Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Almost eight months ago, on the Friday after the last sitting of 2021, the now Prime Minister and his now Minister for Climate Change and Energy stood up to announce the emissions reduction target that the government seeks to legislate today. With great fanfare the then opposition leader announced, 'Labor's plan to create jobs, cut power bills and reduce emissions'. He lauded not one but two targets backed by 'the most comprehensive modelling ever done for any policy by any opposition in Australia's history since Federation'. There were two targets: (1) an emissions reduction target and (2) a target on prices. They say it was fully costed but, again, the now Prime Minister said 'It will see electricity prices fall from the current level by $275 for household by 2025, at the end of our first term'. I draw the House's attention to the words 'from the current level' and 'at the end of our first term'. The Prime Minister's promise to cut power bills appears in the first sentence of Labor's Powering Australia plan, the policy document that they now seek to legislate. The same promise to cut power prices by $275 appeared on the ALP's official website, on social media tiles and on Labor's election advertising.

The words that Labor had chosen in its policy document and throughout the campaign were very deliberate ones. They always spoke about reducing people's power prices in conjunction with reducing emissions, as if the two would always go hand in hand. Together, they formed the promise of this government. Now of course we know that Labor won the election, assuring people they would solve cost-of-living problems, problems that have only compounded enormously since they came to office. When asked how a new government could ease cost-of-living pressures the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the energy minister and many more in Labor's ranks responded with that same promise: Labor will reduce emissions while cutting household power bills by $275. It was the most tangible example of cost-of-living relief that the Labor Party offered. But that all changed last week.

In the first question time on day one of business for the 47th Parliament of Australia, the Prime Minister confirmed what many had started to suspect. He would no longer stand by his promise to the families of Australia to cut their power bills by $275. This abandonment of Labor's election commitment coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidentally, came on the very same day that Labor introduced the legislation that is now before the House. Remember, Labor's policy consisted of those two targets: one for emissions reduction of 43 per cent and one for a price reduction of $275. But one of these targets is missing from the bill. Is it the 43 per cent that is missing or the $275? Of course the $275 target—poof, gone—miraculously disappeared from Labor's commitment.

In his second reading speech, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy couldn't even bring himself to address the issue of prices, not once, let alone that commitment, that promise of $275 for households. The bills, as the House would know, require the minister to make an annual statement on the progress towards meeting its climate change policies. You might think that the requirement of the minister would be stated in the bill to also refer to prices, the impact that the implementation of its policy will have on prices for households and for businesses. But, again, there's nothing there. There's absolutely nothing whatsoever in the requirement for the annual statement that relates to the economy or prices. There is a requirement also for the Climate Change Authority to consider progress towards the climate policies. But is there anything there about the Climate Change Authority looking at prices? No, there's nothing on that either.

If the Prime Minister's and ministers' abandonment of the promise to reduce prices for Australian households and businesses was not enough for people in at the Labor ranks to realise there was a problem, last week's release of the ACCC report should have set off alarm bells. This report tells us that energy prices are going to stay high for at least 18 months. Based on the feeble response from this Prime Minister and his resources and energy ministers to date, I regret to inform members of this House that those high prices are likely to persist for much, much longer than the ACCC is forecasting. This is simply because the government is not taking action.

The government will not deliver electricity reductions. It will not deliver on its plan to reduce electricity prices. The minister for Climate Change and Energy won't even get on the phone to the gas companies to safeguard his first election commitment. It should be his No. 1 KPI, but he refuses to act. That is because the minister does not believe in gas. That is on the record. Plans to invest in new gas pipelines and supply are, according to the minister, 'BS' and a 'fraud'. He simply won't tell the gas companies to get more gas into the system.

I remind those opposite that supply is the answer to high prices. More gas into the east coast market will disconnect domestic prices from overseas prices. But this legislation surrenders all negotiating levers. Here's the rub: if this government can't get gas prices down then it has no hope of achieving its electricity price target. It will be on the government as people and businesses pay more for energy.

But this legislation goes further than that. The bills ensure that investment in opening up new gas supply to get prices down and to safeguard our energy security will never come. The Prime Minister, his ministers and his government have capitulated to the Greens at the very first opportunity. There are no safeguards in these bills for consumers and energy users—none whatsoever. 'But wait,' says the minister. 'This legislation will give businesses certainty.' If you are a traditional emissions-intensive industry then the only certainty you'll have from this legislation and from this government, particularly if you are, let's say, in agriculture, is that Labor is not going to help you. This government will not support you and it is happy to see your prices go up.

Don't go to Export Finance Australia seeking support to tap into new markets overseas, not if you are an energy-intensive business. Don't approach the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund to get financing or equity. Don't approach Infrastructure Australia to seek prioritisation of new infrastructure projects. Why? Because you will be in a queue behind less emissions-intensive projects, probably in urban areas, because these bills place a requirement on these agencies to ensure that the target of the government is taken into account when they are now doing their business.

What does this mean for households and large businesses? For supermarkets, bakeries, butchers, manufacturers and aluminium smelters, the only certainty they have is that the government has abandoned its promise to cut power prices in the middle of a global energy crisis, no less, just eight months after adopting very specific targets to deliver price reductions. This carries through to every single small business right across the country, which are the lifeblood of so many communities. The government promised to reduce prices. They have reneged. They are introducing climate change legislation, despite the fact that their own policy states that it should include price reductions. Our traditional energy and resource industries, our agricultural industry and even the development of a new critical minerals industry aren't the priorities for this government. The message of this government is: 'Go elsewhere and take with you the jobs, the capital and the opportunities that would otherwise come forth.'

I have very serious concerns about the unintended consequences of these bills, and I will come to those in a moment. There is something else that honourable members of this House should not be fooled into believing, and that is that these bills are about a 43 per cent emissions reduction target. They are not. How the Senate or the House of Representatives deal with the bills will not make one iota of difference to this country's 2030 or 2050 targets, because they have already been formally adopted by this government under the Paris Agreement.

One of this government's first acts in office was to draw up a new nationally determined contribution, NDC—the formal statement of Australia's commitment to a target. They have already finalised it and they communicated it to the United Nations nearly two months ago on 16 June. Our nation's target is already set—43 per cent by 2030, regardless of the views of anyone in this parliament, the media or the community. This explains why the minister has been at pains over recent weeks to be telling the Australian public that this legislation is in fact unnecessary. That is because 43 per cent is already the target for Australia, and this legislation will have no impact on it whatsoever.

