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

I find the interjections from those opposite quite remarkable. These warnings about coastal inundation of every state in Australia and the Territory are described by those opposite as ‘rubbish’. We simply note carefully what the report has said. The fact is that Australia has more to lose through continued inaction on climate change than do our competitor economies. That is why the government is exerting every effort through this place to see the passage of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which we would use to set Australia up for a lower carbon future. That is why the Australian government is equally active globally to secure a strong global agreement on climate change as well.

I indicated last week that the bill will be reintroduced into the House. It will be debated in the House this week and voted on in the House in the week beginning Monday, 16 November. It will be introduced in the Senate immediately after the vote in the House and it will be voted on in the Senate in the week beginning 23 November.

The government welcomes the negotiations which are underway between it and the opposition. I am pleased to hear from Minister Wong that negotiations have commenced and are proceeding in good faith. I would like to personally thank the member for Groom for his genuine efforts to engage with the government and to reach an outcome that will finally deliver action on climate change. The Leader of the Opposition has been right in his observations when he has said that the ‘biggest element in the fight against climate change has to be an emissions trading scheme’. Furthermore, he was right when he said:

… our first-hand experience in implementing … an emissions trading system would be of considerable assistance in our international discussions and negotiations aimed at achieving an effective global climate change agreement.

As he said elsewhere:

… climate change is a fact, not a theory.

Australia needs these good-faith negotiations to work to give business the certainty they need for the future. We need it for the national interest and we need it for business certainty and we also need it to ensure that the climate change outcome for Australia delivers a financially and economically responsible outcome but one which is equally environmentally credible. We therefore welcome the negotiations underway between government and opposition on this. We have brought these bills back to the parliament because it is the right thing to do, it is the responsible thing to do and it is in Australia’s national interest that we do so as well.

On the global front, those opposite and others will have noted recent statements by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Prime Minister Rasmussen, who delivered a speech in which he called on all leaders to increase their engagement in negotiations in the lead-up to Copenhagen over the next six weeks. To give immediate effect to this, Prime Minister Rasmussen, as chair of the Conference of Parties, has asked a number of leaders to work closely with him in the lead-up to Copenhagen. Prime Minister Rasmussen noted in his speech:

Negotiations have been ongoing for almost two years and progress has been painfully slow. Clearly, at current speed, we will not make it in the remaining weeks.

The leaders engaged by Prime Minister Rasmussen will conduct regular discussions in the lead-up to Copenhagen, focusing on delivering effective action on climate change. Leaders’ engagement is critical to increase the political momentum around the world to delivering a decent outcome at Copenhagen, to capture commitments already made in an ambitious and comprehensive global agreement and to guide ongoing negotiations for the future as well.

This is critical for Australia. Our national actions are important through the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. That is why our negotiations with the member for Groom and the opposition are so important. Equally, and more importantly, global action through the negotiations in the lead-up to Copenhagen are fundamental to delivering a lower carbon future for the planet, because, as we have been warned today by this House committee report on coastal inundation, the real costs for Australia of continued inaction on climate change are deep and enduring and damaging to our economy and damaging to the nation’s environment. It is time for national action and global action on climate change.

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