Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question and I refer him to the advice of the CSIRO, which is a very reputable body. It says that no one weather event should be attributed to climate change. That is the advice of the CSIRO—that no particular weather event should be attributed to climate change.

If I may, for the benefit of the member, say, the government accepts that climate change is real and that humanity does make a contribution, but the important thing is to take strong and effective action to deal with it. The problem with the former government's carbon tax policy is that under the carbon tax our domestic emissions were going up, not down. Under this government's Direct Action policy we will deliver a five per cent cut in emissions by 2020. We are taking strong action. The former government, aided and abetted by the member in question, was introducing a policy of socialism masquerading as environmentalism.

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