Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy to a question without notice I asked today relating to climate change and loss and damage.

I also note that Senator Whish-Wilson will take part of my time. In 1991, Vanuatu, on behalf of small island states, first asked this question: who will pay for climate catastrophe? Over the next three decades, wealthy nations of the Global North dodged and deflected that question while they continued to fuel the climate crisis. They relentlessly pursued profit and power and put the world on track for climate catastrophe and disasters. These disasters have affected 33 million people in Pakistan; 50 million people in the Horn of Africa face the threat of famine; and the climate crisis is an extensional threat to the Pacific nations. After decades of pushing by the Global South, a loss and damage fund has finally been agreed to, and New Zealand, Denmark, Germany and Scotland have all committed to contributing, but Australia still refuses to commit its fair share to loss and damage funding.

Today the climate change minister tabled his first annual climate change statement and mentioned the devastating floods in Pakistan as well as the climate risks faced by Indonesia and the Pacific islands. But it's simply not enough for the government to acknowledge these climate catastrophes and grave climate risks faced by countries of the Global South. It needs to stop pouring fuel on the fire. It beggars belief the climate change minister did not once mention the words 'coal' or 'gas'—not a single time. Honestly, what does the government think is causing the crisis in the first place? Strong and urgent action means no new coal and gas. It is untenable to keep sacrificing the lives and livelihoods of those in poorer nations to maintain the profit margins of fossil fuel conglomerates, many of whom fill political donation buckets for both the big parties.

Climate change is a matter of global justice. Those who did nothing to create it are facing the first and worst consequences. Loss and damage funding is about compensation and a debt owed for the terrible legacy of extractivisim and colonialism by the Global North. It is not charity; it is about righting historic wrongs. Given Australia's dirty hands in producing carbon emissions, we have a special responsibility to do everything we can for climate justice. Australia needs to use its diplomatic weight to push for the loss and damage fund to be set up urgently and take the lead by unequivocally committing to loss and damage funding and pay its fair share. That's what real climate leadership on the global stage looks like. That's what listening to our Pacific neighbours looks like. That's what global justice demands of us.