Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a little girl at Urumbi Primary School, my classmates and I learnt about the need for action on climate change and the fact that it was a human generated problem that we could address. I've spoken before in this place about the fact that my classmates and I never would have dreamt that at this point in our history, many, many years later, I would be standing here in a parliament crying out for urgent action on climate change—that we would be in a parliament that was, essentially, essentially, doing nothing.

So I am incredibly proud that today, as part of the new Albanese Labor government, this is one of the first pieces of legislation that we're moving in our first sittings to enshrine in legislation our ambitious targets. I am incredibly proud that I finally get to give a speech in this place that is about actually taking that climate action, actually doing it. It is a great moment, and I do it on behalf of all the constituents in Canberra who have raised this issue with me time and time again.

Even this morning, before coming in here to vote, I was out the front meeting with a group of young people from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, who handed me some letters that they had written about this. It is very much for future generations and for young people that we need to take this urgent action, for our future as a world, as humanity.

Something that really stuck with me was when one of my constituents, a mother of three, said to me that her children and their friends feel that the adults have let them down. Again, I am so proud that today we begin climate action as a government. It is an incredibly important step, because we finally have a government that is willing to face up to climate action as one of the most pressing and urgent issues we face today.

This legislation will create certainty and send the message that the government has a stable and clear policy. It will end nine years of wasted opportunities and failures by three prime ministers and 22 abandoned energy policies. I thank all the members whose hard work and determination in the face of cynical politics over the past decade have brought us here today. Let's hope that this bill marks the death knell of a decade of inaction and the treatment of climate as a political football, because, in the words of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 'We are facing a code red for humanity if we don't act now.'

An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report found that, even in the most ambitious scenario, which the world is failing to stick to, global warming would likely hit 1.5 degrees Celsius around 2035. The IPCC report said that many of the effects of that warming had particular relevance to Australia. Sea levels around Australia, which have already risen higher than the global average, are set to continue rising. Fires are projected to get worse and more frequent, and fire seasons will last longer. Heavy rainfall and river floods are projected to worsen across Australasia, and droughts will also worsen. The State of the environment report released last week by my colleague Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for the Environment and Water, revealed that since the early 20th century average Australian land temperatures have already increased by 1.4 degrees Celsius.

Australia contributes approximately 1.2 per cent of global emissions of greenhouse gases. This places us among the top 15 total emitters, and we are among the world's largest per person emitters. Australians know this, and they made it very clear at the election that they want a government that will tackle this challenge head on, with urgency.

My constituents in Canberra have been very vocal in their desire for real climate action, and I'm happy to be delivering on our promise. The need for action has become all the more urgent as we are now living through the effects of climate change. Record-breaking droughts, bushfires, floods, storms or other extreme weather events are becoming more and more common, and in the last three years we had one of the worst droughts on record. It was so severe that in 2019 the Murray-Darling experienced its lowest water level on record.

Then, of course, there were the Black Summer bushfires, and I have spoken about them many times in this place. Canberrans will never forget the choking smoke that blanketed Canberra for weeks. Canberra's air quality was hazardous for 34 days over a two-month period. We had the worst air quality in the world. It was a genuine health crisis in its own right. I'm not sure how well known outside of Canberra it was, but our city was essentially shut down for many of those days, and the advice was to stay in your home and use air-conditioning if you had it. Of course, many didn't have access to it. The advice for many was to relocate if you had underlying health conditions, or if you were a pregnant woman, and of course many couldn't do that either. People were wearing masks before that became a commonplace thing because of COVID. It was certainly a very difficult time for all in the region, and one that my constituents won't forget. The long-term impacts of that are difficult to measure, but for the mothers who listened to the choking coughs of their infants that trauma will remain.

Nationally, the fires burned through more than eight million hectares of native vegetation. It is estimated that one to three billion animals were killed or displaced. Three thousand homes were destroyed and 33 people lost their lives. Then the fires turned to floods. Thousands of Australians have been forced to flee their homes, and more than two dozen have been killed as the east coast of Australia has recorded record rainfall and flooding. People are still piecing their lives together. Overseas, we are seeing record-breaking heat waves and fires in Europe and North America. This is the effect of the climate crisis in action.

But it isn't just our climate that is hurting Australians. We're also being hit with the economic cost of the policy paralysis that we have seen over the last decade. The community is crying out for the energy policy certainty necessary to move forward from the tailor-made energy crisis currently hitting the hip pockets of Australian families.

The proof of the power of renewable energy can be seen outside this House. Two years ago, right here in the national capital, we became the first city outside Europe to run on 100 per cent renewable electricity. In fact, the ACT is the only jurisdiction in the National Electricity Market where prices will drop. While the rest of the country is bracing for soaring energy prices as a result of the former coalition government's policy vacuum, Canberrans will save an average of $23 a year on their electricity bills. In comparison, across the border in New South Wales, power bills are expected to jump by between 8.5 and 18.3 per cent. Imagine what could be achieved with a little national leadership—and we know, because we have modelled it!

