Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

Unfortunately, at COP27, we saw the Albanese Labor government's blank cheque to diplomacy in full swing. Unfortunately, the same generosity that the Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy are showing to countries overseas, they are not showing to Australian citizens. While his government has ruled out support for Australian families and businesses struggling with skyrocketing power prices, as forecast in the federal budget, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy have happily handed over a blank cheque to other nations through a compensation scheme for which there is no detail.

With nations such as China, the world's second-largest economy and single-largest carbon emitter, angling to be a recipient of such funding, it's no wonder many are scared and unsure of what this means for their hip pocket. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy continues to be proud of himself for being the architect of the loss-and-damage fund but can't explain how much it will cost or who will pay and when. All we know is that this is set to cost upwards of US$2 trillion by 2030 and could cost tens of billions of dollars for Australia.

The Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy also signed Australia up to 30 per cent reduction of methane emissions by 2030 at COP27. They told Australia's livestock sector that the pledge claims little meaning but told the rest of the world how meaningful that pledge is. This is after Labor promised the Australian people that they would not introduce a methane tax. Cattle producers in Capricornia are still unsure what this will mean for them. My office continues to receive correspondence from farmers who are afraid that they will be slugged with another tax and another penalty for existing.

Labor are trying to walk both sides of the street, and the coalition are calling on them to be upfront with the Australian people. We saw the Labor Party give mixed messaging exactly like this in 2019, when they couldn't decide whether they liked coalmining or not or whether they supported the Adani coalmine in Capricornia. We have also seen them flip-flop on the Rockhampton Ring Road in my electorate. The federal government blamed cost blowouts and the Queensland government not being able to deliver the project fast enough, while the Queensland government blamed the federal government for not delivering the funding fast enough.

The opposition has been very upfront with the Australian public in ruling out the coalition 's support for this so-called compensation. This government can't continue signing Australia up to international pledges and funds for which there is no detail, for which it has no mandate and where there is no plan to deliver. Unlike the government, we believe in practical solutions and in having clarity on where the funding goes. This is why we favour bilateral assistance to the Pacific island nations, not signing a blank cheque to the United Nations for a huge fund which no-one knows the details of. At COP26, the coalition doubled its climate finance commitment to $2 billion over the period from 2020 to 2025, with at least $700 million of this for Pacific climate and disaster finance. We scored runs on the board at home too. Our government saw more than $40 billion invested in renewable energy since 2017. Since 2005, emissions fell by more than 20 per cent while our economy grew by 54 per cent. We also beat our Kyoto era targets by 459 million tonnes. Our government also reduced emissions faster than Japan, New Zealand, Canada and the OECD average.

The Albanese government still has no plans to reduce power bills for households and businesses, despite misleading the public and telling everyone that they did. On 97 occasions the Prime Minister promised your power bill would go down by $275. He was adamant he would deliver. Just this fortnight, the CEFC, Origin and the RBA have all raised concerns about the increasing costs associated with Labor's accelerated transition. Even Dan Walton from the Australian Workers Union has warned that 800,000 jobs are at risk due to the soaring price of energy if Labor does not act. What's more, Labor has been caught out by its own budget papers, which revealed Labor's plan to see your electricity bill go up by more than 56 per cent over the next two years. It is not only electricity, though. Your gas bill will also go up by more than 44 per cent. Every day that Labor dithers means more hip-pocket pain for Australians. Our hardworking families who live in Capricornia deserve better than this government, and I will be fighting every day in this place to ensure we get our fair share.

See this speech in context