Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are taking real action on climate change, and I take up the challenge from the previous Labor speaker to say what we are doing about it. What we are doing about it is technology, not taxes. They always arc up when we talk about this because the Labor members have never met a tax they didn't want to implement. On this side of the Chamber, we back Australians to create the technology that will allow us to reduce emissions whilst still creating and saving jobs and Australian livelihoods, which is so important.

We have been at this for election after election now for some time, and still the Labor Party can come up with no alternative policy for tackling climate change other than simply introducing more taxes on Australian families and Australian households that are already doing it tough. We simply say, time and time again, that that is not good enough. There has to be a way, and there is, and that is the real action the Morrison government is undertaking to ensure that we reduce emissions and take real action on climate change by doing it through technology, not taxes, so that we can support Australian households. That is why I really commend the member for Goldstein for bringing forward this motion today. I know that he is passionate about real outcomes when it comes to tackling climate change, as am I. I really commend him on the work that he has done over the years to push that agenda within the government.

When it comes to emissions reduction, we as a government have a strong track record to be proud of, and I am proud to talk it up to my constituents. We absolutely smashed our Kyoto-era targets by 459 million tonnes and we are on track to meet and beat our 2030 Paris targets. Now, that is a fact, a truth, that those on the other side of the Chamber and the many action groups like Extinction Rebellion don't like to acknowledge because it doesn't fit with their political narrative. They laud other nations around the world who talk big on tackling climate change but then fail time and time again to meet their Paris or Kyoto targets or to track in line with those targets. They are still lauded by the groups on the Left.

Quietly and methodically, this government is getting on with the job of simply reducing emissions and meeting our targets. Over the last two years, our position against our 2030 target has improved by 639 million tonnes. That is the equivalent—these are all very big numbers, just to frame them in people's mind—to taking all of Australia's 14.7 million cars off the road for 15 years. What an extraordinary amount of reduction this government has achieved without a tax—a new tax that destroys families and costs families and removes opportunities for families—without destroying jobs, without destroying entire industries and throwing people on the scrap heap of life before a more complete transition can be undertaken. Under this government, emissions are lower than when Labor was in government and, indeed, lower than in any year under the previous Labor government. That's something that I am proud of. That is something I know the member for Goldstein is proud of. As Australians who have contributed to this, we should all be proud of this.

Australia is a world leader when it comes to renewables. In 2019 Australia's investment in renewable energy per capita was greater than the USA, Japan and the UK, and more than triple the per capita investment of Germany, France, China and Denmark. Australia's emissions have fallen faster than the G20 average, faster than the OECD average and much, much faster than similar developed economies like Canada and New Zealand. This is something we have already achieved, that we can be proud of, that simply isn't acknowledged by Labor members opposite and by other activist groups on the Left.

Because we are committed to practical change driven by science and technology we are able to achieve this, and we are doing some great work in this space. In my own electorate of Ryan, at the CSIRO facility in Pullenvale, they are doing tremendous work on hydrogen energy, particularly on the ability to export hydrogen energy so that we can supply the world with cheaper and lower emission energy and help reduce emissions right across the globe, just as we have done and will continue to do, in Australia. I thank again the member for Goldstein for bringing forward this motion. We are committed to real action on climate change. (Time expired)

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