Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, 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 Prime Minister (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Waters today about climate change.

This year marks a critical moment under the Paris Agreement when nations are required to submit new 2035 targets to cut climate pollution. Collectively, these targets must slash global climate pollution fast enough to keep temperature rise within internationally agreed limits—limits designed to prevent catastrophic harm to people and to ecosystems. As Australia prepares to host the next COP in Adelaide, a region whose fishing, tourism, marine life and beaches have been catastrophically damaged by recent climate events, the stakes couldn't be higher.

In the coming weeks, the federal government will announce its nationally determined contribution: a new 2035 target for climate and emissions action. We already know the states and territories are on track to do much of the heavy lifting, getting us to a 66 per cent to 71 per cent reduction in Australia's emissions by 2035. Anything less than 71 per cent will therefore mean the federal government is vacating the field and leaving all of the climate heavy lifting to the states. I'll reiterate that because it's very important. Anything less than 71 per cent will mean the federal government is vacating the field and leaving the heavy lifting of the climate crisis to the states. That would be an abject failure of national leadership. A strong target isn't optional. It's not a nice-to-have. It is critical to protecting our safety, our communities and our way of life. A strong national 2035 target will protect Australia from climate disasters like floods, fires and droughts. A weaker target means more danger and more disasters.

We cannot talk about climate targets without also acknowledging our duty to the global community, especially our Pacific neighbours, whose homes, cultures and livelihoods are already being devastated by the climate crisis, by rising seas and extreme weather events. As mentioned, Pacific leaders are in the building today, along with other advocates representing those at the coalface of the climate crisis, urging Australia to adopt a stronger 2035 target and to stop fuelling the climate crisis with new coal and gas projects. They are demanding justice, not just more empty words. Last week the International Court of Justice made it clear that countries like Australia may be legally liable for the harms caused by our fossil fuel exports. That ruling should be a wake-up call to this government. You cannot stand here and claim climate leadership while continuing to green-light massive new coal and gas expansion, because the world is watching.

I want to acknowledge the extreme leadership of those young people from the Pacific islands who led this climate case to the world's highest court—leadership this place would do well to acknowledge and repeat. If we show up to COP with weak targets and no plan to phase out fossil fuels, we'll not just be failing our people here in Australia; we'll be failing our neighbours and breaching the trust of communities who have long looked to Australia for solidarity, not sacrifice.

I also want to draw attention to the work of my Greens colleagues in Western Australia, a state that, right now, is holding back the nation's climate progress. WA is the only state in the country with no 2030 emissions reduction target, no renewable energy target and rising emissions. That's why the Greens in WA have put forward a bold climate bill that would finally bring Western Australia into line with the rest of the country and with the science. This is the kind of leadership that we need in this critical decade for climate action. Together we can secure the climate action Western Australia needs to protect its communities and ecosystems and to ensure it doesn't remain a drag on national progress.

And, just as the WA Greens are fighting for binding, science based targets at the state level, the federal government must step up too. The nationally determined contribution can go beyond a headline number. Climate experts and NGOs are rightly calling for it to include measures like a fossil-fuel non-proliferation pledge, and we Greens agree. If this government is serious about action on climate and the environment, we must break our addiction to fossil fuels and end the subsidies that we provide to these dirty, polluting industries. Australia must heed the calls from Pacific island leaders and set a strong national 2035 climate target that is consistent with the science and compatible with a future for our children and for their children. It must do what it was elected to do: lead the charge on a strong target and deliver a plan to achieve it.

Question agreed to.