Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

They just say that it is true that they have done more. More than what? I would say that individual people in Australia have done more on their own and more collectively than this government has done. I would say that business has hopped on board, but not through any assistance provided by this government. They have decided themselves, individually and collectively, that this issue is now so important that they have leapt over the federal government. They have stopped looking for leadership, because none is being provided. They have now decided to provide the leadership. It is the mums and dads at home saving water, looking to energy-efficient appliances, looking to put solar panels on their roofs, looking to make a difference individually; it is businesses such as News Corp on a global footing saying it can make a real difference.

Why is this happening in Australia today? Because there is no other leadership. There is no-one in power, there is no-one from the federal government, standing up to the box and saying: ‘We will lead. We will provide the tools and mechanisms.’ Australians are sick of the spin and the propaganda, and so are we. We need a government that will lead Australia. And we heard it again today from the minister: somehow Australia is just too small; somehow Australia cannot make a difference. I disagree. I think Australia can make a difference. I think small nations can play huge roles, massive roles. I think the moment that Australia announces that it will ratify the Kyoto protocol there would be enormous pressure on the only country left in the developed world that has not done it. But it would also send a very strong signal to China and to other developing nations that they can also do more. In fact, these nations are taking it very seriously. I know for a fact that China is already taking huge steps forward by having a policy that it will be 20 per cent self-sufficient on renewable energy sources by 2020. It is doing something concrete: it is setting targets, it is putting out something that it can measure, assess, review, benchmark against.

This government will not set benchmarks. It will not set any targets because it does not want to be reviewed, it does not want to have to measure up to anything that it might have to do that could be measured or assessed in some way. All the government says is that it is meeting Kyoto targets. But then why not sign up? Why not, for the little bit of pain that you get out of the Kyoto targets, reap the benefits? Why not allow Australian business to go out there and make some economic gain through global carbon trading, emissions trading, through the things that we can do, through developing new industries here in Australia? Businesses today in Australia that want to deal in these areas and start a whole new industry, a whole new wave of jobs, have to go offshore because there is no mechanism in Australia for them to trade. This is the sort of leadership that is missing in this country.

Labor on the other hand has some very clear direction and some very clear policy. We do not just talk about these things; we believe in these things. We have believed that we ought to be doing something for many, many years. We believe strongly in ratifying the Kyoto protocol. If this government is true to its word and believes in Kyoto 2, then let us do 1 first before we move on to 2. Let us take the necessary steps in order. Australia needs to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. You need to work to that target and to that goal. It is equivalent to removing some eight million cars off the face of the planet. It is a lot of emissions. If we aim for those targets, we can make a difference. I do not want to hear from the government any more that we are just too small, that we are insignificant, that we do not play a role. When I hear that, all I hear are excuses from a tired government. Eleven years in office is a long time to do very little and, on climate change, to do nothing except deny, provide misinformation, confuse, do everything you possibly can to muddy the debate while everybody else in the world is singing from the same song sheet. Everybody else in the world now has moved on. We are trying to provide solutions while this government continues to make excuses.

Labor will set up a national emissions trading scheme, something that is essential for us to play our role. Labor will set up a $500 million national clean coal fund. I heard the minister talk about clean coal. The reality is Australia is a coal country and we need clean coal. We need to form a whole new industry and we support it. I see government members shaking their heads, but every opportunity the government gets, it talks about what its so-called alternative solution is. For them it is not clean coal; for them it is the nuclear path. This is not the answer. In purely economic terms for Australia it is not the answer. It certainly is not the answer in environmental terms. It just does not stack up. That is the harsh reality. Not only does the community not support it, but it does not stack up economically or environmentally. But that is the only solution put forward by this government—a pie in the sky, go somewhere-go nowhere nuclear vision that is supported by no-one in the community.

Labor is committed to a $500 million green car innovation fund—real innovation in industry that will do more than one thing: it will help the environment, it will help the economy and it will help create jobs. It will help create a whole new industry, a new export market for Australia, something we can be proud of and build upon, something real and tangible that can be done today. Manufacturing needs a boost, but here you get two birds with the one stone. This government has no answer to this. A green car innovation fund would generate some $2 billion in investment and secure jobs and create a whole new industry. We need to substantially increase the mandatory renewable energy target. Again we need goals, we need targets, we need to make sure that Australia sets itself a benchmark and says: ‘We can do better. No matter what we are doing today, we can do better. We will lead; we will show the rest of the world. We are not going to let the rest of the world pass us by and make us look like the Luddites.’ Australia can do much better and it will. We need a national climate change summit. And you know what? We got one.

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