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

It might surprise people that my instinctive reaction yesterday to the news, watching Mr David Littleproud in the other place say he was proud that his party room in the National Party had reached a position of opposing net zero, was one of sadness. You'd think maybe I'd be happy, considering the coalition are polling at record-low numbers of 24 per cent today because of the exact issue. It's sadness because I've announced that I'm leaving this place next year, and I still can't believe that in 2025 we have politicians who don't believe in climate change, don't believe it's doing harm and don't want to take the necessary action for our nation to fix it. We have politicians who don't see the opportunity in acting on climate change.

I think my sadness also comes from the fact that I know the people within the National Party who are responsible for this—I saw some leaked words used in the media over the weekend of the 'terrorists' within the coalition, and I know that word was used by Malcolm Turnbull in his biography as well—are climate deniers. They just don't believe that climate change is a thing. Opposing something even as weak as net zero, which relies on net offsets which don't work, and which doesn't even include scope 3 emissions—you'd have to be pretty radical and extreme for that to be your policy position.

The sadness also comes from the fact that, even if these people were to leave the National Party, or even if Donald Trump were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, the denial machine that got people there in the first place is still around. It is still powerful, it is still well resourced and it is still organised. That's something I think we all need to grapple with. How has so much disinformation and misinformation got us to where we are today when a political party can still not believe in climate change? (Time expired)