Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Flinders for bringing this matter of public importance to the attention of the House. I know him to be a man who is passionately interested in the issue of climate change. He does believe in the science, unlike many of those who surround him on that side of the House, and he has in the past had a very credible position on the issue. I also know him to be a man who is usually above some of the lower forms of politics that often accompany those on the other side of the House, which is why I was very disappointed to hear him draw some humour out of the fact that some involved in US politics have used guns to shoot down a policy. It might be an analogy which gets laughs from the cheap seats, but it really is below him.

He spoke for 15 minutes on the issue of climate change and our public policy responses to it, but very little if any of that time dealt with his own party’s policy on this. Perhaps this is because his own party’s policy is so confused. Perhaps before the member for Flinders leaves the chamber I can put a question to him—that is, whether he and his party are still committed to the bipartisan renewable energy targets and whether they believe the target of five per cent can still be met by their policies—

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