Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

To paraphrase Henry Higgins, we said we'd do it and today we did. Today in this House we passed legislation for a 43 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. I would like to pay tribute to the many climate activists and groups in my electorate: Farmers for Climate Action, the Derwent Valley catchment group and North East Bioregional Network. There are many individuals and many groups who have been calling for climate change action. Under this government they are finally receiving it.

It's a false dichotomy to say that climate change is an issue that only the inner city cares about. I represent a regional area, and they care about climate change action. In fact, the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association has noted climate change to be the single biggest hurdle to agriculture achieving $100 billion by 2030. That's what the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association said on the record. So we addressed climate change with the bill today.

Today is a good day. It draws a line under nine years of chaos, disunity and wasted opportunity under the former government. This government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, are getting the job done. I'm proud to be part of this government today. It's a great day for Australia today.

See this speech in context