Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

The people of Macquarie know all too well the cost of climate change. The member for Macquarie knows all too well the benefits of action on climate change and I thank the member for friendship and her very, very strong climate advocacy. The passage of the Albanese government's climate bill through the House today—89 votes to 55—represents the will of the parliament and the will of the people. The Australian people voted for action on climate change and today the Albanese government delivered action on climate change. Today represents the opportunity for the parliament to stop arguing about whether to reduce emissions and to start working together on how to reduce emissions. That is what happens today. There has been broad support for the passage of the Albanese government's reforms through parliament in the lead-up to today and in the last few hours. We've seen the Business Council of Australia say:

The nation can't afford to go back to the future, we must move forward now to secure a frontier economy powered by affordable, reliable, secure and low emissions energy.

'43 per cent is a sensible, achievable target which can be delivered alongside new industries and better jobs with coordinated action.'

That's just a representative statement of the views of the business community. Unsurprising, perhaps, because from opposition we worked with the business community on our climate change policies because we want to work in partnership with people of goodwill in this parliament and beyond the parliament to get emissions down and to get jobs up. That's our plan: to get emissions down and jobs up.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have said:

This is a missed opportunity for the opposition. The announcement today demonstrates that the climate wars are over. This must act a moment of unity of purpose.

We agree with Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Some in this House think they know more about business than the Business Council and more about commerce than the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. But we don't know on this side of the House and nor do members of the crossbench, because today, 89 votes to 55, the Australian parliament spoke the will of the people. But we know the work does not end today. The work begins today. Now, we have to rewire our nation. Now, we have to ensure that our biggest emitters reduce their emissions through the safeguard mechanism. Now, we have to develop a national electric vehicle strategy and that's exactly what we will do. Now, we will roll out 400 community batteries across our country. Now, we will roll out solar banks across our country. That's what this government will do. Today does not mark the end of the work. Today, the work just gets started. We are just starting the work that the Australian people elected us to do.

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