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

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Glasgow summit is demanding the whole world lift its 2030 climate targets before it's too late to stop runaway global warming. You boast of meeting and beating your 2030 goals, but it's easy to beat a terrible target set by Tony Abbott. The US has lifted their 2030 targets. The UK has too, with a 68 per cent cut. Prime Minister, why won't you meet and beat the US and UK targets and do Australia's fair share, with a 75 per cent target, as determined by Australia's independent Climate Targets Panel? Or have you given up on keeping global warming below 1½ degrees, thus condemning regional Australia to extreme droughts, floods and sea level rises?

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

I don't know why the member for Melbourne wants to talk down the great achievements of Australians in rural and regional areas, which have seen Australia reduce its carbon emissions since 2005 by 20 per cent. Which is more than New Zealand. It's more than the United States. It's more than Canada. It's more than many countries around the world. When Australia reduces emissions, and Australian farmers and those in rural and regional Australia do the heavy lifting, I think they should expect this place to respect them. They should respect their efforts and they should respect their contributions. I think Australians are growing a little tired of the Greens—who are joined also by those opposite from time to time—talking down rural and regional Australians and their contributions to ensuring that their environments and their communities are stronger and their way of life is protected.

The targets that I took to the last election were endorsed by the Australian people. They rejected the targets that were put forward by the Labor Party and the Greens. They rejected them. They endorsed our targets. I said we would meet and beat those targets, and, indeed, we will. We will keep faith with the Australian people on the things that we pledged at the last election, and we will exceed their expectations on those targets that were set out at the last election.

The Australian people are doing the heavy lifting. Australia has the highest rate of solar on roofs of any country in the world. Last year, we had more renewable investment in this country in one year than Labor had in six. Our rate of growth in renewable investment is outstripping countries all around the world, and our lower emissions technology road map is ensuring that hydrogen and other important fuels and opportunities are being realised all around the country. The Leader of the Greens needs to understand that it's performance that counts, not empty aspiration, and what Australia can point to is a track record of delivering a 20 per cent reduction in emissions at the same time as Australia has achieved a 40 per cent increase in the size of our economy. I'd like to see another country match that. The Leader of the Greens and the apologists with him in the Labor Party should stop running Australia down. We are carrying our weight, we are making our contribution and we won't be told by people outside of this country how we should be meeting our targets.