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

I thank the honourable member for his question and recognise his leadership and advocacy on the matter of climate change. The Albanese government is acting domestically, implementing the policies we took to the election. We are implementing Rewiring the Nation to bring on new transmission. We are implementing reforms to drive down emissions because we know, on this side of the House, that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, and we know that renewable energy is key to driving down our emissions.

But we are also engaging internationally. As the House knows, I've just returned from Egypt at the Conference of the Parties. I'm pleased to report that the new government was warmly welcomed at the Conference of the Parties. I'm pleased to report to the House that the leadership provided by the government has been recognised around the world. I'm also pleased to report that we used the opportunity of the Conference of the Parties, which is now the world's largest trade fair, to sell Australia's wares as a renewable energy powerhouse. We know that being a renewable energy powerhouse will create hundreds of thousands of jobs across our country, particularly in the regions, and particularly as we can export that renewable energy to our region. This is something that was the subject of much discussion around the table with my counterparts from the South-East Asia region in particular.

The Conference of the Parties, the COP meeting, is also an important opportunity for the world to engage on this most important challenge. Australia played an important role. This conference was difficult. It had its challenges, but Australia, working with our allies and friends, made an impact. I was very pleased that this conference reaffirmed the commitments made at Glasgow to hold the world, as close as possible, to 1.5 degrees, something that Australia was integrally involved in arguing. I'm also pleased that the conference adopted our suggestion that multilateral development banks, particularly the World Bank, should step up on this world challenge, and that the task of driving a faster transition to renewables was reflected in these decisions.

This is what leadership is about. This is the leadership the Prime Minister has been providing this week, and since the election, on these most important international challenges, and this is being recognised. We know that good international leadership is good for our region and good for our geopolitical and economic best interests, as well as being the right thing to do.

I enjoyed working so closely with Pacific leaders this week, who have responded so warmly to this government's agenda on climate change. I enjoyed working with them on some of the important challenges that this COP provided. We'll continue to do that work because we know that leadership at home and leadership abroad are equally important when it comes to this most important challenge.

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