Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think it is unfathomable that there is so little discussion in this place these days about climate change, and I think it is unforgivable that the government is showing so little interest in climate change and in dealing with the consequences of climate change. It is not as though there is no evidence about the problem. It is not as though there is no evidence that we are facing a very real and a very dangerous situation. It would be reasonable to say that climate change, perhaps only along with nuclear weapons, is the threat to our existence as we know it on this planet. It is one of two things that can fundamentally change life as we know it. It is one of two things that is created by humanity and one of two things that can be addressed by humanity.

When I talk about the evidence, you just have to pick up the state of the environmentreport—at least every five years—which came out quite recently. It makes it clear that Australia remains the largest emitter of carbon per capita of any OECD country. The government can carve it up and spin it any way they want, but that is a fact: we are the largest emitter, per capita, of any country in the OECD. It is also clear from that report that the energy sector emissions are in fact increasing as a proportion of our total emissions. So rather than doing better, when it comes to the production of energy, we are doing worse. It is made clear in this. It confirms that 2015 was the world's hottest year on record.

When I talk about evidence, I pick up the Climate Council report, which is looking at the summer just ended in this country. I will give you a few of the findings. In just 90 days over summer, more than 205 environmental records were broken around Australia. The statewide mean temperature in summer was the hottest for New South Wales since records began. Sydney had its hot summer on record, with a mean temperature almost three degrees above average. Brisbane had its hottest summer on record, with its mean temperature at almost 27 degrees Celcius. Canberra had its hottest summer on record in terms of daytime temperatures, recording temperatures of at least 35 degrees Celsius on 18 days. Adelaide experienced its hottest Christmas Day in 70 years. Moree, in New South Wales, experience 54 consecutive days of temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius or above—a record for New South Wales. Perth had its highest summer total rainfall on record of near on 200 millimetres. How much more evidence do we need before we finally do something, and do something decisive, about climate change?

What has the government's response been? To support the Adani Carmichael mine, which will be the biggest coal mine in the world, with support of near on $1 billion. The government is pledging its support for more coal-fired power stations at a time when you will not find an energy company in the land that wants to invest in coal-fired power stations. The government is rubbishing South Australia's commendable renewable energy target—a target to be applauded and supported, not a target to be attacked.

Then there is this headline announcement about the Snowy scheme, which, in principle, I find admirable and I support. But, when you drill down into the detail, you read reports like, 'They are actually going to pump the water up the hill with energy from coal-fired power stations.' Surely the whole point of pumping water into dams to store as energy is to use energy from renewable energy to do the pumping. The whole point of making that whole system work is that it will use power from wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and wave and any other number of renewable energies to do it right.

We have to do something about this. I am a father of two young children. Most of us are fathers of young children or grandfathers of young children. We have to understand that climate change and our response to it is one of the greatest examples of intergenerational injustice that this country has ever seen and probably will ever see. There is a moral obligation to do everything in our power to address this, starting in this place. Put a price on pollution. Roll out renewable energy. Let's have zero net carbon emissions. Let's have 100 per cent dependence on renewable energy. And let's put in place the legislation to make it happen now.