Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. When the Prime Minister arrives in Glasgow in a fortnight's time, will he tell the meeting that electric vehicles will 'end the weekend', that batteries to store renewable energy are as useful as the Big Banana and the Big Prawn and that Renewable Energy Targets are 'nuts'?

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

I don't accept the caricature that the member has put forward. It's just simply not the case—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Members on my left!

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

It's a complete misrepresentation, which I'm completely used to from the Labor Party. They can treat the parliament in that way and treat it like a comedy act, but these are very serious issues we are dealing with here as a country. While Labor seeks to joke about climate policy, the government is focused very clearly on the decisions we have to make about what is going to impact on the livelihoods and lives of Australians over the next 30 years. We are not taking a glib approach like those opposite did. They just signed up with a blank cheque—

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

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?

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

Yes, Mr Speaker. It goes to relevance. These are the Prime Minister's own quotes, his own comments—he's quoting himself—that he's given at that—

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

The Leader of the Opposition can resume his seat, and I'm going to point out very clearly: he may well raise that on a point of order, but the question didn't ask that. The question asked him whether he'd do three things, and it could have been ruled out on any number of aspects of the standing orders. But when a question like that's asked, it's been my practice to allow the free-flowing debate. Otherwise, I'll be ruling them out. You can't ask a question like that and expect that there won't be some sort of political response. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

The commitment about net zero at 2050 is a very serious matter. It's going to have big impacts and big opportunities for Australia in the future. You don't do it glibly. You don't just sign up to it without a plan, which is what I said from this dispatch box on many occasions. You don't go and sign Australia up to something like that unless you carefully consider what the plan is and what the impacts of that plan are.

We have been going through that very exercise very seriously, as a cabinet, as a coalition government—as a serious government does to make these important decisions. We understand that the global changes happening in our economy because of the response to climate change are going to have adverse impacts in Australia, in rural and regional areas in particular. That is going to occur, and our plans are designed to address that and to recognise the opportunities that can be gained from the changes occurring around the world to ensure that Australia can emerge more strongly, based on the plans that we're working on.

That's how we're coming to a decision on this issue. Those opposite came to a decision to commit Australia to 2050 without any plan, without any estimate, without any modelling. They claim some modelling, but that modelling assumes a carbon price. It assumes a carbon tax. That is where the Labor Party is at. We are doing this on the basis of careful consideration of the impacts of our decisions on Australians. This is one of the biggest decisions this country has to make. We will make it carefully, we will make it collaboratively and we will be listening to Australians, as we have done over the course of this term to prepare for this very moment, to ensure that when we consider this issue we can do so in a way such that we can position Australia strongly for the future. This is about an economic plan that gets Australia through one of these great challenges. We have such a plan, the low emissions technology plan, already set out, while those opposite, even right now, in the Senate are seeking to disallow a regulation which would see us being able to invest in clean energy technologies, in carbon capture, use and storage. And they are opposing it. (Time expired)

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

I seek leave to table a document, an article by Phil Coorey, 'Scott Morrison mocks SA's big battery as like the "big banana"'.

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

The Leader of the Opposition can resume his seat. I've made it clear that I won't even ask for leave to be granted to table newspaper articles that are readily available.