Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It is coming towards the end of 2015, and what a year it has been. By standing up for the things that matter, like the ability to get health care in this country no matter how much money you have, we have seen off the GP fee. By standing up for the things that matter, like making sure that everyone can go to university no matter their background or how much money their parents have, we have stared down plans to have $100,000 university degrees and seen off cuts to university funding. By standing up in the Senate and in the community for that basic Australian spirit of egalitarianism, respect and tolerance, we have seen off Tony Abbot—potentially the most divisive and out of touch Prime Minister this country has ever seen. I think everyone is going towards the end of 2015 exhaling and feeling as if there has been a change in the tone and a change in the nature of the debate. That is good. I join with many others in sharing that feeling of relief. Up here in parliament in the last sitting fortnight, that is what everyone is feeling.

But it is not enough. This morning we heard the United Nations say that 2015 is set to be the hottest year yet. We have seen the bushfire season start shockingly early. Two hundred fires were burning across my state of Victoria in October. As I stand here and speak, our country is burning. This week Western Australia was hit with devastating fires. Right now in South Australia people are fighting fires that are destroying their homes, blazing through their communities and tragically taking some of their lives. My heart and my thoughts are with those communities who are suffering, and with the friends and families of the people who are putting their lives on the line to battle these blazes. Right now across the world we are grappling with devastating and brutal acts of terrorism in Paris, Beirut, several African countries and many other places too.

At the end of 2015, as we see people fleeing across the globe trying to find a better place to live, our world is crying out for leadership. We need action; not words. As the Prime Minister heads to the climate talks in Paris next week it is time to ditch Tony Abbot's dangerous pollution targets. It is time to say that it is not good enough for us to be on track for a world warmed by three to four degrees. It is time to say that it is not right for Australia to approve a single coalmine that will pump more pollution into the atmosphere than the entire European Union does in a year. It is time for the Prime Minister to be better and not just slicker.

As 2016 comes around the corner there is cause for hope. Hundreds of thousands of people will be heading out for climate marches saying, 'We want a better future.' We have a plan for 100 per cent renewable energy in South Australia and we have a plan for 90 per cent renewable energy from the Greens across the country. California is going to 70 per cent. 2016 can be the year that we become the new energy superpower.

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