Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Mackellar for raising this important motion. We are colleagues, after all, and doctors. I fully understand the health impacts of climate change, but I would urge that we widen the lens, that we don't just restrict ourselves to human health. There is this concept of one health, where we encompass human, environmental and animal health, and we are all in this together. I think it's important to reframe the concept of health into a much broader concept. When it comes to climate action, we as a government have well and truly moved beyond the 'whether' and the 'if', to now concentrate on the 'how'. We understand the economic, environmental and health imperatives of climate change. We are, after all, living through the era of consequences. The focus really now is: how do we decarbonise and how do we do this as fast as possible? What are the bottlenecks, and how do we overcome them? It's a far more nuanced approach.

I have heard, many a time, the problem of climate change—a wicked problem indeed—couched in purely scientific terms. I would say: if only it were that simple. If this were a purely scientific problem, it would've been solved decades ago—solved in the way we found a cure for polio, in the way we eradicated smallpox, in the way we put a man on the moon in the era of blackboards and chalk. This is not a purely scientific problem. This is a social problem, a scientific problem and a political problem, which is why it has not been solved.

The government and the crossbench are in furious agreement regarding the need for climate action, but where we differ is in balancing the competing priorities. And what are they? The climate emergency, no question; energy security, absolutely; and the uncomfortable truth that Australia has been over-reliant on fossil fuels for revenue and for economic security for too long.

With respect to energy security, this is a red line for government. Australians, their businesses and industry must have access to reliable, round-the-clock energy. To not do so is simply irresponsible and, frankly, unsafe. Then, of course, there is the challenge of diversifying our economy. Australia is a fossil fuel giant and has been for decades. We are the highest exporter of coal in the world and the highest producer of gas in the OECD. Coal and gas are our No. 2 and No. 3 exports, earning, in 2021, $110 billion and $70 billion respectively. These resources have made us rich as a country, and we have our regional communities in places like the Hunter and Collinsville to thank. This revenue has helped pay for hospitals, roads, infrastructure, schools and research, and it has also supported our local communities. But it has come at a cost, and that cost is pollution, which is now fuelling the climate emergency.

So, while I too want us to move as quickly as possible away from fossil fuels, we must have replacement revenue from other sources or we risk compromising those services that Australians rightfully expect. We in this government and this generation will be the ones that tip that balance. And it's already happening. With the passage of our climate bill through the lower house, we are poised to become a renewable energy superpower. This is not empty rhetoric. There are already several large-scale projects that are either coming online or are in the advanced stages of planning. Within a week of the passage of that bill, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy announced that six offshore wind farms were coming online. BlackRock, the world's largest investment manager, have committed $1 billion to large-scale grid batteries, the largest investment that they have internationally. We also have Sun Cable, a company that has an audacious plan to export sunshine from the Northern Territory to Singapore and Indonesia using a cable stretching 4,400 kilometres long.

What I would say to our young people, in particular, is that an industry of despair has sprung up around climate change. The problem with this is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When hope walks out the door, so does motivation. I would say to our people: reject this, because this has no place in our world view. There is a long history of humanity overcoming the odds, whether that be rebuilding after World War II, eradicating polio or closing the hole in the ozone layer. Several people said that couldn't happen, but we did it. We must rely on Australians' ingenuity and imagination to get us through this, and we will.

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