There is something though that we need to make clear. If this legislation is not so much about the number 43, then why should we be concerned? We should be concerned because there are problems with the legislation. The issue here is not the number, because that's irrelevant to the debate—the minister has told us that. The issue is with the legislation itself. The Prime Minister and his Minister for Climate Change and Energy in rushing to introduce this to the parliament haven't thought through the second and third broader consequences of the legislation. Experience overseas shows that when you legislate emissions reduction targets, you risk handing control over projects, not targets, to activists—otherwise known in some spheres as green lawfare.

In an effort to do a deal with the Greens and to give the Greens just enough to secure their support this government has overreached. It has overreached by introducing new restrictions on the exercise of Commonwealth executive power, which is exactly what the Greens like—restrictions on the government's ability for decision-making and prioritisation of Export Finance Australia, Infrastructure Australia and the NAIF. They've done this in the innocently titled 'consequential amendments bill'. That is where these changes lie. The bill makes the achievement of Australia's 2030 targets and reducing global emissions an objective or function of 14 different agencies and statutory schemes. We have to remember that we cannot continue to be reducing the ability of EFA. If EFA does not have the flexibility to invest in infrastructure projects, including, say, in the Pacific with the new fuel terminal in Fiji, we put at risk our national security objectives. Do you think other Pacific powers will hamstring themselves as this government is suggesting Australia would? (Time expired)

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Remember when former Prime Minister Morrison called his own government a muppet show? Do you remember that? Seems he was right about one thing, because, honestly, the member for Fairfax has just spent 15 minutes inventing his own reality. That was an extraordinary speech which had nothing to do with what we're debating today: the actual legislation and the facts of what is happening to the climate in this world and this country. If you wanted to stand up in this parliament and announce to everyone that you're a muppet, you'd give the speech that we have just heard.

This legislation, the Climate Change Bill 2022 and the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022, puts in place Labor's climate change policy that we took to the last election. I have to admit that, for the first, I don't know, five minutes, maybe, of the member for Fairfax's speech, I thought there may be a chance he was supporting the legislation, because he did set out the fact that we put before the Australian people the most robust climate change policy that has ever been put to the Australian people. It has been modelled by one of the most respected environmental economic firms in the country.

We put it to the Australian people with all of the details well before the election so that they could scrutinise it and understand it and so that it would be clear, when we went to the election on 21 May, that if they were voting for Labor they were voting for real action on climate change. They were voting for an emissions reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030, for 82 per cent of the energy going into the grid to be from renewable energy by 2030 and for energy prices to reduce by 2025, as the member for Fairfax pointed out, not in the first nine weeks of this government—the first nine weeks where, by the way, what did we find out? Oh, that's right. We found that the government that the member for Fairfax was a member of hid from the Australian people before the election a report about energy prices going up. It's extraordinary.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Used regulation, no less!

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's right. The member for Paterson reminds me that they changed the law so that they could hoodwink the Australian people on the situation about energy prices under their government. Imagine coming into this parliament and railing about the amount of gas that's available in the domestic market and the price of gas and having a crack at a government that's been in place for nine weeks when—

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They've had nine years.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Nine years, member for Fairfax! Nine years! If only you had been part of a government that had had the opportunity to act on these things! You clearly would've solved all the problems.

It's just extraordinary that we have an opportunity here in Australia, for the first time in almost a decade, for people to come into this parliament and say to those schoolchildren who are up there watching me speak: 'We have your future in our minds. We have your future at the forefront of the decisions that we are making about how we deal with emissions so that when you're our age you can live in an environment that somewhat resembles the environment we got to live in when we were your age.' For the first time in a decade, members in this parliament have an opportunity to come into this place and say to the schoolchildren up there and in our electorates: 'We have your employment future at the forefront of our minds. We are thinking about how to give you the opportunity to have well-paid, interesting, secure jobs in a renewable energy industry in Australia which makes us a renewable energy superpower and allows you to work in a way that gives back to the community, as well as supports you and your family.'

Imagine having the opportunity to come in here and talk about these things, talk about the future of these children, and instead coming into this parliament and inventing your own reality, pretending the last nine years—where there were 22 energy policies, none of which were implemented—never actually happened, and giving a speech for 15 minutes that not once mentions the reality of climate change and the impact of emissions on our environment, on our health, on our jobs and on our future. Imagine squandering that opportunity.

I really hope that the last person to do that in this parliament, in this debate, is the member for Fairfax. But I have a sneaky suspicion he might just be at the head of the cavalcade of people that, apparently, did not listen to what the Australian people were telling them on 21 May when they turned up to vote; when they voted for 77 members of this place to be from the Labor Party, which had a comprehensive climate change policy; and when they voted for a crossbench that campaigned for action on climate change and reduced the muppet show to a small group of people on the other side of the chamber.

Maybe you'd sit for at least a moment and think to yourselves, 'Perhaps we're on the wrong side of history here.' Maybe they did and then they thought, 'I know how we'll fix it: we'll bring in nuclear energy'—which blows the mind of anyone who has ever thought about it deeply for any period of time. I came in here wanting to give a really positive speech, but obviously the member for Fairfax ruined that for me.

This is, truly, a moment in history. There aren't that many times in this parliament, if we're all honest, when we're debating legislation and issues that can fundamentally change the course of the future, not just for our communities, not just for our country, but for our contribution to the region and the world. There are not that many opportunities—there were none whatsoever in the last nine years—but this is one of those opportunities.

This is not about ridiculous things like 'green lawfare', and it shouldn't be about politics. You can smirk and be smug all you like, but you are sitting on the wrong side of the chamber, and it looks like you're going to be sitting on the wrong side of history, because this is about the future.

Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, the member should use the correct titles when referring to members of parliament.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think that is appropriate that people are given their correct titles. I thank the member for Dunkley.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a moment in history. Everyone in this chamber, everyone in the Senate, has the privilege of having the opportunity to be on the right side of history. It's a privilege, it's a responsibility and it's an opportunity to listen to what the Australian public have been saying to us and to act in the way that they want us to act.

I campaigned hard on Labor's climate change policy in my electorate. I talked about the climate emergency and reducing emissions, and a cleaner, better future. I talked about the employment opportunities that will come from becoming a renewable energy superpower. I talked about the fact that we can have a modern economy and be part of changing the course of the future for the better. And that's what my community voted for. That's what they voted for, and that's what this legislation will deliver.

