Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You have got to talk to the National Party senators. I am from that town but I do not live in that town. Then we move onto other significant budget initiatives. If you look through the budget papers, as I am sure people have, we see that we have a plan to combat climate change. It is important that we get funds available to look after climate change, not just between now and election night and not just between now and next budget night but, more importantly, for our children’s sake and our grandchildren’s sake. We need to act now. All of those policies that I have talked about—solar panels, insulation and even infrastructure bottlenecks—are about making sure that we have got a competitive economy, but they are also about recognising the fact that the world has changed. No scientist would argue about the fact that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased significantly since the industrial age. We have got data going back to the early 1830s that scientifically proves that CO2 has increased. Why has it increased? No fair-minded person—although I think there might be a PhD graduate in the chamber who has a slightly different view of climate change—would disagree with the fact that we need to combat the activities that contribute to climate change. That is why the refusal, seven times, by those opposite to make a decision is reprehensible. We are now up to the eighth opportunity to do something but instead they use the good old stand-by policy of ‘Let’s wait, let’s see.’ That is no way to combat one of the most dreadful economic challenges for the country.

I look forward to the budget taking effect in my electorate. I have had nothing but positive responses from all sorts of people—from the car sales people at the Moorooka Magic Mile to people involved in schools and P&Cs and people who look after the homeless and others who are doing it a bit tough. I have had positive responses from so many people in the community, including accountants and small businesses. Small businesses are happy to purchase equipment because of the tax breaks, which are not 30 per cent but are going up to 50 per cent. My friends in country electorates, where every pharmacist is a small business person, say that they are making decisions about purchasing, which then have a flow-on effect in the community, which creates wealth in those small communities. I commend the legislation to the House.

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