Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Deloitte has found inaction on climate change will cost almost a million Australian jobs. Deloitte also says that transitioning to net zero emissions will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Why won't the government save Australian jobs by matching Labor's commitment to net zero by 2050?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and I congratulate him on his new shadow ministerial portfolio. I wish him the same sort of success he had as shadow Treasurer. My government supports getting to net zero. The question now is not when; it's how. What those opposite cannot tell the Australian people is how. What I can give to the Australian people is the commitment that we will be able to tell you how, and we will do it by technology. We will do it through technological transformation. We will do it based on the science that produces that technology and gets us to that important goal, not just for Australia but for the many other countries that also need to also go down that path.

You've just heard the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction set out the $18 billion that will be invested over the next decade through the Technology Investment Roadmap. My minister for emissions reduction has a background in energy technology and understanding what can be made to work on energy. The shadow minister has a history of how to put up taxes. He's like a hammer who sees every problem as a nail. Every problem this shadow minister sees is solved by a bigger and bigger tax. That's the difference. We will get to net zero through technology. The Labor way is always higher taxes.