Do you know what this legislation also does? It imposes accountability on government and on this parliament that we have never seen before. The member for Fairfax raised that the minister has talked about the fact that this legislation is not necessary to set a target. Well, of course it is not. We had all sorts of vague targets under the last government. You know what this legislation does? It holds the government to account for getting to that target. That is the part of the legislation he did not talk about. He didn't talk about the part of this legislation that says that there has to be an annual address to the parliament by the climate change minister to ensure that the parliament of the day is required to update the parliament and the country on the progress we are making to meet our climate goals. This legislation includes a mechanism to hold governments to account, including our government, because we believe in accountability and we believe in transparency and we believe that, if you say to the Australian people we are going to do something, you should get held to account about whether or not you do it.

The Climate Change Authority will assess and publish progress against our targets and will advise the government on future targets, a climate change authority that will have expertise and responsibility, and it will be restored to what it was meant to be after the damage that has been done to it over the last nine years.

Reasonable people can have a debate where they don't agree. Not everyone comes into this place with the same views about what the sciences says. But you can't anymore stand here and say that the science is wrong about the impacts of the changing climate. You cannot live in our country and see the devastation of the bushfires and the floods, you cannot see the weather events that are supposed to be one in 100 years happening year after year with an intensity and an impact that is greater than we have ever seen before and deny that the amount of carbon going into the atmosphere is impacting our climate unless you invent your own reality, and we weren't sent here to invent our own realities.

So I urge every member of this parliament to think about which side of history they want to be on, to think about how they will be viewed in the decades to come, when the young people who are sitting up in that gallery watching this debate, when the young people in our community are our age and they are looking back at the decisions that were made that impacted the environment and the jobs and the economy that they inherited from us.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Climate Change Bill 2022. I welcome the government's initiative in bringing this bill forward as a priority for this parliament. We need to lock into law Australia's commitment to net zero and a process of accountability on how we will get there. But let's be clear. This is not comprehensive legislation to address climate change and it is certainly not as detailed as the climate change bill that was tabled in the last parliament by myself that enjoyed the support of so many areas of our community. This is a climate targets bill. It is silent on mechanisms to achieve the targets. It is silent on requirements for the government to conduct climate risks, assessments, and table adaptation plans to meet those risks. It does not include a ratchet mechanism or consecutive budgets to set a clear road map to net zero. It heavily relies on the Paris Agreement, which I would argue can be disrupted by geopolitical conflicts, and so could impact that process to net zero.

What this bill does, let's be very clear, is set into law the government's commitment to achieve 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030, and I will address the shortcomings of that target in a moment. It sets into law a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. It provides for the minister to report annually to parliament on progress towards those targets, and it provides for the minister to seek advice from the Climate Change Authority more regularly, with a minimum of once every five years. I should say, with respect to the Climate Change Authority, that it needs an overhaul. What we've seen is a loading of the Climate Change Authority with too many people from the fossil fuel industry, rather than climate scientists. We need to make sure that, within that authority, we don't have vested interests pushing a further reliance on gas, rather than scientists focusing on global warming.

There is also provision that the operations of this bill will be reviewed within five years of it passing. The Climate Change (Consequential Amendments Bill) 2022 implements a need to consider climate change in 14 other pieces of legislation across different portfolios. This is incredibly important, because this is where you get down to the detail. I do have an issue. In some circumstances there's a question. Some bills may consider this legislation and the impact of climate, such as the NAIF, the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, funding, yet the legislation fails to include the EPBC Act, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. So I think it will be incredibly important to understand where those consequential amendments are and ensure they are effective. But I welcome the commitment, in the explanatory memorandum of the bill, that the minister will conduct continuous reviews over the next year to identify and incorporate the implications of the climate change bill into additional associated pieces of legislation.

So much has actually been achieved today. The engagement from the minister with the members, including the community metro Independents, if I may describe some of my fellow crossbenchers that way, in trying to move away from the media's obsession with 'teal', has been very welcome, and unprecedented in my experience so far in this parliament. Along with these fellow Independents, we've embraced the opportunity to improve this legislation through collaborative efforts with the government and the minister. We've wholeheartedly engaged in this process and we've been able to insert into the bill some key language from the initial draft that the House is now considering prior to the bill being tabled. Elements inserted reflect concerns that have been raised by our communities and those who have voted to put us here—specifically, that the objects of the bill should reflect that science is the driver for emissions reduction, and the goal of keeping warming to less than two degrees, and ideally to 1.5 degrees, needs to be based on scientific advice. The government has agreed to insert a note in relation to clause 10 of the bill to reflect that 43 per cent is a floor, not a ceiling—that is, it is a minimum ambition—and in relation to the wording in clause 10(6) to clarify that the nationally determined contributions must be more ambitious than the previous indices. We need to make sure we keep progressing. We cannot slip backwards.

The government has agreed to insert greater clarity around ministerial reporting requirements and introduce a new section to the bill which reflects the need for the review of the efficacy of the legislation within five years. I should say, and I welcome, that discussions are continuing with the minister to continue improving some of the elements. I anticipate that further amendments will be moved at consideration in detail to reflect this. I will keep a close eye on the progress of the review of the consequential amendments bill to ensure not only that all necessary associated acts and bodies are captured but also that those added and existing acts considered include language strong enough to drive genuine action. 'May' is not good enough. We need 'must'. We must consider climate impacts of projects.

There are some things missing. What I said at the outset is that this is not quite the full climate change legislation that I feel should be tabled. Some of the areas that have been missed that could be strengthened include a requirement for national risk assessments; a requirement for the government to produce adaptation plans to ensure that we address risk and keep our communities and way of life safe; a requirement for the minister to set emissions budgets regularly to provide individuals, business and industry with the certainty that is needed to drive investment; and a requirement for the minister to produce detailed plans, sector by sector, on how and where emissions reductions are going to be achieved, in particular from energy, transport, industry, agriculture and our built and residential world. There are so many sectors that need to be impacted and that need to progress, and we get stuck all too often on the debate around energy.

Missing in this legislation, importantly, is the need to consider the transition for workers and communities that will be most impacted by the transition, because some traditional industries and jobs will go. So they need a plan, and that plan needs to be a minimum of five years out to have a chance at that transition. We also know that communities are incredibly exposed, and they need to adapt as well. Changing and increasing disasters are making those communities unsafe. Their way of life and their economies: everything comes to a standstill.

