Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier this month, the CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology released their biannual State of the climate report. The report provides data and trends relating to climate change and climate change observations. The CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology are two of Australia's most reputable government organisations. Their credibility is crucial to their existence. The report showed that, in line with climate science predictions, the atmosphere and oceans around Australia are warming. Indeed, last year was the warmest year on record. Notably, air temperatures across Australia were, on average, one degree centigrade warmer than they were a hundred years ago and sea surface temperatures had risen by 0.9 of a degree over the same period. Most of the temperature increases have occurred since 1950.

The report also found that seven out of the 10 warmest years on record in Australia have occurred since 1998 and the frequency of very warm months has increased fivefold while the frequency of very cool months has decreased by around one third. These are serious changes to weather patterns and to our climate. It also found that the duration, frequency and intensity of heatwaves has increased across large parts of Australia since 1950.

These are not extrapolations, theories, models or predictions but factual reports of how Australia's climate has changed over the last century. The temperature rises and changes to Australia's weather patterns are consistent with climate changes across the world, which show that: firstly, mean carbon dioxide levels reached 395 parts per million in 2013; secondly, global temperatures are rising, with most of the heat being absorbed by our oceans; thirdly, that sea levels have risen by about 225 millimetres since 1880 and that the ocean acidity levels have also risen over that time; and, fourthly, ice mass lost from the Antarctic and Greenland icesheets has accelerated over the past two decades, whilst Antarctic sea ice has slightly increased since 1979. All of these changes point towards more frequent and more extreme weather events precisely of the type that the world has experienced in recent years, confirming earlier predictions by climate scientists. Yet we continue to be subjected to a well-organised campaign by climate change sceptics—possibly funded by the fossil fuel industry—questioning the climate change science and being given too much prominence, I believe, by some sectors of the media.

In an opinion piece that appeared in The Age on 8 February, retired Supreme Court judge David Harper refers to a statement made by internationally renowned German scientist and founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who said that the difference between two degrees Celsius of global warming and four degrees Celsius is human civilisation. David Harper goes on to say:

With so much at stake, no government that takes seriously its primary duty to protect the future of its citizens can do otherwise than immediately tackle climate warming with every reasonable means at its disposal.

It is encouraging to see that some notable business leaders are taking the lead on climate change. Virgin boss Richard Branson recently said that those who are sceptical of man-made global warming should 'get out of the way.' His comments followed a similar sentiment from Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who told a representative from the National Centre for Public Policy Research, when questioned about Apple's environmental investments: 'If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.'

Regrettably, that message is falling on the deaf ears of the Prime Minister and the Abbott government, who opportunistically prefer to use such a serious matter for political advantage rather than to live up to the responsibility that they are entrusted with. The Abbott government's plan for a cleaner environment simply does not stand up to scrutiny and will not deliver the environmental outcomes required or claimed. Bernie Fraser from the Climate Change Authority correctly noted that the Abbott government is taking its cue on climate policy from business and industry, and not from science.

Astonishingly, the Abbott government's white paper on agriculture makes no mention of climate change, even though climate change presents the sector with its greatest risks, as confirmed by reports in the media today. That refers to another CSIRO report that will be released very quickly.

In years to come, the Abbott government will be seen for what it is: a government that put financial greed ahead of moral and social responsibility, that placed political self-interest ahead of national interest and that sacrificed future generations by leaving them to deal with the consequences of today's inaction.

See this speech in context