Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Net zero is a commitment meant to last for 30 years. Yesterday, Senator Canavan said the government would scrap its net zero policy after the election because 'we can't bind future party rooms or parliaments'. Why should anyone believe this slideshow will last beyond the next election if the coalition is re-elected?

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

I thank the honourable member for her question. Might I say: as much as I have a lot of time for Senator Canavan, he didn't actually write the plan. I'm glad the honourable member is fascinated. I must say: she seems to be following Senator Canavan a lot closer than I am, but that's good; she has a lot of spare time. They get a lot of spare time on the other side!

I think the really important thing is that, obviously, she has a strong belief that we will be in government for the next 30 years—and I appreciate that! On their recent track record it wouldn't be surprising!

I'll tell you why, Mr Speaker, that she thinks we'll be looking after this nation for the next 30 years: it's because we believe in the inspiration of the individual and her government believes in legislation. They're going to legislate, and by so doing—

The member for Sydney, she doesn't care about Central Queensland. She thinks that Central Queensland is a big joke.

An honourable member interjecting—

Well, maybe if they had half a billion dollars for an art gallery in Central Queensland life would be a lot better for them. The member for Sydney thinks that Central Queensland is a joke. She might—

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

I just say to the Deputy Prime Minister that you're digressing from the question.

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

Sorry, Mr Speaker, I was distracted by the frivolity of the member for Sydney, who obviously thought that people's lives in working—

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

No, you're now repeating it.

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

Mr Speaker, in response to the question, we'll make sure that for the next 30 years, if we are blessed with the opportunity of running the place—and I hope we are, for the sake of Australians—we will utilise the mechanism of leaving it to the intelligence of people and the inspiration of people to achieve the outcomes that we have set out in the plan. It's only the other side that believes in legislating them out of a job.

Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government's plan will see Australia build on our record of meeting and beating our emissions reduction targets by focusing on technology, not taxes? And is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth for his question. As a well-respected former diplomat he knows how important it is to have a strong plan to meet net zero by 2050, but to do it in the Australian way. He knows that we're building on a strong track record—

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

The member for Macarthur will leave under standing order 94(a).

The member for Macarthur then left the chamber.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He knows that we have a strong track record: we met and beat our Kyoto targets by 459 million tonnes—almost a year's worth of emissions. And we're on track to meet and beat our 2030 targets by up to a 35 per cent reduction; we're already down by 20.8 per cent.

The plan we've laid out today is a practical, responsible path forward that respects Australians and respects the Australian way. It preserves and supports jobs in traditional industries but also captures new opportunities as they emerge and as customer demands change. It continues to build on the policies and initiatives that have worked.

There are five core principles behind the plan: technology, not taxes. The plan respects Australian's choices. It respects the fact that Australians have been choosing to put solar on their roofs: one in four Australians. They're not being told by the government; they're doing it because it's their choice. It respects the enormous importance of affordable, reliable energy for our regions and for Australia more generally. It supports our export industries and the strength that they provide to this great nation—and will provide for many, many years to come. And it doesn't impose costs on Australians; that's through a portfolio of technologies coming down to parity—to cost competitiveness—with the higher-emitting alternatives. There's ultra low-cost solar, which we have just introduced in the low-emissions technology statement—we're targeting $15 a megawatt-hour. There's clean aluminium at under $2 per kilogram and getting the cost of measuring soil carbon—that great 90 million-hectare carbon sink—in Australian agriculture down, to a metre, to $3 per hectare per year.

But there's an alternative. We've laid out our plan for 2030 and for 2050. Those opposite haven't. They have no target for 2030, no plan for 2030 and no plan for 2050. The only thing they have, all they seem to have up their sleeve, is a law telling Australians what to do. Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition called a technology led approach 'absurd'. But we know what they really want to do; they want to impose taxes, because that's the only tool in their toolkit.