Nevertheless, this bill is very important. It is progress towards genuine climate action, which was one of the key drivers for me entering politics in the first place. The major parties did not even recognise in 2019 the need to commit to net zero by 2050. I welcome the shift that occurred during the course of the last parliament. I would say that community voices have been effective in demanding greater action and commitment.

Global warming is the greatest challenge of our time. We've been on notice for over 30 years, clearly, yet we have failed to find the political will to implement the solutions. It's in stark contrast to the way the world mobilised around CFCs and the hole in the ozone layer. We've had this warning on global warming and yet this complete political inability to act. We must not be the generation that had all the facts but failed to act. So many in our communities want to see change. We have an obligation to our planet, to our children and to future generations to do everything within our power to limit global warming.

The Prime Minister and the government are settling for 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030—motivated, I would say, not by science but by politics. So I urge the government to increase its ambition. I accept that the government has heard, in some way, our calls, in the language of saying that it is a floor and not a ceiling. But more needs to be done. We have constant reminders of the need for action: the bushfires of 2019; the multiple flood events this year; the rising sea levels already impacting the islands in the Torres Strait, battering our coastline—particularly the east coast; and the bleaching events of the precious coral at the Great Barrier Reef, with heat waves and temperature records being broken time and time again. We cannot continue using up global carbon budgets. It's a compounding system, and what we do in this decade is incredibly important.

Significant emissions reductions must be achieved this decade. The State of the environment report released last month found that we are in a rapidly changing climate, with unsustainable development and use of resources. The general outlook for our environment is deteriorating. The government made much of that report, but now it needs to act on recommendations that actually give effect to the concerns.

The environmental decline affects the wellbeing of Australians. Changes are already baked into our climate. Immediate action, with innovative management and collaboration, can turn things around, but the government must find the political will to do that. It will have support from communities like mine, like Warringah. We want to see ambition on this because every one degree of warming increases humidity by seven per cent and increases the strength and frequency of storms and floods that ravage and devastate our communities. The International Energy Agency, a body founded for fossil fuel extraction, developed a road map to net zero by 2050 and released it last year. It said that we need to rapidly transition and that there can be no new coal, oil or gas projects approved if we are to achieve a net-zero ambition. I urge the government and the Prime Minister to accept and hear that advice, because the government continues to fall short on this, refusing to stop approving more oil, coal and gas projects.

They argue that these projects are mostly for export and will not impact Australia's emissions reduction targets. But I would say that this is the drug dealer argument: somehow we are not responsible for damage caused by fossil fuel exports down the road. It ignores that the ultimate purpose of the Paris Agreement is to limit warming. Emissions and impact do not recognise or stop at borders. Disasters will not discriminate. We will all be impacted by the choices the government makes. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showed that current global policy put the world on a course of at least 2.1 degrees of warming by 2100, and possibly as much as 3.9 degrees.

We know that Australia is predicted to warm more than the global average. We should transition rapidly. This shouldn't really be a debate. Our duty has to be to our children and future generations to ensure they have a prosperous economy, businesses and way of life. To all of those who worry about the economic impacts, I say: communities ravaged by floods and bushfires are not economically productive. You do not continue operating businesses. Everything comes to a standstill. The cost is huge. Over the last three years alone, disasters have cost the budget over $10 billion in direct assistance and immeasurable other impacts. We can't even begin to put a real price and real cost on the impacts on peoples lives and the emotions, the stress, the anxiety and the pain caused—and the displacement for communities who don't know if it is viable to remain living where they are.

The frustrating part is also that we are failing to position Australia as a world leader with the new economic opportunities in the clean-energy world. So many in Warringah and around Australia are frustrated that we are being held back from this transition.

This bill will go some way to drive confidence and investment. The global capital pool for investment is over $1.7 trillion per annum and growing. Australia is missing out on that due to policy uncertainty. So the first step of this is to be able to do that. I promised the people of Warringah that I would continue to be a climate leader: to push for greater ambition and to work with the government and to encourage them to be more ambitious. There is a five-step plan that clearly shows a sensible roadmap to net zero. We are talking about reining in cost-of-living, which is big at the moment and is having a huge impact on households. We have no hope of reining in cost-of-living impacts without climate action. Just think: food, fuel and insurance. Climate disasters are the major contributor to cost spikes in all of those sectors. In the last three years, we have seen that just absolutely blowout. So is entirely disingenuous to raise the costs of action against the imperative of why we need to do it.

I welcome this legislation, and I hope that we are going to legislate these targets in this parliament. I urge the government to focus on transforming energy to 80 per cent renewables by 2030. We need to clean up transport, modernise industry and regenerate Australia. We have to stop cutting down trees. It really is that simple. I congratulate and I welcome this legislation, but I urge greater action.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a little girl at Urumbi Primary School, my classmates and I learnt about the need for action on climate change and the fact that it was a human generated problem that we could address. I've spoken before in this place about the fact that my classmates and I never would have dreamt that at this point in our history, many, many years later, I would be standing here in a parliament crying out for urgent action on climate change—that we would be in a parliament that was, essentially, essentially, doing nothing.

So I am incredibly proud that today, as part of the new Albanese Labor government, this is one of the first pieces of legislation that we're moving in our first sittings to enshrine in legislation our ambitious targets. I am incredibly proud that I finally get to give a speech in this place that is about actually taking that climate action, actually doing it. It is a great moment, and I do it on behalf of all the constituents in Canberra who have raised this issue with me time and time again.

Even this morning, before coming in here to vote, I was out the front meeting with a group of young people from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, who handed me some letters that they had written about this. It is very much for future generations and for young people that we need to take this urgent action, for our future as a world, as humanity.

Something that really stuck with me was when one of my constituents, a mother of three, said to me that her children and their friends feel that the adults have let them down. Again, I am so proud that today we begin climate action as a government. It is an incredibly important step, because we finally have a government that is willing to face up to climate action as one of the most pressing and urgent issues we face today.

This legislation will create certainty and send the message that the government has a stable and clear policy. It will end nine years of wasted opportunities and failures by three prime ministers and 22 abandoned energy policies. I thank all the members whose hard work and determination in the face of cynical politics over the past decade have brought us here today. Let's hope that this bill marks the death knell of a decade of inaction and the treatment of climate as a political football, because, in the words of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 'We are facing a code red for humanity if we don't act now.'

