Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak tonight on a very important issue: climate change. The issues of climate change and preserving our environment are indeed major concerns to the residents of Richmond. Firstly, our concern is for the environment as a whole, as this is one of the biggest issues confronting not just our nation but indeed the whole world. Secondly, residents of Richmond, who live on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, are seeing firsthand the devastating effects of not taking action to address climate change.

For 10 long years we have seen the Howard government in complete denial about climate change. In doing so it has been failing to protect Australia’s environmental and, indeed, economic future. What our nation needs is a federal government that puts the preservation of our environment before its own political preservation. It seems the only thing the Howard government values and cares about is its own preservation. But what Australia needs is a federal government that values the environment and takes real, decisive action on climate change. Instead, what do the Prime Minister and members of his government do? They ridicule people who talk about climate change—people who care about and value the future of our world. On many occasions they will stand up and ridicule those people rather than face the fact that, as everybody else knows, we have to address this very important issue. One of the Howard government’s standard responses is to talk about nuclear reactors. Federal Labor is totally opposed to that, and I know the residents of Richmond are totally opposed to it as well. In stark contrast to the Howard government’s complete denial on climate change, federal Labor has been raising this issue for many years, constantly saying, ‘We need to take decisive action on this very important issue.’

Last year I was very pleased to host two high-level environmental summits in my electorate, one at Kingscliff and one at Byron Bay. A range of issues were raised by the many participants who came along, but the major issue raised was their concern about climate change and the need to take action in relation to it. Federal Labor has been listening to what these people are saying, because we do take this issue extremely seriously. We know how important it is for our nation. Indeed, we know how important it is for the whole world.

Earlier this year federal Labor released a blueprint outlining what we would do to protect Australia from the threat of climate change. In that blueprint the Leader of the Opposition announced that we will ratify the Kyoto protocol, introduce targets to cut emissions, increase the mandatory renewable energy target and establish an emissions-trading program. We have also committed to a comprehensive national strategy to encourage the take-up of new and cleaner technologies, focusing Australian research on developing renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal energy. It really is a complete disgrace that the Howard government has failed to ratify the Kyoto protocol. We have said that on many occasions. Locals keep telling me how annoyed and angry they are at the Howard government for failing to ratify it.

Australia must join the global fight to stop the severe impacts of dangerous climate change. We all know what the impact of global warming means. We saw yesterday, with the release of the report of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, the confirmation of many of our greatest fears about global warming. This report outlined the reality that, if we do not take action, we will see more heatwaves, more floods, more bushfires, more droughts and rising sea levels. This damage to our environment will also have a huge flow-on impact upon Australia’s vital tourism industry, particularly in Richmond, which relies very heavily upon tourism. Millions of people come to our area every year. For example, over 1.5 million people per year visit Byron Bay, a pristine part of Australia. Tourism is absolutely vital to our local economy.

The Stern report also says that the failure to respond to the threat of global warming will cause massive economic and social disruption on a scale equivalent to both world wars and the Great Depression of the last century. I think statements like that are absolutely devastating when we look at the reality of the effect of global warming and the effect of not taking action in relation to it. It is truly shameful that the Howard government is not ratifying the Kyoto protocol, that it is not taking decisive and sufficient action. What sort of future are we creating for our children and grandchildren? It is a future that we are creating by the action we take or the action we do not take. Those on the Howard government side of the House have decided to not take action to create a better future for future generations, for our children and the world they will be left with. (Time expired)