Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

'Not at all,' says the member for Hinkler—at least a moment of honesty! They don't listen to the science. You did say this morning, actually, that you thought it was pretty dense, which I thought was peak irony. Anyway, we'll keep it nice. Public policy should be informed by evidence, and public-policy makers should listen to the science. That's what we're doing on climate change, like every other sensible, developed country in the world, dragging Australia back from being an outlier, bringing us back into the mainstream of international fora. We have an opportunity to be one of the world's leaders in listening to the science. This stuff is important, it's compelling and it's urgent. I encourage the government, of which I'm a proud member, to acknowledge that this is something we need to think through. No society, no government, has got it right. This is not a criticism. It's a reflection I've made in having a look at the Governor-General's speech—our enormous existing agenda, that which we have delivered already, as I outlined at the start of my remarks, that which we already have in front of us.

But this is big. It's compelling, it's important and it is urgent.

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