An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report found that, even in the most ambitious scenario, which the world is failing to stick to, global warming would likely hit 1.5 degrees Celsius around 2035. The IPCC report said that many of the effects of that warming had particular relevance to Australia. Sea levels around Australia, which have already risen higher than the global average, are set to continue rising. Fires are projected to get worse and more frequent, and fire seasons will last longer. Heavy rainfall and river floods are projected to worsen across Australasia, and droughts will also worsen. The State of the environment report released last week by my colleague Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for the Environment and Water, revealed that since the early 20th century average Australian land temperatures have already increased by 1.4 degrees Celsius.

Australia contributes approximately 1.2 per cent of global emissions of greenhouse gases. This places us among the top 15 total emitters, and we are among the world's largest per person emitters. Australians know this, and they made it very clear at the election that they want a government that will tackle this challenge head on, with urgency.

My constituents in Canberra have been very vocal in their desire for real climate action, and I'm happy to be delivering on our promise. The need for action has become all the more urgent as we are now living through the effects of climate change. Record-breaking droughts, bushfires, floods, storms or other extreme weather events are becoming more and more common, and in the last three years we had one of the worst droughts on record. It was so severe that in 2019 the Murray-Darling experienced its lowest water level on record.

Then, of course, there were the Black Summer bushfires, and I have spoken about them many times in this place. Canberrans will never forget the choking smoke that blanketed Canberra for weeks. Canberra's air quality was hazardous for 34 days over a two-month period. We had the worst air quality in the world. It was a genuine health crisis in its own right. I'm not sure how well known outside of Canberra it was, but our city was essentially shut down for many of those days, and the advice was to stay in your home and use air-conditioning if you had it. Of course, many didn't have access to it. The advice for many was to relocate if you had underlying health conditions, or if you were a pregnant woman, and of course many couldn't do that either. People were wearing masks before that became a commonplace thing because of COVID. It was certainly a very difficult time for all in the region, and one that my constituents won't forget. The long-term impacts of that are difficult to measure, but for the mothers who listened to the choking coughs of their infants that trauma will remain.

Nationally, the fires burned through more than eight million hectares of native vegetation. It is estimated that one to three billion animals were killed or displaced. Three thousand homes were destroyed and 33 people lost their lives. Then the fires turned to floods. Thousands of Australians have been forced to flee their homes, and more than two dozen have been killed as the east coast of Australia has recorded record rainfall and flooding. People are still piecing their lives together. Overseas, we are seeing record-breaking heat waves and fires in Europe and North America. This is the effect of the climate crisis in action.

But it isn't just our climate that is hurting Australians. We're also being hit with the economic cost of the policy paralysis that we have seen over the last decade. The community is crying out for the energy policy certainty necessary to move forward from the tailor-made energy crisis currently hitting the hip pockets of Australian families.

The proof of the power of renewable energy can be seen outside this House. Two years ago, right here in the national capital, we became the first city outside Europe to run on 100 per cent renewable electricity. In fact, the ACT is the only jurisdiction in the National Electricity Market where prices will drop. While the rest of the country is bracing for soaring energy prices as a result of the former coalition government's policy vacuum, Canberrans will save an average of $23 a year on their electricity bills. In comparison, across the border in New South Wales, power bills are expected to jump by between 8.5 and 18.3 per cent. Imagine what could be achieved with a little national leadership—and we know, because we have modelled it!

Our policy is based on the most comprehensive modelling that an opposition has ever done on any policy issue. Upgrading the electricity grid will fix energy transmission and drive down power prices by providing the country with more renewables, more transmission and more storage. Firm renewables are the cheapest form of energy. Getting more renewables into the system will put downward pressure on power prices while also reducing Australia's emissions.

Labor understands that climate action is good for the planet, good for future generations, good for household budgets and good for Australia's prosperity. The fact that this bill is before the House in our very first sitting fortnight speaks to Labor's commitment to doing our bit globally in the fight for a more habitable planet. Australia is out of the naughty corner and back at the international table. Globally, our reputation has been damaged by the past decade of denial and delay on climate change, and the subsequent chaos on renewables and energy. This bill ends that lost decade by giving business, industry, energy investors and the wider community the leadership and certainty so desperately needed. They want certainty so that they can invest in Australia, in renewable energy. No longer will they have to worry about a change of policy at the last minute, like we've seen time and time again over the past 10 years.

This bill enshrines into law our target of 43 per cent emissions reduction on 2005 levels by 2030, and net zero by 2050. It is important to note that these figures are based on what we can achieve that we modelled with that incredibly comprehensive modelling. We didn't work back from a target. This is incredibly ambitious. This will be a lot of hard work. Labor are up for that task, as are Australians.

A 2030 target of 43 per cent has received broad support, including from the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Clean Energy Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the National Farmers' Federation. This support is so important because the issue of climate change has been politically toxic for a decade. It's time to end the climate wars, and to get on with action.

As the Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, the passing of this legislation is 'essential for delivering energy certainty to Australian businesses'. Businesses get it. Environmentalists get it. Unions get it. Farmers get it. It is an ambitious target that charts a credible path to net zero, and it presents Australia with a once-in-a-generation chance, because the world's transition to renewable energy is our economic opportunity. Australia can be a renewable energy superpower by harnessing our solar, wind and skilled energy workforces. We can drive clean manufacturing and energy exports in our region, and Labor will put that opportunity within reach. Our Powering Australia policy will deliver 604,000 jobs across the country and get us to 82 per cent renewables by 2030. I really can't understand anyone who doesn't recognise just how ambitious that is. It will spur $76 billion of private investment.

While legislation is not essential to deliver our targets in the Powering Australia plan, which we'll get on with anyway, legislating the target is international best practice. It's important to give the certainty that I've spoken about, and it's also important to hold governments, including ours, accountable, because we believe in accountability. We want Australians to know how serious we are about this. This bill will provide the forward momentum and the institutional support needed for ambitious but achievable climate action. We know climate laws enable mitigation action by signalling the direction of national policy, enhancing regulatory certainty, creating focal points for social mobilisation and attracting international finance. We know this because the IPCC's Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change report recently confirmed it.

Further, legislating our emissions reduction targets into domestic law keeps the promise we made to the Australian people to take action on climate change. It will bring Australia into line with countries such as France, Denmark and Spain that have legislated net zero targets for 2050. Countries such as Canada have also legislated their 2030 target. Our 43 per cent 2030 target restores our international credibility and is comparable with other international partners such as Japan, South Korea and Canada. The 43 per cent reduction is ambitious and, most importantly, we have the plan to get there. Our Powering Australia plan makes the targets achievable. Importantly, it also gives us a chance to overachieve. This is a floor, not a ceiling, and we have said that from when we first announced this policy. If we can do better, we will, but we need to recognise just how ambitious this is. We are really catching up on a decade of lost time, and, as I say, as one of the world's greatest emitters per person, this is no small task, but it is one that we are absolutely and deeply committed to.

