Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In March this year, the Leader of the Opposition released Labor’s blueprint outlining the strategies we would put in place to protect Australia from the threat of climate change, undoubtedly one of the biggest issues confronting not just our nation but the whole globe. The solutions we proposed in that blueprint exposed the stark differences in approach between the major political parties. Among the range of measures suggested in our blueprint were the following: ratification of the Kyoto protocol, support for a national emissions-trading scheme, work towards a national target of 60 per cent cuts to our greenhouse emissions by 2050 and encouragement for renewables and energy efficiency.

We argued that climate change is real and that Australia needed to join the global fight to avoid the impacts of dangerous climate change. Eminent scientists and eminent organisations like the CSIRO were warning Australians that climate change meant more heatwaves, more severe weather events, increased bushfire risks, more floods, rising sea levels and longer droughts. I see that the parliamentary secretary for water is with us tonight. I think he surely understands that you cannot tackle the issues of water and drought without addressing the impact of global warming.

If action is not taken, the Australian community was told that temperatures could rise by two degrees centigrade by 2030, cutting food and water supplies and increasing the spread of dangerous diseases; that rising sea levels would damage the Australian coast—and I think the graphic illustrations on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald said it all this week; that Australian icons like the Great Barrier Reef would be under threat; and that Kakadu’s wetlands would be destroyed. But the sceptics in the Howard government were, and continue to be, in a state of denial, dismissing the overwhelming scientific evidence about the impacts of global warming.

Let us just take a few memorable quotes from the government’s Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources. He said:

... carbon dioxide levels go up and down, and global warming comes and goes.

Well, really, Minister! No wonder he was forced to admit in answer to a question posed by Laurie Oakes:

... I am a sceptic of the connection between emissions and climate change.

It was this very same minister who arrogantly dismissed Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth as ‘just entertainment’. But the movie’s message was too powerful to be ignored in the Australian community. The inconvenient truth that needs to be understood is that the Howard government has isolated Australia from global action on climate change and, in so doing, increased the risk of both environmental destruction and economic damage to our nation.

The Stern report, released in the last few days, is to date by far the most comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of climate change. The report’s recommendations were prepared by a very eminent economist from the World Bank. I would imagine that no-one could dispute his impeccable credentials. The Stern report argues that there is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, but we need to take strong action now. It concludes:

The scientific evidence is now overwhelming—

and I hope the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources is listening—

climate change is a serious global threat, and it demands an urgent global response.

The evidence gathered by the review led him to conclude that the benefits of strong and early action on this issue far outweigh the economic costs of not acting. Let us hope the sceptics on the government benches are listening. Surely, on this occasion, the government cannot ignore the economic conclusions drawn by the World Bank’s chief economist.

Stern’s report concludes that ‘it is already very clear that the economic risks of inaction are very severe’ and that failure to act would cost between five per cent and 20 per cent of annual global GDP. He points out that the costs of stabilising the climate are significant but manageable if we take early action, whereas delay would be dangerous and more costly. He describes climate change as ‘the greatest market failure the world has ever seen’. (Time expired)