Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

We now have the Green interjecting, trying to defend the indefensible. You know that if you had agreed to that legislation we would have an emissions trading scheme in place now that would already be acting to reduce carbon pollution. We would not be having this debate today, and the member for Melbourne knows that.

We are already seeing the effects, the beginnings of climate change around the globe. We are seeing it in Australia, in extreme weather events more frequent and more extreme. The last 13 years of this century were the hottest years on record. We are seeing hotter days, higher sea levels, and more severe storms, droughts and fires. We are seeing all of that. In Australia it is costing us already, but have a thought for our neighbours as well, those Pacific Island nations that are actually making plans to remove their whole population when their nation becomes uninhabitable. Think about what is happening not just to us in Australia but also in our region.

What is even more frustrating about this debate that we are having today is that we actually have a scheme in place and it is working to reduce carbon emissions. We are the only country in the world that has a scheme that is already operating and in place, and we are turning our backs on it. We are walking away from it and we are going backwards on our scheme. We are going to that place under the stewardship of the so-called Minister for the Environment, who wrote his honours thesis about how a market mechanism would be the best way to handle climate change. We are going—

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