Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After a fake stand-off, the Liberals and Nationals have struck a terrible deal that will do nothing to stop the climate crisis, baking-in 2030 targets that will cook our kids while mining and burning more coal and gas. Australia is being run by an accountant in a cowboy hat and a coal hugger in a cap, neither of whom want to take the action the science demands, the action that will guarantee people a safe, peaceful and prosperous future.

The whole point of the Glasgow summit is to cut pollution before 2030, because by 2050 it will be too late. If Australia doesn't cut its pollution by three-quarters by 2030—that's the independent climate target panel's recommendation: a 74 per cent reduction by 2030—we won't be doing our bit to limit global warming to 1½ degrees. The government targets mean we will say goodbye to the Great Barrier Reef and hello to turbocharged droughts and bushfires, mass extinction, rising sea levels and the resulting global insecurity. Net zero by 2050 is a fraudulent deal that will make the climate crisis worse because it has terrible 2030 targets and is based on expanding coal and gas long into the future. By then it will be too late for our kids and our grandkids to stop global heating.

The Greens are the only party with the courage not to lie to the Australian people about the future of coal. The Greens in the balance of power will kick this terrible government out and push the next government to phase out coal and gas and take the climate action the science demands.