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

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Melbourne moving the following motion:

That the House:

(1) notes the world is on track for a catastrophic 2.5 to 3 degree warming of the planet based on current policies;

(2) acknowledges that coal and gas are fueling the climate crisis;

(3) condemns the Future Gas Strategy which intends to expand gas production to 2050 and beyond; and

(4) calls on the Environment Minister and Resources Minister to stop approving new coal and gas mines.

We are in a climate crisis. With scientists on the weekend saying that they are despairing at the possibility of delivering something close to a safe climate to our kids and grandkids, with people in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales still unable to get back into their homes after the devastating floods, with people in Queensland and Brisbane unable to afford to insure their houses because the risk of coal and gas fuelled floods is now so severe, and with the Great Barrier Reef bleaching yet again on the very same day that the Prime Minister and the resources minister turn up to celebrate the thousandth gas shipment going out of ports there, it is vital that today we debate now and call on the government to stop approving new coal and gas mines.

What is crystal clear now, after the announcements we've seen over the last few days, is that Labor want coal and gas past 2050, at a time when they told us they were going to get to zero pollution. They now want it past 2050. The environment minister has approved coalmines to run past 2050. The government now, in a cabinet endorsed gas strategy, says they want gas to 2050 and beyond. 2050 would have been too late to reach zero, but now we're not even going to reach it then, because Labor's policy, crystal clear, is to keep opening new coal and gas mines and have it running past 2050, even though every scientist is telling us that that is a recipe for catastrophic heatwaves and floods and fires for people who are going to primary school today. It means that during the lifetime of kids at primary school today they will see Australia lose its capacity to feed itself as the Murray-Darling Basin evaporates and becomes 92 per cent less productive than it is at the moment. It will mean they go to every school holidays and Christmas holidays worried about how many people are going to die in the heatwaves and bushfires that will hit that year, because this parliament and this government failed to get the climate crisis under control.

Five new coal projects and eight new gas projects—that's what the Labor government have approved since they came to power. And now they have embraced Scott Morrison. The Prime Minister is now worse than Scott Morrison, pushing for new gas projects and having them go past 2050, at a time when we should be at absolutely zero pollution, if not much sooner.

You know what, Mr Speaker? At 5.15 the day after parliament rose last time, after we had been sitting here for weeks debating gas, we found out that the environment minister had secretly approved the pipeline for the Beetaloo gas project. She didn't tell parliament about it. It just happened to become public the day after scrutiny could have been put on them in question time while parliament was sitting here.

I want to make a special mention of those lions in their electorates who are mice in the parliament, the members for Macnamara, Wills, Richmond, Cooper and Moreton, all of whom sat here and cheered on every one of those new coal and gas mines when they were approved. Now, apparently, they're saying that there's a problem with the government's gas strategy. Well, this is a chance to come and vote on it. There's one thing that you get here that everyday people don't get: when you come to parliament, you get your vote. People want to know whether you're going to vote for more coal and gas mines or vote against them. This is a chance now to put your money where your mouth is and be on the right side of history. Stop approving new coal and gas mines. Come and vote with those of us in the Greens and on the crossbench who know the science and want to stop seeing this climate crisis get worse. If you don't—if your party doesn't let you—then quit your party. It is crystal clear now that Labor's policy is for more coal and gas past 2050, unless we stop them with this motion today and a commitment from the government that they will stop opening new coal and gas projects.

See this speech in context