Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I understand that, Mr Speaker. I'm simply drawing a parallel, whether it's the Labor Party's policy or anyone else's. You can go down the path of pursuing a technology investment road map, which is what the government's policy is, which appreciates that, over time, the returns on that investment and the acceleration in the emissions reductions that occur because of that investment, and then you're able to achieve much greater emissions reductions over the longer term. If you're seeking to do that by forcing higher emissions reduction targets by 2030, you will force choices that cost jobs. That is not what the government's policy is. It has never been our policy.

At the last election, we rejected a 45 per cent emissions reduction target put forward by those opposite. And it wasn't just us who rejected it; the Australian people also rejected it. They supported our policy of 26 per cent to 28 per cent—to meet that target and beat that target. That's what we took to the last election. That's what we've honoured in government. That's what we're delivering on, with a more than 20 per cent reduction in emissions on 2005 levels, which is much greater than New Zealand and much greater than Canada—countries that also have a very large proportion of their emissions taken up in their export sector. Here in Australia, at the same time that we have seen one of the largest expansions of our LNG industry, we have as a country been able to reduce our emissions by over 20 per cent on 2005 levels. That's what success looks like.

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