Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development. BHP and Rio Tinto have committed to net zero emissions by 2050 for their companies. Giving the mining, farming and livestock industries all support net zero, why won't the minister?

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

First of all, I don't agree with the premise of the question—that all farming industries and mining industries support net zero emissions. I acknowledge the statements of BHP and Rio, and I acknowledge the statements made by the NFF. But they certainly come with caveats; there's no doubt about that. I haven't heard BHP and Rio—

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

Member for McMahon!

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

Sorry, I missed that.

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

Let's just move on. You answer the question and I'll deal with the interjections.

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

I did hear it, actually. I just wanted to repeat it. Mr Speaker, it's incredibly important that we understand that the CEO of BHP or the CEO of Rio, who I think resides in London—one thing I do know is that they don't reside in Muswellbrook or Singleton, they don't reside in Petra Avenue, South Tamworth, where I once lived, and they don't reside in Emerald or Gladstone. These people who have had a very fortunate life—good luck to them and God bless them—will not live with the same outcomes, if we don't do this properly, as that people in the regional towns that we represent. To talk about the views of people who live in the rarefied air, as senior businesspeople, although we've got no problems with that whatsoever—they're not really the people that the Nationals represent.

We represent the blue-collar working men and women of the town of Gladstone, who have been deserted by the Labor Party. We represent the miners of Nowra, who have been deserted by the Labor Party. Might I quote the member for Hunter, who I think realises this as well, who says that the Labor Party has done nothing with regard to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the last 14 years. If there's one person that I think warrants listening to on this, it's the member for Hunter, and he lives—unsurprisingly—in a mining seat. We won't listen to or be bullied by people in the boardrooms; we will listen to the people who are actually in our constituencies.