Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

That was a very lacklustre effort from the Greens, to only speak for five minutes on an MPI. It demonstrates that they're just throwing their arm over, trying to wring political advantage out of climate change. The truth is that that's what they do, time and time again. The speaker could only speak for five minutes, showing their commitment to climate change. In the end, just like housing, climate change is a political issue for the Greens, where they want to wring votes out of it rather than taking concrete action. They count on people having a short memory. I'm happy to inform the previous speaker that I've got a long memory. I remember, in 2009, the Greens political party voting with Barnaby Joyce and Tony Abbott to sink the carbon pollution reduction scheme. They voted next to Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce to sink the carbon pollution reduction scheme. We're all paying the price for that because, if that scheme had been passed, emissions between 2010 and 2020 would have been 218 million tonnes less. That's 218 million tonnes less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere if they had done the right thing and voted for the carbon pollution reduction scheme rather than team up for political advantage.

How can I demonstrate that it was a political move rather than some genuine deep-seated policy belief? Only two years later, they voted for the emissions trading scheme, which was browner than the carbon pollution reduction scheme. It had more assistance for the steel industry, it had more assistance for the coal sector, and it locked in lower targets. Before the election, to keep climate change as an issue, to win the seat of Melbourne, they sank the CPRS by voting with their mates Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce. After the election, they voted for a browner emissions trading scheme and had the planet pay the price by letting 218 million more tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They genuinely have the blood of the planet on their hands right now. Now they're trying to wring political advantage out of this. It's all about posturing, from a party that would rather have a fight on climate change than solve it, just like they're demonstrating on the housing policy. Maybe they've written an article about it in the Jacobin magazine that I haven't read yet! This is all about winning seats in the inner city, keeping these issues alive, rather than trying to find a solution. If they were trying to find a solution, they'd actually work with us.

I'm proud of our legacy and our commitment on climate change. I'm proud of what we've done, as the only party of government to have actually passed legislation on climate change. The Labor Party is the only party that has done that. We've legislated net zero emissions by 2050. We've legislated a 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030. We are one of only 33 nations in the world that have legislated those targets, demonstrating our deep commitment to these issues. We'll achieve 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030. And we're implementing the safeguard mechanism, which will cut 200 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions to 2030. We've legislated a $20 billion Rewiring the Nation Fund. We've finalised the law to allow offshore wind zones. We're implementing a capacity investment scheme. We're putting emissions reduction objectives into the National Energy Objective. We've signed the Global Methane Pledge and joined the Climate Club and the Global Offshore Wind Alliance. And we've passed the electric vehicle discount. By any account, that is a huge amount of work on climate change.

But it doesn't end there. We've got $1.7 billion for the energy savings program. We've established the Net Zero Economy Agency, headed by Greg Combet—the last climate change minister, before Minister Bowen, to get climate change legislation through this parliament. We've funded and are developing the Guarantee of Origin scheme. We've budgeted $2 billion for the Hydrogen Headstart program, starting in my home region of the mighty Hunter. And we've lodged our bid to host COP31, co-hosted with the Pacific. That's concrete action to protect our environment, fight climate change and play our part in global efforts. It stands in stark contrast to the Greens' posturing on this issue.

And our action doesn't stop at our border. We've been a really constructive participant in international debate. We've joined the Pacific family in declaring that the Pacific is facing a climate emergency. We've increased official development assistance by $1.7 billion, with a climate focus—so much so that our new international development policy that Senator Wong and I released yesterday has a requirement that 80 per cent of all foreign aid programs have a climate objective, something that Senator Canavan labelled a 'Western eccentricity'. This is the same senator those opposite voted with to sink the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2009.

We're providing $2 billion in climate finance out to 2025, and that includes $700 million for the Pacific. We're establishing the new Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership. And we've established the $20 million climate and infrastructure partnership with Indonesia. This is significant action to help fight climate change globally. We're also committed to amplifying the voice of the Pacific in these debates, because the Pacific is the region that is most impacted by climate change. Not only should we be taking action to fight climate change; we should also be amplifying their voice and shining a spotlight on their experiences. That's why I was proud, when I represented Australia at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year, to support the efforts of Pacific countries to get the international laws of the sea changed so that when, unfortunately, islands do disappear due to climate change—some of that will occur, very unfortunately—they preserve their exclusive economic zones so that they don't lose the fishing rights that go with their exclusive economic zone. That's practical action to help with climate change adaptation.

I was also proud, when I represented Australia at the Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting, to announce that Australia had changed our position and was supporting Vanuatu's efforts to get an opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice—concrete policy to amplify the voice of the Pacific. Another one was at the UN Climate Conference, where I represented Prime Minister Albanese for the leaders day, when Australia actively and aggressively intervened in the negotiations to ensure that loss and damage was put on the agenda for that COP, and we played our part in ensuring that was part of the outcome.

At the same time, think tanks aligned with the Greens were briefing journalists that Australia was blocking action on loss and damage. They were deceiving journalists about what Australia was doing; whereas we were proudly fighting for the Pacific, to make sure that loss and damage was on the agenda. The truth is, when it comes to concrete action on climate change, there's only one party that can be trusted because there's only one party that's delivered: the Labor Party. The Labor Party has delivered strong action on climate change.

We don't try and divide the community; we try to take the whole of Australia with us. While those Greens are content to vote down climate action, to win petty political advantage, demonstrating their mendacity, we engage in a conversation, in all parts of Australia, to persuade people. That's not just in the inner city, as important as that is; it's when we're in the Hunter region, where the Deputy Speaker, the member for Paterson and the member for Hunter and I engage in conversations about how we grow our economy by investing in jobs for the future through renewable energy and talking to, say, coalminers about what's going on. It's about having honest conversations about what is going on in the world, instead of belittling them, insulting them and cheering when their jobs are lost. That's the truth. It's very easy to lecture from certain parts of this country; whereas the Australian Labor Party is committed to taking the whole of the nation on this journey.

I'm very happy to go for my full 10 minutes, on this MPI, because it's got so much to talk about. We're the only party that's passed climate laws twice on this issue; whereas for ever and ever, the history of the Greens political party will be characterised by one action: voting with Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce to destroy the climate by voting down the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. On that day, they demonstrated their true colours. They were more interested in winning Senate seats and the seat of Melbourne than fighting climate change. In the end, all they are is a bunch of massive hypocrites.

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