John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

You cannot look at the environmental challenges of this country through ideological blinkers, and that is essentially what the Australian Labor Party is doing. I am very proud of the things that this government has done for the environment. When I answered the question from the Leader of the Opposition I really did not do the government’s performance justice. For example, I did not mention that in the last budget we had a historic additional investment of $500 million to restore the health of the Murray and I did not remind the House that we have spent over $2 billion in relation to measures designed inter alia to meet our Kyoto target of 108 per cent. I point out that we are one of the few OECD countries and the only non-nuclear OECD country which is currently on track. Let me say that again: we are one of the few OECD countries and the only non-nuclear OECD country currently on track to either meet or go very close to meeting our Kyoto target. Today, for example, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage and the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources announced $13 million for eight renewable energy projects under the government’s renewable energy development initiative.

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