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. The coalition has been in office for nearly a decade. With just two weeks to go until the COP26 conference in Glasgow, why can't the government tell Australians what its climate change policy is? Why is it always too little, too late from this Prime Minister?

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

I'm invited, by the member opposite, on these issues. I can refer him to comments by the member for Hunter, where he said:

… after 14 years of trying, the Labor Party has made not one contribution to the reduction—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister, if you could just pause for a second. Prime Minister, your microphone is off. The Manager of Opposition Business can resume his seat. I'm making a ruling. The question did not refer to anything other than the government's policy. Just to be very clear: the capacity to speak about opposition policy simply doesn't exist. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker; I'm well chastised on that matter.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I haven't even started yet!

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

I'm sure! We as a government have set out our goals and our targets very clearly. We've beaten Kyoto I and Kyoto II and we're going to meet and beat the Paris emissions reduction targets that we took to the last election. We went to the last election and we said that we would reduce emissions by 2030 by 26 per cent to 28 per cent. As of right now those emissions are down by more than 20 per cent. Australia has one of the highest—if not the highest—rates of rooftop solar take-up anywhere in the world. We are seeing a flow, a waterfall, of investment into lower-emissions technologies and renewable technologies in this country like we've never seen before. These are the results of the policies that the government has been putting in place to drive down emissions while at the same time taking down electricity prices and investing in the reliability of our grid as we go forward.

We on this side of the House understand that it's about getting the balance right. You've got to get the balance of affordability and reliability while getting your emissions reductions down, as we are achieving. The minister for energy has led the way here with the reforms to the National Energy Market. He's led the way with the lower-emissions technology road map. He's led the way, with me and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in securing technology partnerships with Germany and many other countries to ensure that we're working together to get the technology that Australia needs so that we can meet our emissions reductions targets and prepare our economy for the global challenges ahead. Our policy's pretty straightforward: technology, not taxes, to reduce emissions.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs is warned.

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

With those opposite, when they got the chance, it was tax, tax, tax. Every time you hear the Leader of the Opposition say he wants to reduce emissions, you know he wants to increase your taxes.