Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

Last summer changed Australia. The cumulative effect of severe drought and global warming and climate change produced the most severe bushfires that our nation has ever seen. We all remember the choking smoke that infected the east coast of Australia and changed our summer lifestyle forever. Instead of Australians being outdoors and enjoying the summer period, we were advised to actually stay inside on a litany of days when the smoke was simply too much for many to bear, particularly the young and the elderly. We were advised to restrict exercise to only one hour a day and to stay indoors as much as possible. And, of course, those with medical conditions, particularly lung related medical conditions, suffered severely during this period. Our emergency services were under unprecedented pressure and struggled to cope, and we had the tragic loss of life and property. Towns were devastated by the bushfires that we saw over the last summer.

This was symptomatic of what's going on throughout the world at the moment. This was symptomatic of the fact that our nation and this world is in a climate crisis. We need to realise that and wake up to that and make sure that we're taking stronger action to reduce the impact of climate change on our community. In Australia, we've seen over recent years some of our natural resources under unprecedented pressure. The Great Barrier Reef is under enormous threat from, again, episodes of coral bleaching related to increases in sea temperature. The Great Barrier Reef is an important part of the Queensland economy: it's a vitally important part of the tourism sector for our nation and a leading attraction for tourists to come to our nation. If it doesn't survive, then Queensland is in a parlous state. The Murray-Darling and all those towns that rely on the adequate flows of the Murray-Darling are under extreme pressure. We saw that with the fish kills in the Menindee Lakes over recent times. Australia has the unenviable record of the highest rate of mammal extinctions of any nation of the world, yet some of those opposite want us to believe that climate change is not a threat and that we don't need to take it seriously and that we don't need to take action on it.

COVID-19 may have diverted the attention of the Australian public from this issue, but it certainly hasn't removed the urgency from the need to act and take this matter seriously. We have a moral obligation to our children to take stronger action to combat climate change and boost renewable energy if our kids are going to have any chance in the future of a liveable lifestyle in this environment. And this is the area where the Morrison government has failed dismally. The evidence of that is simply in the fact that, for the first 7½ years of this government, carbon pollution in Australia went back up. When Labor was in government, when we had a scheme in place to reduce carbon emissions, they were going down. But as soon as the Abbott government got elected in 2013 and removed the price on carbon emissions, guess what?

Carbon started to go up again in our economy, and they've failed ever since because we know that they still don't have an energy policy. Australians are paying too much for electricity, carbon emissions are going up again and they're using dodgy accounting tricks to try and meet the Paris commitments by using carryover credits from Kyoto.

The great shame about this government is that they allow the biggest polluters in the country to get away with increasing their carbon emissions, to get away with increasing carbon pollution, whereas the average Australian—the average Australian family, pensioner, small business—are expected to take action to reduce their carbon emissions, and that's exactly what they've been doing. They've been installing energy efficient lighting in their homes. They've been installing solar panels and batteries to reduce their carbon footprint and using water saving devices. The average Australian household and small businesses are acting, but, under this government, if you're a big polluter, don't worry. You can get away with increasing your carbon pollution footprint. That is not fair, and that is putting an impost on the people of Australia rather than the people who are causing the problem. That is why we need to get serious about a framework and ensuring that this country has a goal of zero emissions by 2050, and that is exactly what Labor has.

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