Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister—

Mr Randall interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Canning will learn to sit there quietly. He is warned!

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the report released today by the Climate Commission titled The critical decade? Why is this decade critical for our climate and why is it critical to set a price on carbon?

Mr Randall interjecting—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister, on a point of order: You have warned the member for Canning. He continues to interject across the chamber and to the gallery.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Canning will resume his seat.

Mr Randall interjecting—

The member for Canning will resume his seat! First of all, I thank the Leader of the House for the misspeak and the promotion. That is okay; usually I do the misspeaks. Regrettably, there were so many other people interjecting from both sides that, if the member for Canning was actually still interjecting, I missed that. But he certainly will not jump to his feet and think that he can just take the call. He has been warned and he is now on a slippery slope. I remind members that a warning is the precursor for a naming. I remind members, especially those to the rear of the chamber, that a motion to withdraw a member can be moved only after I name them. So if it happens, I have named them. I have seen plenty of movement about doing numbers in the chamber under the present circumstance and I am just making sure that I remind people what happens if I ever need numbers to support an action myself. The Prime Minister has the call.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the member for Chifley for his question—although it does now seem some time ago. His question was on a very important topic, namely climate change, and the important report by the Climate Commission that came out today entitled The critical decade. That is an important title, because in this report we have climate scientists confirming that climate change is real and that action is needed on climate change. This is a report that has been extensively reviewed by a range of expert climate scientists, including the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology. Will Steffen, who worked on this report, has also been working with Ross Garnaut and his team as they have undertaken an update of the climate science.

This report shows that between 2001 and 2010 the global average temperature was nearly half a degree higher than the average temperature from 1961 to 1990. That makes it the warmest decade on record. As the sea is forced to absorb more carbon dioxide it is becoming more acidic, with a 15 per cent decrease in calcification rates over the past two decades which affects natural icons like the Great Barrier Reef. On the west coast of Australia, sea levels have risen by more than a centimetre per year since the 1990s. Around two-thirds of that rise has come from increased sea temperatures and melting ice caps. With rising sea levels come risks of extreme weather events. A sea level rise of only half a metre by the turn of the century can lead to very different risks for different seas. In Sydney or Melbourne's coastal areas, for example, a once-in-100-years extreme weather event could happen almost monthly.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

This is very important information and I am not at all surprised by some of the jeering that has broken out on the other side, because senior members of the coalition, like Senator Nick Minchin, have come out against this report and confirmed their climate change denial. We know that the Leader of the Opposition stays in climate change denial, which is why he is prepared to go around and front a scheme that the member for Wentworth has rightly said cannot work and would be hugely costly. They are the actions of someone in climate change denial. We would say to the Leader of the Opposition that he should be pursuing the example of conservatives that are trying to lead for the future, like Prime Minister Cameron in the United Kingdom, who has announced very deep cuts in carbon pollution and who has said that this will position the UK as a leading player in the global low-carbon economy, creating significant new industries and jobs.

This report confirms that climate change is real, that to tackle climate change we must cut carbon pollution, and that the most efficient way of cutting carbon pollution is to put a price on carbon. I am determined and the government is determined that we will do just that. We will not succumb to the Leader of the Opposition and his team's climate change denial nor will we follow him down the path of a costly scheme that cannot work. We will price carbon. It is a critical decade and it is a critical year for those who believe in climate change.