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

Responsible people, courageous people: on the very day that Tony Abbott got his anti-climate-change ticket up and rolled Malcolm Turnbull, they crossed the floor. When I looked over at the other side of the Senate, I could see the five Greens sitting with the National Party and Liberal Party climate change skeptics. It was a shameful moment.

So we went off to Copenhagen, and a lot of great things came out of Copenhagen, but it was not humanity’s finest moment. People forget the good things that came out of Copenhagen. We got a commitment from all world leaders to hold an increase in global temperature to below two degrees Celsius. That is a commitment important to every Australian farmer, especially the marginal farmers in South Australia beyond the border. It is an important achievement: farming will continue in South Australia because of the hard work done in Copenhagen. I remind people that the two countries that worked hardest to achieve that consensus were Australia and the United Kingdom. That is something we can tell our grandchildren. We held our heads up high. We had dark moments in the Senate and on the floor of the House of Representatives but we did achieve something in Copenhagen. There is also a framework to keep track of what we are doing so that we can measure what is going on in terms of production and so that the climate change sceptics, the Lord Moncktons and the like that have grabbed the ears of those opposite, do not hold sway.

The other big thing is that, obviously, it is not enough to just be committed to something; you have to put your money where your mouth is. That is what happened. All the leaders agreed on the finance necessary to support the emissions reductions and particularly the adaptations that are necessary in developing countries. We have had the benefits of the Industrial Revolution, but some of those developing countries have not. Rather than just saying, ‘Tough luck—there’s no more space at the table; you’ll just have to suffer and burn up,’ thankfully, the world’s governments had enough soul to say: ‘No, we’ll do what we can. We’ll find the finance to ensure that you can make some adaptations.’

So they were some of the good things that came out of Copenhagen. If you listen to talkback radio and some of the misguided people on the other side of the chamber, from the way they misrepresent the Copenhagen conference you might think it did not achieve anything. The reality is that the Copenhagen summit, led by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, Minister Wong, Gordon Brown and a few others from the UK, was able to achieve some wonderful things. While it was not humanity’s finest hour, it was maybe not its darkest hour, as it is painted by some people.

To return to the Farming the future report from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Primary Industries and Resources, it was incredible to travel around the country—although I was not able to go to Western Australia or some of the other field centres that the committee visited—and talk to the farmers and see the simple things they are doing to ensure the future of farming. For example, they are putting in something as simple as harvestable trees, which put carbon into the soil but also give a good timber yield every 20 to 25 years or something.

The innovations were incredible and it was quite comforting, as someone from the bush, although I now represent a city seat—even though the Brisbane Markets are in my electorate—to see that the farmers are well and truly ahead of the fact that Australia’s climate is changing, and we need to be prepared for that. It is not a matter of knee-jerk reactions and short term goals—‘It has rained this year; it will be a drought next year.’ Instead, the committee saw time after time that Australian farmers are ready to adapt to climate change. Obviously there are some recommendations there as to how we might further their preparedness, how we might further their readiness. I am sure that the government will consider those. I was quite comforted by what was happening on the farms we visited. I commend the report to everyone, and especially to the member for Tangney, as it demonstrates how prepared and how far advanced our farmers are.

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