Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've been listening very carefully to the words of opposition members here today on the MPI. They are trying to perpetrate scaremongering in this debate about climate policies. With the opposition it's always important, especially in recent years, to compare their words with their actions and to compare their claims with actual facts.

They talked down Australia and its achievements. It's worth remembering that, despite some hyperpartisan lines we've just been listening to, Australia has the following track record. Australia and its government are committed to global agreement making and to reducing carbon emissions. Australia did meet its Kyoto 1 targets. In fact, we beat those targets and smashed those targets by 128 million tonnes. Australia is about to meet its targets under Kyoto 2. We're on track to beat those targets and smash those targets by almost 300 million tonnes. Australia is on track to meet its targets under Paris. Those opposite talk Australia down, but Australia measures and reports on its progress. We see in those reports that, in terms of our target of reducing emissions by 26 to 28 per cent per capita, we have already achieved 12 per cent of that. So 12 per cent out of the 26 per cent to 28 per cent has already been achieved—right now, today. And right now, today, Australia has the lowest level of emissions per capita in 28 years.

Those opposite have just been making the claim that there aren't policies in place to achieve further reductions, but of course that's entirely untrue. We have a suite of policies. The minister listed many of them in her speech just before, including, most notably, the Emissions Reduction Fund, which is already achieving significant emissions reductions and will be delivering increasingly larger reductions in future years as the projects it funds increasingly come online.

I want to pick up just a couple of the comments that were made by the member for Goldstein just before, particularly around achieving balanced policies that achieve more and achieve more efficiently. If you conduct a quick compare and contrast between Liberal and Labor policies here, the Liberal policy, the ERF, achieves reductions in emissions up to one one-hundredth of the cost of what Labor policies, like the carbon tax, cost to achieve the same thing. So Labor's approach involves big new taxes and big imposts on households and businesses, whereas Liberal policies can achieve exactly the same results at up to one one-hundredth the cost and, obviously, without increasing taxes.

The fact is that 2017, this past year, under current government policies, was the best year on record for Australia when it comes to investment in renewables. It was a record year for renewables. That will be the legacy of this government and this parliament. This government has announced the biggest-ever project for renewables in the Southern Hemisphere, namely Snowy 2.0. That will be able to power up to half a million homes. There you have it: a commitment to world-leading infrastructure. That will be the legacy of this government and this parliament, as will be the billion trees initiative that was announced just last month by the government. Let's not forget that there has never been a government in Australia's history that has invested as much in the preservation and custodianship of our greatest environmental asset, the Great Barrier Reef.

I agree with some of the minister's earlier comments, as well as comments made by the member for Goldstein about leadership. I want to tell you a story about my first election campaign in 2016, because I was the only candidate in Brisbane who fought for and secured commitments and funding for significant environmental priorities. There was a Labor candidate and there was a Greens candidate, but all they amounted to was posturing hot air and words, just like what we've been seeing in some of the contributions from those opposite here today. Actions and delivery are what counts, not words. Leadership and custodianship are what matters and what this government is delivering—not posture and words like we're seeing from those opposite.

A number of those opposite have tried to somehow buy into the vibe about the protests against coalmines and the student protests that were held around Australia last week. The member for Batman specifically noted that many of those were protests against coalmines. I have some news for those opposite about the protests we saw in Brisbane. Those protests were significantly directed at Labor. They were significantly directed at the Labor state government at that parliament. Pictures of that event show signs saying, 'Stop Labor's Adani mine' and 'Stop Labor's mine'.

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