Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This legislation is a priority for the Albanese Labor government, and that's why we've introduced this legislation as one of our first orders of parliamentary business.

When campaigning in my electorate of Boothby, there was no issue raised with me more frequently or more passionately than climate change—specifically: the previous government's complete failure to provide the certainty and stability that groups across the community, from businesses to the unions to environmental groups, have long called for; their failure to grasp the enormous opportunities that the world's transition to renewable energy presents for our country; and their failure to end the climate wars, politicising one of the major challenges of our time. That's what this legislation is designed to do.

This legislation is only the beginning, the first step for us in implementing the Powering Australia plan that we took to the Australian people at the May election. These bills set in law our emission reduction ambitions and represent a solid, reliable and dependable foundation from which to build further efforts to reduce our carbon emissions.

The Climate Change Bill 2022 legislates the 2030 and 2050 targets, consistent with the nationally determined contribution that the Albanese government signed on 16 June. Importantly, and this concept may be foreign to those opposite, it enhances accountability by making the government of the day accountable to the people through an annual statement to parliament. This statement will include an update on the progress made during the year towards achieving targets, an update on international developments, changes to climate change policy and a review of the effectiveness of the Commonwealth climate change policies in contributing to the achievements of the targets.

The bill boosts transparency by requiring independent advice to be part of the annual statements and future targets, and it is independent advice from those who really know what they're talking about—the Climate Change Authority. It requires this Climate Change Authority advice to be public and, crucially, obliges the minister to take into account the advice and formally respond to that advice, because accountability to the people of Australia is an important principle. This report will not be hidden away like so many we saw—or rather did not see—under the previous government. We will be accountable.

The bill provides for a regular independent review of the act. It also ensures Australia keeps setting future targets that meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement to be a progression on our current commitments. This means our target is effectively a floor, not a ceiling, when it comes to reducing emissions—something I know the people of Boothby are passionate about.

The second bill is the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022, and this inserts our targets into the objectives and functions of a range of Commonwealth agencies and schemes. This includes amending the objectives of the legislation establishing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, to help focus those agencies on contributing to the targets; requiring the targets to be taken into account by Export Finance Australia and Infrastructure Australia for a number of their functions; recognising CSIRO's contribution to all elements of the Paris Agreement and its legislative functions; updating climate laws to reference both the targets and the Paris Agreement so that policies such as carbon crediting and the safeguard mechanism help deliver on those targets; and updating the Climate Change Authority legislation to reference the purposes of the Paris Agreement in the principles it considers when providing advice.

The 2030 and 2050 targets are reflected in Australia's updated nationally determined contribution, submitted under the Paris Agreement, to the UNFCCC. The 27th conference of that agency is scheduled for November 2022, and passage of these bills before that conference will reinforce Australia's ability to influence global efforts to address climate change. We will no longer be embarrassed internationally, no longer be laggards, as we were under the previous government.

Lack of climate change action by the former government is one of the major reasons I decided to run in Boothby. As the mother of three young adults and watching the former government—those opposite—put ideology over evidence and waste close to a decade pulling Australia backwards on climate, I knew I had to act. I spent almost 10 months talking to voters in every single part of this very diverse electorate, and I heard very clearly from the people in Boothby that they care about taking action on climate change, for just about every reason imaginable. Ignore the message sent by the Australian people at your peril.

For some in Boothby, particularly those in the Adelaide foothills, in Blackwood and Belair, the threat of climate change is obvious—more intense and more frequent heatwaves and bushfires that already threaten their homes. On the flats, at Mitchell Park, Marion and Edwardstown, action on climate change can mean economic opportunities. These once dominant manufacturing areas are ripe for the investment of a green energy revolution to ensure the wealth of our nation and of Boothby is distributed more fairly. In Mitcham I heard about the fears of flooding. A one-in-100-year flooding event seems a lot more real after you've seen it happen four times in a few months in the eastern states. For those on the coast, in Glenelg, Somerton, Brighton and Seacliff, climate change threatens what are some of Australia's very best coastlines and beaches, and their homes, through sea level rise and the impact of stronger storms. Across the electorate, people told me of their fears for themselves and, particularly, for the next generations—the legacy they would be leaving their children and grandchildren. I've listened to them all, and now this government is taking action.

I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the important work done by conservation and environmental groups in my electorate. Doctors for the Environment talked to me about the public health emergency that climate change represents: heatwaves causing deaths and infectious diseases. The Australian Conservation Foundation talked to me about the environment in crisis, and we heard more about that from the Minister for the Environment and Water earlier this week, about the impact the changing environment has on biodiversity and the impact that has on us and our lives. Parents for Climate Action and Eco Walk 'n' Roll groups told me about our responsibility to the next generation to leave them an environment they can live in, to mitigate the extremes of temperature and the increasingly extreme weather events. The Uniting Church climate change group talked to me about our responsibility to those less well-off—people who can't afford to keep the air conditioner running all summer and the heater running all winter and can't afford for food prices to go up when crops fail, be it here in Australia or in other countries. And I lost count of the number of individual people who told me they couldn't stand to see the opportunities of a clean, renewable energy economy going elsewhere, when Australia has such an abundance of resources and talent to harness them here.

Businesses talked to me about the opportunities that climate change action can offer to South Australia. They spoke of plans for green aluminium. They spoke of green steel. They spoke of thousands of jobs and major industry in the regions. They spoke of advanced manufacturing in Australia and of export markets for value-added products made in Australia, all predicated on abundant renewable energy and storage—solar, wind and storage, including hydrogen, based in the regions, powering Australia's next economic revolution.

And when I visit Tonsley in my electorate and I speak to the businesses there—we have the largest hydrogen electrolyser in the Southern Hemisphere; we have industries working in the energy sector, servicing electric vehicles and batteries and developing smart technology—I know that industry is ready for this change. They see the opportunities, and we know that if we do not harness these opportunities they will simply go elsewhere. I want these opportunities for the people of Boothby and, more broadly, South Australia and Australia. We simply no longer have any time to waste. We certainly can no longer stick our heads in the sand on this issue; we need action.

As the minister said in introducing these bills, 2030 is only 89 months away—less than 7½ short years. These bills represent the start of a new chapter in our politics where we tackle this long-vexed issue by enshrining in law a sensible, achievable but still ambitious emissions reduction target. These bills make clear that this government is taking climate action seriously. We are taking the challenge of governing seriously. We are taking the Paris climate agreement and our international obligations seriously. We are taking net zero by 2050 and the 2030 target seriously. We are taking accountability and responsibility seriously. This is a government determined to grasp the enormous opportunities of a green energy future for Australia. We have a new government.

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