My hope, and Labor's, is that this bill will spark the momentum that we need to work with industry, states and territories, and the Australian people to achieve even greater emissions targets in the coming decade. This is a crucial decade. We are running out of time. This bill will embed the 2030 and 2050 targets in the objects and functions of key clean energy entities such as ARENA and the CEFC, and of agencies that help shape Australia's future, such as Infrastructure Australia, Export Finance Australia, the CSIRO and the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility. This will focus those key agencies to help them contribute to achieving net zero. Importantly, after a decade of deceit and dishonesty, this bill will help rebuild trust in government by restoring transparency and accountability in government action on climate change. It confirms the important role of independent expert advice. Transparency and accountability will be returned by requiring the minister to report to parliament each year on Australia's progress towards meeting the targets set in this bill.

I urge every member of this house to get behind this bill and support this. It is well past time that Australia put in legislation our deep commitment to achieving these targets, and I think that's something that every member of this house would want to be a part of.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As many in this place are aware, I've long advocated for legislative reform that adequately accommodates our international and moral obligations to address climate change. In the last parliament I was pleased to second the private members' bill by the member for Warringah. But like many attempts to constructively address climate change, that bill was not debated. To the dismay of Australians, successive governments have consistently failed to act. Put simply, we've been living in a political wasteland with respect to climate change. The entire time that I've had the privilege of being the member for Mayo has been incredibly frustrating—and I would also say heartbreaking when we lost a very good Prime Minister four years ago as a casualty of the climate wars.

We've known for several years of the need to act decisively to make sure Australia is in the best position to transition and embrace the plethora of opportunities that a green future presents. We need to set-up ambitious targets to drive investment and take-up clean technologies. The Australian community want us to act. I know that from personal experience, from the countless emails I receive and from the community events I have hosted in my electorate. The business community of Australia also wants and needs long-awaited certainty. They want a framework that enables them to plan and invest for the future.

This bill is not perfect but it is a responsible step in the right direction. This bill limits emissions reductions to 43 per cent by 2030. Such a target is less than the 50 per cent that I and many others in this place were seeking. We were seeking a little more ambition. But despite these limitations, the bill provides Australia with the real first opportunity to meet its international obligations and contribute to the global effort of currently tackling climate change. It restores our reputation among our neighbours and those across the globe. Importantly, this bill provides us with the comfort that finally, after years of political indecision and argument, we will now have legislative targets and mechanisms to enable Australia to meet its moral and international obligations.

At the last election the people of Australia made a very loud and clear statement: they want their lawmakers to act and they want them to act without delay. There's a reason for this. Everyday Australians are experiencing the impact of climate change. Everyone can remember the horrific summer bushfires of the 2019-20 summer. My community experienced this firsthand—the devastation of intense and fast-moving fires across the Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island. The fires on Kangaroo Island were the largest in the island's recorded history and burnt more vegetation than any other fire on the island.

After starting on 20 December 2019, the fires were finally declared under control over a month later on 21 January 2022. The carnage from this event was significant. Two people lost their lives; 56 homes were destroyed; hundreds of other buildings, including a large ecotourism facility, were damaged; 23 firefighters were injured; and two CFS fire trucks were damaged. The fires burnt over 211,000 hectares, almost half of the island, and through one of South Australia's most important ecological sites, the Flinders Chase National Park. The park is home to the endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart and the glossy black-cockatoo. The fires killed an estimated 25,000 koalas and destroyed the habitat of numerous other animals.

In the Adelaide Hills, also on 20 December, we experienced a major fire at Cudlee Creek. The fire spread rapidly threatening the townships of Mount Pleasant, Springton, Palmer, Mount Torrens, Harrogate, Inglewood, Gumeracha, Lobethal and Woodside. The fire went on to burn 23,000 hectares and resulted in the death of an elderly man, and the destruction of 84 homes and more than 400 outbuildings and 292 vehicles.

In the lead-up to these fires South Australia had experienced dangerous fire weather conditions with strong winds, low humidity and higher temperatures for several days. Nearly the entire state recorded its highest ever accumulated Forrest Fire Danger Index for December. On 20 December the conditions were horrendous. The state had already sweltered through four days of extreme heat—49.9 degrees Celsius in the west of our state and 43.9 degrees in Adelaide. More than 200 bushfires started that day and required more than 1,500 firefighters to respond. Thirty-one firefighters and two police officers were injured.

We were not alone in this. New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria all experienced significant fires, such that the Insurance Council of Australia declared the fires a catastrophe, enabling related insurance claims to be processed more quickly. The national value of the catastrophe was $2.32 billion with over 38,000 claimants. Experts advise that climate change is increasing and the frequency and intensity of bushfires will continue to increase, so we can expect that what we experienced in South Australia and around the country in 2019 and 2020 will continue unless we collectively act and all recognise that this is an urgent issue.

Our country is lurching from one natural disaster to another, often with barely enough recovery time between disasters. Unnatural oscillations between fire and flood are now in overdrive. Floods on the east coast this year resulted in tens of thousands of residents evacuated from their homes and 22 lives lost. Brisbane had its largest three- and seven-day total rainfall recordings. Mount Glorious received in excess of 1,170 millimetres of rain in a week. Thirty locations across the south-east recorded more than 1,000 millimetres of rain.

As of July 2022 the Insurance Council of Australia reported claims in excess of $5 billion, comprising more than 230,000 claims. On 29 October 2021 severe storms swept through South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania causing $839 million in damage and more than 100,000 claims. In the last three years alone the cost of damage caused by fires, floods and storms has exceeded $8 billion. We often hear the argument that we cannot afford a reduction in emissions, but I would say that we cannot afford to go through that again. We need to transition to renewable energy. We need to transition to electric vehicles. There is such opportunity here. It is the opportunity costs from the failure to act for so long.

