Sean Bell (NSW, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One Nation is the only party that will scrap net zero. We have heard a lot of talk from the coalition and the Nationals about walking away from net zero, but, today, when this chamber was given a chance to take the first real steps towards the exit, they squibbed it. The Nationals, under the new leadership of Senator Matt Canavan, when given an opportunity today to start getting out of the Paris climate agreement, simply vanished, and the Liberals, under Angus Taylor, lined up with Labor and the Greens and voted against it entirely. Their actions exposed the truth. They have changed a slogan, not a policy.

One Nation stands alone in being serious about scrapping net zero, and the rest of the chamber has just proved it. Scrapping net zero is not a slogan; it is essential. Net zero has driven up power prices, it has destroyed reliable base-load generation, it has slammed everyday Australians with higher bills and a weaker economy, and it has killed jobs. It has used international climate targets to punish our manufacturers, miners, farmers and fuel refiners while countries like China and India keep expanding coal and lifting their emissions. Net zero is economic destruction, and the Paris Agreement is the anchor that keeps net zero locked into Australian law and policy. As long as we stay in the Paris Agreement, Labor, the coalition and the Greens will simply say we are bound by our international obligations.

Leaving Paris is the only way to cut that link and give Australia back the freedom to set its own energy and industrial policy based on what works for all Australians. This is about putting cheaper, more reliable power back in the hands of households and back in the hands of businesses so they can invest, grow and keep jobs here instead of being pushed offshore by these arbitrary emission constraints. This is about restoring commonsense to our energy policy and putting Australia's national interest first. Yet one of the parties that now pretends to have seen the light were especially noticeable in their absence, because it seems, no matter who leads the Nationals, they still have little to be proud of.