Our policy is based on the most comprehensive modelling that an opposition has ever done on any policy issue. Upgrading the electricity grid will fix energy transmission and drive down power prices by providing the country with more renewables, more transmission and more storage. Firm renewables are the cheapest form of energy. Getting more renewables into the system will put downward pressure on power prices while also reducing Australia's emissions.

Labor understands that climate action is good for the planet, good for future generations, good for household budgets and good for Australia's prosperity. The fact that this bill is before the House in our very first sitting fortnight speaks to Labor's commitment to doing our bit globally in the fight for a more habitable planet. Australia is out of the naughty corner and back at the international table. Globally, our reputation has been damaged by the past decade of denial and delay on climate change, and the subsequent chaos on renewables and energy. This bill ends that lost decade by giving business, industry, energy investors and the wider community the leadership and certainty so desperately needed. They want certainty so that they can invest in Australia, in renewable energy. No longer will they have to worry about a change of policy at the last minute, like we've seen time and time again over the past 10 years.

This bill enshrines into law our target of 43 per cent emissions reduction on 2005 levels by 2030, and net zero by 2050. It is important to note that these figures are based on what we can achieve that we modelled with that incredibly comprehensive modelling. We didn't work back from a target. This is incredibly ambitious. This will be a lot of hard work. Labor are up for that task, as are Australians.

A 2030 target of 43 per cent has received broad support, including from the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Clean Energy Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the National Farmers' Federation. This support is so important because the issue of climate change has been politically toxic for a decade. It's time to end the climate wars, and to get on with action.

As the Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, the passing of this legislation is 'essential for delivering energy certainty to Australian businesses'. Businesses get it. Environmentalists get it. Unions get it. Farmers get it. It is an ambitious target that charts a credible path to net zero, and it presents Australia with a once-in-a-generation chance, because the world's transition to renewable energy is our economic opportunity. Australia can be a renewable energy superpower by harnessing our solar, wind and skilled energy workforces. We can drive clean manufacturing and energy exports in our region, and Labor will put that opportunity within reach. Our Powering Australia policy will deliver 604,000 jobs across the country and get us to 82 per cent renewables by 2030. I really can't understand anyone who doesn't recognise just how ambitious that is. It will spur $76 billion of private investment.

While legislation is not essential to deliver our targets in the Powering Australia plan, which we'll get on with anyway, legislating the target is international best practice. It's important to give the certainty that I've spoken about, and it's also important to hold governments, including ours, accountable, because we believe in accountability. We want Australians to know how serious we are about this. This bill will provide the forward momentum and the institutional support needed for ambitious but achievable climate action. We know climate laws enable mitigation action by signalling the direction of national policy, enhancing regulatory certainty, creating focal points for social mobilisation and attracting international finance. We know this because the IPCC's Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change report recently confirmed it.

Further, legislating our emissions reduction targets into domestic law keeps the promise we made to the Australian people to take action on climate change. It will bring Australia into line with countries such as France, Denmark and Spain that have legislated net zero targets for 2050. Countries such as Canada have also legislated their 2030 target. Our 43 per cent 2030 target restores our international credibility and is comparable with other international partners such as Japan, South Korea and Canada. The 43 per cent reduction is ambitious and, most importantly, we have the plan to get there. Our Powering Australia plan makes the targets achievable. Importantly, it also gives us a chance to overachieve. This is a floor, not a ceiling, and we have said that from when we first announced this policy. If we can do better, we will, but we need to recognise just how ambitious this is. We are really catching up on a decade of lost time, and, as I say, as one of the world's greatest emitters per person, this is no small task, but it is one that we are absolutely and deeply committed to.

My hope, and Labor's, is that this bill will spark the momentum that we need to work with industry, states and territories, and the Australian people to achieve even greater emissions targets in the coming decade. This is a crucial decade. We are running out of time. This bill will embed the 2030 and 2050 targets in the objects and functions of key clean energy entities such as ARENA and the CEFC, and of agencies that help shape Australia's future, such as Infrastructure Australia, Export Finance Australia, the CSIRO and the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility. This will focus those key agencies to help them contribute to achieving net zero. Importantly, after a decade of deceit and dishonesty, this bill will help rebuild trust in government by restoring transparency and accountability in government action on climate change. It confirms the important role of independent expert advice. Transparency and accountability will be returned by requiring the minister to report to parliament each year on Australia's progress towards meeting the targets set in this bill.

I urge every member of this house to get behind this bill and support this. It is well past time that Australia put in legislation our deep commitment to achieving these targets, and I think that's something that every member of this house would want to be a part of.

See this speech in context