Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) welcomes that:

(a) Australia strengthened its position as a renewable energy powerhouse in 2020; and

(b) the Clean Energy Regulator estimates that a record 7.0 gigawatts of new renewable capacity was installed in 2020; and

(2) acknowledges that Australia is a world leader in renewable energy with:

(a) one in four Australian homes having solar—the highest uptake of household solar in the world; and

(b) $7.7 billion, or $299 per person, invested in 2020 in renewable energy—placing us ahead of countries like Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the United States on a per person basis.

We have a long and proud record of energy efficiency in this country. We have stood by and done our part in what is a global problem: to reduce carbon emissions so that the most catastrophic impacts of climate change are avoided in this century. When you look at the results that Australia has been able to produce compared to other nations around the world that are constantly held up to us as nations that we should be following, it is a stark contrast. Australia has reduced its carbon emissions by 19 per cent since the year 2000. Compare that to Canada, which has only reduced its emissions by one per cent. Compare that to New Zealand, which has only just managed to reduce its emissions by two per cent. Compare our programs around the world and, time and time again, with the exception of the United Kingdom, Australia's results are incredibly favourable and demonstrate that we are committed to what is a global problem and are playing our part to resolve this global issue.

Australians—and this is a little-known fact, because those members of the media who are more concerned about spreading fear than they are about informing their readers and viewers will not allow this fact to be told—are the highest investors and the highest deployers of renewable energy per capita that in the world. And not just by a little bit, but by a factor of 100 per cent. The next nearest country to us invests exactly half as much as we do per capita in renewable energy. We do not have a nuclear power sector in Australia as they do in France, as they do in the United States and as they do in the United Kingdom, yet we have been able to reduce emissions from the energy sector year on year on year. None of this is ever given any airtime by those members of the media and by those people, that caste of Australians, who hate their fellow Australians and hate the country they live in, because all they're interested in doing is pulling their fellow Australians down.

We cannot celebrate. We are not allowed in this country to celebrate our great achievements. We are not allowed to stand on the world stage and say, while we are humble, that we are proud of those things that we have been able to achieve and, in a true testament to what is a great nation, that we are willing to share the lessons of that achievement. We can't do that, because we subject to abuse and misinformation and our fellow Australians are dragged down at every possible opportunity.

These are achievements that we should be proud of. Instead, we are told that we have achieved nothing compared to nations like Canada and New Zealand, who trail us, year after year, on this most important issue. I say to those who denigrate my nation—our nation—and our fellow Australians: it is time for you to stop, not only for the sake of us but for the sake of those people who live on this planet and for the sake of those who want to see a resolution to global climate change. Because it is only when we can be proud and talk about those things that we have managed to achieve, in a humble fashion, that we will be able to share the great gifts that we can with the world and move this debate forward.

We have incredibly strong targets. We have an enviable track record in this space and we have something that so many other people around the world—it is easy to stand on a stage with cheering people and tell them that we will produce net carbon emissions by 2050, and leave the plan to later. But we take the responsible decision, our countrymen take the responsible decision, our nation takes the responsible decision to not make commitments without a plan in hand to achieve those things—because that is dishonest, because that leads to disillusionment, because that is the road to fear. That is the road to disenchantment among so many young people, who believe that their very existence on this planet is at risk because we cannot tell the truth. But we have told the truth. This government, this nation, will not make commitments to net zero without a plan.

And we do have a plan that has resulted in a reduction in carbon emissions of 20 per cent. I invite those who make fun of this nation and who criticise my fellow Australians to compare our results to that of virtually ever other nation in the world and then they, too, can see what we have achieved.

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