Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): Australia is facing increasing pressure from international counterparts to jump on the zero emission bandwagon. What does this really mean for the electorate of Flynn? According to a report into the employment impacts of a net zero emission target for Australia, conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs, my electorate of Flynn will be hit the hardest of all. The IPA report states that over 650,000 direct jobs would be directly at risk from a net zero emission target. This is not to mention the thousands of indirect jobs that will be lost. Central Queensland is set to bear the brunt of the unemployment. The top three most affected electorates will be Flynn, Maranoa and Capricornia. The Australian agriculture sector will be hit hardest and is set to lose up to 300,000 jobs, that's 46 per cent of the potential job losses. Coalmining closely follows with an additional 62,000 jobs across Australia. Flynn is set to be the most impacted of the 20 electorates with a 10 per cent share of the job risk across the board.

Chris Bowen has openly come out and claimed, 'Coal is under threat, regardless of what domestic climate change policy Australia adopts'. Adopting this attitude and introducing a net zero emission target will come at a great expense to Flynn. With the current pandemic, adopting such a policy will be devastating for Australian workers. It would seem that Labor is comfortable with that. A party originally formed for the workers of Australia are willing to sell them down the drain.

The Liberal-National government are on track to beat our 2030 targets. We've already beaten our 2020 targets. Our emissions have fallen faster than many other countries and significantly faster than the OECD and G20 countries. With agriculture being so hard hit with droughts, floods and fire over the last three years this could be the last straw that breaks the proverbial cow's back. Our cost of living will soar, our quality of fresh fruit and vegetables will decline and our standard of living will drop.