Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

There was so much hope at the last election for those of us who want climate action. Finally, the guy who brought a lump of coal into parliament and wanted to lead a gas-led recovery in the middle of a climate crisis was gone, and we saw a record number of people switch their vote to the Greens. Our vote went up, Independents' vote went up and the parties that backed more coal and gas—Labor and Liberal—saw their vote go backwards. We now have a parliament that can take the climate action that this country and the world needs.

We got off to a reasonably good start last year when, with the Greens' support, we managed to make a climate change bill better and take a first step on the road to tackling the climate emergency. Again, with the Greens' support, we managed to get legislation through to make electric vehicles cheaper and to stop propping up the fossil fuel industry. So there was real hope from so many people who wanted to see Australia take the action we need—to stop the droughts, the floods and the fires from getting worse and to ensure that our kids and our grandkids have a chance of living in something that is like the safe climate that people of earlier generations have known.

So, how utterly disappointing it was to find Labor coming up with legislation that said they want to make the climate crisis worse by opening new coal and gas mines. There are 117 new coal and gas mines in the pipeline, and Labor is bringing legislation to parliament saying they want them to be able to go ahead, under their new so-called safeguard mechanism. Then they released documentation last year to put it in black and white that they want to open up every single one of the big new climate bombs that Scott Morrison backed: Beetaloo, Scarborough, Browse. They want to light the fuse of these climate bombs that contain years worth of the country's pollution.

There is a very clear message coming from the world's scientists, from the International Energy Agency, from the UN Secretary-General and from the young people who are marching on the street, and that is: To have any chance of getting the climate crisis under control, we have to stop opening coal and gas mines. You can't fix a problem while you're making the problem worse. You can't put out the fire while you're pouring petrol on it.

So the Greens have put to the government a very reasonable offer. We said, there are real problems with your legislation, because you're allowing these big polluters to keep on polluting as long as they offset it by buying some tree-planting permits on other side of the country. You've got weak targets in your legislation that would see the Great Barrier Reef get completely cooked. It's Tony Abbott's old mechanism, which you're trying to reheat, and we're not confident it will do the job. But we've said to the government that we will put those concerns aside and give their scheme a chance if they agree with one thing: Stop opening new coal and gas mines, Labor. Stop making the problem that we're trying to fix worse by adding years—decades—and countries worth of pollution to the problem.

I challenge any member in this place on the Labor side to go to one of those areas that was hit by floods, fires or droughts and explain to them why opening a new coal or gas mine in the middle of a climate crisis is a good idea. The member for Sydney has been out saying a few things today. Well, I want the member for Sydney to go to all her constituents in Sydney and tell them why Labor is preparing to die in a ditch over the right to open new coal and gas mines in the middle of a climate crisis. The member for Richmond needs to go to her flood-hit constituents and tell them that Labor is saying they want to open up new coal and gas projects. The member for Macnamara needs to go to his constituents, including those who are facing the threat of rising sea levels, and say, 'No, Labor wants to open new and coal and gas mines,' and that they're prepared to make it an absolute condition.

We are in a climate crisis, and people know that coal and gas are the main causes of the climate crisis. It's a very sensible proposition to say, 'Stop opening new projects.' The offer is there for Labor; it's on the table. We can pass this legislation next week; just stop opening new coal and gas projects, please.

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