on tackling the climate crisis and making those billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax so that we can get money back into our community services, where it's needed. In shared power, we can tackle the climate crisis, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and making those corporations pay their fair share of tax so we can create a safer future for all of us. We can power a clean energy revolution that, again, will create all of those long-term jobs, enabling our workers in fossil fuel industries to transition away from polluting industries. We know the Labor Party—

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Cox. The time allotted for this debate has expired.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the urgency motion be agreed to.