It has been reckless for this parliament to do nothing and it is incumbent on every single one of us to do so much more and to be ambitious for our community. While sitting here today and now I look up at the gallery and see young people watching us and the decisions we make. They expect us to be considering their future. The decisions we make today will have an impact on their future long after we are no longer in this place. I urge everyone in this parliament to support these bills. They are not perfect, but let us not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ETHWAITE (—) (): The Climate Change Bill 2022 and the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022 are vitally important for our nation and for our kids' future. For the last decade Australia has had a government that has used the issue of climate change as a political weapon rather than as an issue that we need to come together to solve. The former government was internally divided, and is still divided, over this issue, with some espousing views representative of people who don't even believe that climate change is real. The former government spread fear and misinformation to deceive the Australian people about the state of environmental degradation relating to climate change. The former government's policy stifled investment in renewable energy. They embarrassed our nation in an international context, with policies that represented Australia not doing its fair share to combat climate change and to put in place policies to ensure that we reduce emissions in a domestic context.

At the election the Australian people said, 'Enough is enough.' The Australian people know that climate change is real. They still feel the sting in their throat from the horrific bushfires in 2019-20. Some of them are still dealing with the mould and the damp in their homes from the rain inundation we have had over the last couple of years. Climate change is having a direct effect on Australians and their livelihoods now. It is affecting Australian communities, and Australians see that their children's future looks rather bleak unless they have a government that will take climate change seriously and take strong action. They want a government that takes this existential threat seriously and has the mettle to tell the truth to the Australian people about the real threat of climate change and, more importantly, to develop policies that reduce risk in the future. Quite simply, the Australian people want stronger action on climate change, and that is exactly what this bill will deliver.

This bill is being legislated to ensure that we have a target for emissions reductions in the medium and longer terms. But the bill goes further than that. It also ensures that there is accountability to this parliament and to the Australian people for those commitments that are made in the legislation and by the government in the future.

The bill also enhances accountability through an annual statement to parliament on the progress made during the year towards achieving reductions targets—international developments, climate change policy and the effectiveness of the Commonwealth's climate change policies in contributing to the achievement of the targets.

The bill will also boost transparency by requiring independent expert advice from the Climate Change Authority on the annual statements and future targets. The bill requires the advice of the Climate Change Authority to be public and obliges the minister to both take it into account and formally responded to that advice. It provides for regular independent review of the act. The bill will also ensure that Australia keeps setting future targets that meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement and are a progression on our current commitments.

This bill represents the will of the Australian people for stronger action on climate change. It's coupled with the other policies that the Albanese Labor government took to the election, most notably Rewiring the Nation, ensuring that we adopt the principles of the Australian Energy Market Operator blueprint for the infrastructure upgrades that need to occur to our transmission network to ensure that they can cater for additional renewables into the system, future-proofing that transmission network to cater for those renewables and investing in solar banks so that people who have typically been priced out of the market when it comes to access to solar energy, most notably renters and low-income households, get that access to renewable energy for their households into the future.

We all know that batteries are the technology that are revolutionising the ability to store power generated from solar, particularly during the day and into the evening, but we know that they are expensive. This government is acting to ensure that it invests in community batteries in the future so that 10,000 households will have access to that storage capacity.

We are investing in energy apprenticeships. We want to make sure that Australians have the skills in the future to do the jobs of the future. We all know that in international investment markets companies are now moving into the renewable energy space at the rate of knots, but we need to make sure that we have the skills capacity to deliver that revolution in the future. Our new energy skills program will do just that.

The previous government thought that electric vehicles were a political tool that they could weaponise and use against the Labor Party in election campaigns. We all remember former Prime Minister Morrison saying that the electric vehicle would 'destroy the weekend' and that it would be the end of the day for tradies. We know that that's rubbish. The Australian people know that that's rubbish. They know that car manufacturers are now moving to manufacture electric vehicles and are phasing out internal combustion engines for their fleets in the future.

The Australian people also knew that they weren't getting access to those electric vehicles under the former government because they were too expensive, because the former government never had a commitment to putting in place policies to promote the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia.

The Albanese Labor government is not only putting in place policies to reduce the cost of electric vehicles by removing some of the taxes that are associated with electric vehicles but, more importantly, is sending a signal to international markets and to car manufacturers that the Australian government and the Australian people are serious about investment in electric vehicles into the future, that we see this as the future when it comes to transport in this country. We want access to more brands of electric vehicles in Australia and that is what our policies will do. We are also implementing a safeguard mechanism for the 200-odd biggest polluting companies in Australia that produce more than 100,000 tons of emissions each year to ensure that there is a mechanism in place for them to reduce those emissions into the future.

All of these policies will spur investment in renewable energy in Australia and provide us with the opportunity to realise the potential and the comparative advantage that Australia has that other nations don't—access to sunlight and wind—to spur a renewable energy revolution in our country. Australia has one of the best environments for the use and the uptake of renewable energy of any nation throughout the world because of our long summer days and our windy coastlines. It is a comparative advantage that we should be taking advantage of but we had not been under the previous government. These policies represent the new government and the Australian people taking advantage of that comparative edge that we have when it comes to our natural environment.

These policies will also boost research in renewable energy and new technologies throughout this country. I am very proud to have the University of New South Wales and the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics based in my electorate. The research undertaken and the technology at UNSW is mind blowing. Of all the solar panels produced throughout the world, 90 per cent of them have Australian technology that was invented, produced and commercialised at the University of New South Wales. That is something that we should be enormously proud of as a nation. Solar panel technology was basically invented here in Australia yet the previous government did not do much to promote that or to provide opportunities for growth in that area. Well, that is changing.

Recently the new minister, Chris Bowen, and I visited the University of New South Wales to announce $45 million of ARENA funding for the Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics to continue its important work in improving the efficiency of solar panels throughout the world. It is ground-breaking research. On several occasions the University of New South Wales has broken the world record for the conversion of sunlight into energy. We want to make sure that a research institute like that with such a proud record of delivering can continue to innovate and deliver new technology into the future and, more importantly, that it is backed by the Australian people. It is something that we can be proud of and promote, not only domestically but internationally as well.

Finally, these new policies will create jobs. They will ensure that we are investing in the jobs of the future for Australians. I want to also point out that these policies have rather large implications for restoring our international credibility and for playing a constructive leadership role, particularly in the Pacific. In Pacific Island nations, climate change is viewed as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods of people living there. Climate change is a threat from which no-one and no country is immune.

The security implications of climate change are clear and cannot be ignored. That's why climate change cooperation is now a hallmark of the Australia-United States alliance. When the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence met with their US counterparts in July, both acknowledged the critical importance of enhancing diplomatic, economic and security investments in the Indo-Pacific, including addressing the threat of climate change. That was reinforced during the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense Conference, co-hosted by the United States Indo-Pacific Command in Sydney last month and attended by military leaders from 27 countries. Discussions there centred on the security implications of climate change, as well as conflicts in the Indo-Pacific and Ukraine. I was fortunate to address the closing dinner to that conference, and I highlighted the new era we're now entering of collaboration with our regional partners and neighbours and, in particular, that the Albanese Labor government will ensure our relationships are underpinned by respect and a genuine partnership.

