Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) 2019 was the hottest and driest year ever recorded in Australia, resulting in catastrophic bushfires, extensive coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef and ever-increasing rates of extinction of our native flora and fauna;

(b) in the face of runaway climate change, and according to the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia is on track to warm by 4.4 degrees Celsius;

(c) the Government has just committed to new fossil fuel exploration and infrastructure which will lock in continued greenhouse gas emissions and global heating for years to come; and

(d) gas is a fossil fuel, not a transition fuel, while carbon capture and storage has a long history of absorbing taxpayers money for little benefit to the climate; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) stop fossil fuel exploration and extraction of coal, oil and gas, including the Adani project and drilling off the New South Wales coast;

(b) end direct and indirect taxpayer subsidies to the fossil fuel industry; and

(c) invest in large-scale renewable energy generation, storage and transmission through community-owned solar, wind, tidal, wave, hydro, geothermal and green hydrogen.

It is unbelievable that here we are in October 2020 and we're going to have another debate about climate change and what to do about it. Surely all sensible people in this place who can read the science, or at least read the newspaper, would be in agreement. We would be in agreement with the first part of the motion that 2019 was the hottest and driest year ever recorded in Australia, resulting in catastrophic bushfires, extensive coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, and ever increasing rates of extinction of our native flora and fauna. Surely every member in this place would agree that in the face of runaway climate change, and according to the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia is on track to warm by 4.4 degrees Celsius. Surely sensible people in this place who can read the science or read the newspapers would agree that the Commonwealth government has just committed to new fossil fuel exploration and infrastructure which will lock in continued greenhouse gas emissions and global heating for years to come. Surely we can agree that gas is a fossil fuel, not a transition fuel, while carbon capture and storage has a long history of absorbing taxpayer money for little benefit to the climate.

Surely all parties that claim to be focused on the public interest would agree with the second part of the motion: that we must stop fossil fuel exploration and extraction of coal, oil and gas, including the Adani project and drilling off the New South Wales coast. Surely we would agree that we must end direct and indirect tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, and we must start investing in large-scale renewable energy generation, storage and transmission through community-owned solar, wind, tidal, wave, hydro, geothermal, green hydrogen and other emerging technologies.

But no: we are still here in the Federation Chamber again arguing about climate change and what to do about it, squabbling and carrying on. The government, for its part, is cooking the books by bringing forward the Kyoto credits. The government is cooking the books by having the community believe that the temporary reduction in global and national emissions on account of the pandemic is actually some part of structural change in this country. When the pandemic is over, not only will emissions return but they'll come back with a vengeance as global industry and transport et cetera seek to catch up.

I'm sorry to say that the opposition is no better, because the opposition's continuing support for oil and gas is really very, very similar to the government's. It is just that the opposition thinks that, if we export our emissions to another country, that will be okay because, presumably, emissions in other countries will respect the borders between our countries. And both sides of the chamber will peddle this altruism nonsense—that it's all about providing cheap power to the poor in places like India. What nonsense! There is no altruism here. It's big corporates wanting to make a buck by trashing the environment.

What is needed is for the government, with the support of the opposition, to put this country on a credible pathway to 100 per cent reliance on renewable energy and zero net carbon emissions. That's what the community wants. That's what's affordable. We know it's an undeniable fact that new renewable energy production is markedly cheaper than building new oil or gas energy plants. And it's reliable. Sure, the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine, but, when wind and solar are integrated into a broader network that includes other technologies, like pumped hydro, battery storage, wave, geothermal, tidal and other technologies, we genuinely come up with a holistic solution that is reliable.

Australia needs to take a global lead here. Let's not forget that, when we include our exported emissions, we contribute five per cent to global emissions. We are a significant emitter and we are a significant global leader. We need to set an example for other countries. We need to use our considerable know-how and our resources and our abundance of renewable energy resources to put this country on a credible pathway, as quickly as we humanly can, to 100 per cent renewable energy and zero net carbon emissions, and finally this country can be all that we are capable of being—a global leader doing something about climate change.

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