Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Makin for his question. I know he has a particularly strong focus on the interests of his local community, as a former mayor. In fact, I have visited various projects which the honourable member has had running in his former municipality on local water conservation.

Climate change is a challenge for us all. It is a challenge for the future. It is a challenge which requires the nation to act nationally and internationally. That is why this government’s approach to climate change rests on three core pillars. Firstly, how do you reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Secondly, how do you shape a global solution which means being part of the Kyoto process, not pretending that it does not exist? Thirdly, how do you also adapt to climate change, which is of such a critical concern to so many out there in rural and regional Australia as well?

Our response to this—on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions—is what are the practical ways forward? The Treasurer has spoken to one in the parliament already today: a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. This is a very significant reform both for the environment and for the economy. It will be tough. It will be hard. It will require difficult decisions, but this government is determined to take those difficult decisions. The second way forward is: how do we go about boosting energy efficiency in our country? The government is developing an energy efficiency strategy to that effect. The third way forward is: how do we also boost the renewable energy role within the overall national electricity grid? Once again, the government is developing a strategy on that as well.

In the period ahead, however, we have got this huge challenge with coal-fired power stations. What are we going to do about emissions now from coal-fired power stations and into the period ahead? We have more than a passing interest in this—not just in terms of our domestic reliance on coal-fired electricity generation but, beyond that, in the critical role of coal exports for this country. We are the largest coal-exporting country in the world. We, therefore, have a particular responsibility given our national energy requirements, as well as our national export requirements, to deal with this challenge of ensuring that coal-fired stations in the future are as clean as possible.

That brings us to the question of clean coal technology and carbon sequestration. How do we deal with this effectively? Earlier today I spoke on legislation which has been introduced by the Minister for Resources and Energy concerning the regulatory regime for offshore sequestration sites for Australia. This is a world first. This is something which those opposite fiddled around with, but they never actually got their act together to bring the legislation through.

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