Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022. I do not support this bill. But please do not assume, because I am standing here today to speak against this bill, that I do not agree with taking serious action on climate change and reducing Australia's contribution to global emissions. I do.

We failed to form government in May 2022. My greatest disappointment is that we have consistently failed to demonstrate to Australians that we have taken real action on climate change. The coalition government's record over the past nine years demonstrates clearly that we, on this side of the House, were not only effective in reducing emissions; we were capable of doing it in a safe and responsible manner—that is, without raising electricity prices and taxes, without shutting down coal and gas production or exports, without job losses, without impacting household businesses or the broader economy.

The coalition's emissions reduction story has been one of consistent achievement. We met and exceeded our Kyoto targets for 2020. Our emissions are more than 20 per cent below levels measured in 2005. Before the election, Australia was on track to reduce emissions by up to 35 per cent by 2030—well above our target of 26 per cent to 28 per cent. Before the election, we announced our commitment to net zero by 2050. Under the coalition, Australia's emissions outpaced the record of the United States, New Zealand, Japan and every other major commodity-exporting nation. We should be proud of our record. We set the global standard on the world stage for all to see.

It was a great honour to have contributed to our success, serving as the former Commonwealth environment minister. In 2018, I proudly represented our nation at Katowice, in Poland, at the climate change conference called COP24. Far from being ridiculed or criticised for the Morrison government's climate inaction, Australia was praised for the actions it was taking to reduce emissions, like the Emissions Reduction Fund and our investments from CEFC and ARENA, and also the world-leading, accurate and transparent way in which our nation captures emissions data.

Whilst I was chairing the COP24 subcommittee, which included representatives from the US, Canada and New Zealand, it was clear to me that Australia had a very positive reputation for its professionalism and its action on climate. In fact, I had many side meetings at that COP24 meeting with a variety of countries who were very keen to understand the actions we were taking, because there were very few countries who were actually taking action. There was a lot of desire, but we were taking action, and that was recognised. That was back in 2018. This was at a time when many nations simply had emissions targets but no plan to achieve them. For many countries today, that is still the case. Australia, at that 2018 event, was hailed for its actions. But you would not have read about any of this success in the media back at home, because clearly this did not support that cement hardened narrative that a Liberal-led government was taking no action on climate. Sadly, nothing has changed since then. I really look forward to the media holding the Albanese government to account on their 43 per cent emissions target with the same dogged determination that they've been able to apply to the ex-coalition government since 2013.

Labor say they want an end to the climate wars. Well, Labor's behaviour has been a PR war. We may have lost that last battle, but Labor's base has been lost now to the Greens. Once this legislation inevitably passes, we will need to urgently turn our attention to how we meet the 43 per cent target. Ambition is simply not enough, and we know that wind and sun will not be enough either. While we all agree that renewables play a vital role in Australia's domestic energy supply, they need to be balanced responsibly by other solutions. If we're serious—and we should be serious about lowering emissions—uranium must be part of the conversation. In Western Australia, there is now a ban on new uranium mines. I proudly approved the last uranium mine when I was the environment minister. I call on state Labor and federal Labor. We need to start having the conversation in a very respectful way and make sure our Indigenous Australians know what's at stake. (Time expired)

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