Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hope you too loved the platitudes from the member for Fenner. Typical Labor on this issue of climate change. We talk technology; they talk taxes. We talk policy; they talk platitudes. We're all about action; they're all talk. And we've heard it yet again from the member for Fenner, who leaves the chamber now, I am sure very embarrassed about the words he's just spoken in this chamber. The Labor Party, if I'm not mistaken, started this term of government wanting to declare a climate emergency. That emergency is so great that the first action they want to take is focused on three decades from now. That's how big an emergency the Labor Party put on climate change. They have a vision for 2050. What are they going to do this year? Don't know about that. Next year? Don't know about that. Policy for the next election? Don't know about that. How about 2030? Don't know about that either. The Labor Party are full of platitudes. They talk big. They love talking emotion. They'll talk about climate emergency, but it is shallow and they are empty promises, because they have not one policy plank for the next 30 years. Deputy Speaker Gillespie, I don't know about you. You're a young, good-looking bloke. I'm not going to be here in 30 years, I'm afraid. You might be. Maybe the members of the Labor Party will be. Maybe that's why they're so fixated on 30 years from now without any merit whatsoever for a policy today, tomorrow or the next year—zip. We hear nothing.

We're in footy season, as you know, Deputy Speaker, so maybe for those opposite, to make it a little bit more clear: the footy season and the grand final—are you focused on being on the field and tackling climate change with Team Australia? No, you're not focused on that. You're not even focused on next season. You're focused on the season of 2050. If you look at the scoreboard today, what does it tell you? Kyoto 1: done; tick; delivered. Kyoto 2: done; tick; delivered. As for Paris: absolutely on track; shall be done; shall be ticked; shall be delivered. The National Electricity Market, the NEM, is today delivering the lowest emissions in its history. We have $18 billion committed to low-emissions technology which shall unlock an extra $50 billion from states and territories in the private sector. They don't want to look at the scoreboard of climate change achievement in Australia because it says Team Australia is delivering, and they're not on the side of Team Australia. They have vacated the field, ashamed of the fact they are disunited in this key policy area. They have no unity whatsoever, and why would they? The last time they had a policy, they promised to strip Australian jobs, promised to cut over 400,000 jobs from this economy and promised to cut $9,000 from average wages. It's an absolute disgrace from the Labor Party on this topic. Yet the member for Fenner—the shadow Assistant Treasurer, no less—just stood in this Chamber and tried to lecture this parliament about climate change and the virtues of Labor's approach.

Now, I haven't heard the member for Fenner on this topic before. He is known to me and probably most people in this place as the warrior for industry super funds; that is his usual champion cause. Today The Australian Financial Review has an article about Australian industry super funds. The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors has called out ASX companies who have made a net zero commitment to 2050, saying:

… it is not good enough to make a 30-year commitment and then leave the detail for later.

Maybe the member for Fenner and those in the Labor Party should be listening to the very industry super funds they support so vocally. It is very clear that they have vacated the field and are not prepared to tackle climate change front-on. If they were, they would have the courage of their convictions and name a target for 2030.

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