Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Skills) Share this | Hansard source

I'm going to ask the House today to do some imagining: 12 years after Kevin Rudd declared climate change was the greatest moral challenge of our time, I want us to stop and imagine what would have happened if, 10 years ago, we had support from the Greens to implement a CPRS. Just imagine if they'd had a little bit of foresight or a little bit of common sense and actually supported us. It's hard to imagine where we would be now with attacking climate change and the climate emergency. A little while later, Labor implemented a carbon price, which we knew worked. Our emissions went down by 10 per cent over three years. Just imagine where would be now if Tony Abbott hadn't come along and taken a wrecking ball to that policy. He started the downward trajectory from which this government's ineptitude has been unable to recover. Imagine if he hadn't done that. So today I want to make a plea for cooperation, not for wrecking.

Earlier today, the member for Grayndler spoke to leaders from our Pacific neighbours and said that, for them, climate change is not a theoretical threat, it is an existential threat, and so it is for all of us. Now is the time to move forward. The member for Shortland said, 'In an ideal world, energy and climate policy would be driven by the best science, the latest technology, rigorous economic analysis and well-designed regulation.' Imagine if we had that happening now. The 46th Parliament can and should make this the most urgent piece of work that we tackle. Imagine that.

See this speech in context