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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that his record on climate change includes claiming electric vehicles will end the weekend, saying the world's biggest battery to store renewable energy is as useful as 'a big banana', and describing renewable energy targets as 'nuts'? Why should Australians trust anything this Prime Minister says on climate change and emissions reduction?

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

When I give a commitment to the Australian people about what we're going to do on emissions reduction targets, we keep it. We keep it. We said we would meet our Kyoto targets and we did. We said that we would meet and beat our emissions reduction targets for Paris and that we would stay in the Paris Agreement, and we took that to the last election. Those opposite took to the last election a policy saying that they wanted to reduce emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. We said that was the wrong policy. It is still the wrong policy. It is not something we support. Those opposite, I'm sure, have a myriad of views about this, but our view has not changed. We will meet and beat our targets, and we will do it by ensuring that Australia invests, particularly right across the regional areas of this country, in the changes in energy technology that are needed to ensure that Australia remains prosperous over the next 30 years and over the next 50 years.

To meet the global challenge of climate change, to ensure we understand what is occurring as a result of the world's response to climate change, we have to be honest and understand that that means there will be impacts in this country. There will be economic impacts particularly across the regions of this country, and those challenges need to be confronted and met to ensure that our regions emerge stronger. To deal with climate change, yes, you need an emissions reduction plan and, yes, you need an environmental plan. But, most importantly, to secure the livelihoods of Australians you need an economic plan, and the Australian people know they can trust the Liberals and the Nationals when it comes to managing the economy.

If you're going to rely on the Labor Party for an economic plan to secure your job or save your job in this rapidly changing global climate, you're relying on the wrong party, because Labor do not have the record of managing. Under the leadership of both this opposition leader and those that came before him, they did not have an economic plan to deal with the global challenges of climate change. When asked what it would cost at the last election, they couldn't say. They have a target at the moment with no plan. They have a target which is a blank cheque. The Labor Party want to write a blank cheque, which they want Australians to pay for, when it comes to this issue.

Well, that's not from the Liberals and the Nationals. The Liberals and the Nationals will always have an economic plan to deal with the big challenges facing our country. That's what we're doing. Those opposite have learned nothing.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. The government is reportedly offering tens of billions of dollars for regional Australia as part of the climate policy deal with the Nationals. A smart regional climate plan would put solar panels of the roof of every country hospital and school to lower their power bills. It would install a community battery in every bushfire-prone town to secure their power next fire season. It would invest in our manufacturing capability to grow new export industries and high-paid jobs in renewables, and it would guarantee that regional people share in the profits of regional renewables. Will the Nationals secure any of this, or will you squander this once-in-a-generation opportunity for us?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi, and I note her passion for making sure that we look after regional areas. That's the same passion that's shared by my colleagues in the Nationals, as I'm certain it is by many colleagues in the regional Liberals. Of course we are always mindful of making sure that we reach into Nationals seats, Independent seats, regional Liberal seats and, dare I say, regional Labor seats to look after these people, because they're part of our nation. Whether that's in the form of investment in energy projects, investment in medical issues, investment in education and investment in infrastructure that drives those economies forward, you've talked about investments that take the standard of living ahead. That's why the biggest investment project in this nation is the Inland Rail, which is taking the lives of people ahead.

I also note how in your question you talked about a number. There is no number that we have in any pact. I want to dispel this notion that there's some magical number running around. There is not. As you know, Member for Indi—we've both been here for a little while—'just because you read it, doesn't mean they said it'. If you hear them say it, they said it; if you see them say it, they said it. But, by gosh, all of us in this place have had the experience of reading things which later on turn out to be complete and utter tripe.

We will continue to make sure that—mindful of all issues, not just this issue—our process of being in government is to serve the people of regional Australia; to make sure we make the lives of people in regional Australia better; to create opportunities so that not only they but their children and grandchildren can have jobs in regional Australia. Our job is to make sure we stand behind the industries and the wealth of regional Australia. As the member for Indi knows, it is the terms of trade generated by regional Australia, the people who put the product on the boat, that give wealth to our currency and terms to our currency, because so much of our lives is determined by what we take off a boat coming in the other direction. It's the people who put product on the boat—the iron ore miners, the coalminers.

The gas, the cattle, the live cattle, the sheep, the live sheep, the cotton, the grain—all these products come from regional Australia. If we don't protect regional Australia, we don't protect our nation. And if we don't protect the strength of our currency, provide a reason for other people to demand our products so as to give wealth to our currency, we will become a poorer nation.