Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw, but this is the quality we have opposite. No wonder climate policy is so substandard under this government. Those opposite don't even understand the standing orders of this place, let alone climate policy. He's still denying it. This guy is so hopeless. He is so obsessed with his minor debating point; he can't even understand the Deputy Speaker's rulings. No wonder this government is hopeless. No wonder the only way it can cut emissions is by reducing the size of the economy. That is the truth of this. This is in the government's own document. And the sad truth is that, even with claiming credit for the drought, Labor's RET, killing the auto industry, and the Morrison recession, they still don't hit their 2030 target.

In 2030, according to their figures, Australia's emissions will only be 478 million tonnes, still 35 million tonnes above their own target. The government's own papers admit they have failed, and it's because they're divided into two groups. There are the fossils, who deny the science of climate change—like the member for New England—and there are the bedwetters, who can't stand up to them, who can't take action and who are denying the economic opportunities for the future of Australia. They are denying the future. They are destroying the future for the next generation, and they will stand condemned in history. (Time expired)

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