That goes to ensuring that we are partnering and working together, particularly within our region of the Pacific, on combating the effects of climate change. It's important that we highlight that because it has deep ramifications for Australia's standing within the Pacific and in other international fora. That is why this government is taking this issue so seriously. That is why we are legislating these medium-term targets and longer-term targets that are contained in this bill but, more importantly, why we are putting in place the mechanisms to ensure accountability to this parliament and to the Australian people for the delivery of those commitments. As I said at the outset, this is all about ensuring that we take stronger action on climate change as a nation and that we are true to our kids' future and deliver them a cleaner, safer environment.

Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with joy that I stand in the House to debate the Climate Change Bill 2022. This is a historic moment, and it is a pleasure that this is the first bill I will speak on as a member of the 47th Parliament.

The issue of climate change is the reason I stood for parliament, and it was expressed as the top issue of concern when I listened to the people of Mackellar around their kitchen tables and at the polling booths. I feel a deep responsibility to push for the strongest laws possible. We have a responsibility to all current and future Australians to pass a bill which delivers strong action on climate change into the future.

There has been a long record of failed attempts to get climate policy right. It has been a lost decade—lost to partisan division and the politicisation of an issue that should be a simple matter of science. But today is an opportunity to start moving our country forward again and to build a bright future, rather than hanging onto the fossil-fuel past that is killing us and our ecosystems slowly. We owe a debt to the future generations to pass this bill. What else are we here for? This bill is but one step, and we have many more steps to take. But this is progress.

This remarkable moment would not have happened without the trailblazing of the member for Warringah. The bill we are debating today originated in 2020 when the climate act adaptation and mitigation bill was introduced to parliament. The member for Warringah's bill took inspiration from the UK Climate Change Act, passed in 2008, which itself was inspired by a private member's bill that was moved by a UK crossbencher in the House of Commons.

In the decade since the UK climate act passed, emissions have decreased by 29 per cent, and they have put their debilitating debate behind them. In the UK, there is multipartisan consensus on the need for action. Their climate legislation sent ripples around the world. Many countries now have their own climate change act. Australia is finally about to follow. For over 2½ years the member for Warringah persevered and prosecuted the argument for an Australian climate change act. We are finally here.

The government's bill enshrines Australia's greenhouse gas emission targets: 43 per cent on the 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. It provides for annual climate change statements to be made by the climate change minister to the parliament and will confer new advisory functions on the Climate Change Authority, the government's independent adviser on climate policy. This bill will improve accountability, integrity and transparency in climate policy that was sorely missed under the last government. It will ensure climate policy is best practice.

I applaud the minister for taking a collaborative and consultative approach to the development of this bill. It has set the direction and tone of parliament. The government invited amendment suggestions from the crossbench, and I'm pleased that several of these proposed amendments have made their way into this bill. This is a new way of doing politics. It is what our communities have sent us here for, setting aside division to work together in the national interest. Experience has shown us that to make climate policy enduring there needs to be multipartisan consensus. The people of Australia sent a clear message at the recent election that they want concrete action on climate change now.

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of electricity and the energy of the future. A transition to renewable energy and storage will lead to lower electricity prices for businesses and families across the country, and, being generated here in Australia for Australians, will lead to greater energy security. This bill will unlock private investment in the high-tech, clean energy and clean manufacturing sectors that have been inhibited by the uncertainty of the last 10 years. These industries will be the backbone of Australia's prosperity into the future. This bill has the backing of the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group and many others.

Last week the CSIRO released a report detailing the impacts of inaction on climate. We will see higher insurance premiums and food costs and we are already feeling the effects of previously mismanaged energy policy, with Australian businesses folding under the pressure of skyrocketing gas prices.

We must build accountability measures into this legislation to ensure future governments keep Australia on the right track for a strong future. I'm pleased to say that the crossbench, working with the government, has ensured that there are now some safeguard provisions built in. The crossbench has successfully prosecuted the argument for strong objects, a statutory review after five years and 10 years thereafter; a guarantee that the 2030 target will be a floor, not a ceiling; and clearer reporting by and advice from the Climate Change Authority. But I told the people of Mackellar that I would fight for strong action on climate change, so the work is not yet done.

The independent body tasked with providing advice and recommendations under this bill is the Climate Change Authority. Established under the Climate Change Authority Act in 2011, it was designed to be an impartial adviser to government. The UK climate committee, on which it is based, has been a circuit breaker, cutting through their divisive debates which risked stalling action. The Climate Change Authority was successful until the Abbott government cut staff, limited its mandate and never sought its advice. Over 10 years of coalition governments, it was stacked with friends of the party and vested interests. If we are to trust the advice of our authority, it needs to be unbiased. Those members with long histories working for fossil fuel companies should be moved on. The climate debates will not be over until our 2030 and 2050 targets are in line with the science, and it's clear what we must do.

The bill also lacks a target review mechanism that would allow for an increase in the ambition in line with the science, if required. A review mechanism would ensure that the 2030 target is reviewed by the authority after three years and the 2050 target is reviewed every time a nationally determined contribution is communicated. A target review mechanism would allow the minister to ratchet up the target in line with the advice via a non-disallowable instrument.

There is also a lack of consequences in this bill for failure to meet the targets. Whilst the coalition claims that this bill will open the way for litigation, that is not true. I would recommend a requirement similar to the one in the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, where, if targets are not met, the government would be obliged to outline to the House the emergency steps they will take to overcome the shortfall. The bill also does not establish a legislative process for effective policymaking on climate adaptation. We know that our economy and nature will be hit. We need to prepare now.

Finally, the consequential bill extends the targets to the operations and functions designated under several other acts. This is welcome, but there are a few very large gaps. Firstly, it does not extend to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. This means the minister does not have to consider climate targets when assessing major fossil fuel projects. The government's 2030 target avoids 366 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. If all new gas mines and coalmines are approved and start running, they will cause 1,030 million tonnes of emissions domestically and over 11 billion tonnes overseas when the fuels are burned.

Secondly, the targets do not extend to the Industry Research and Development Act. You may know this act as one former energy ministers used to establish programs like the subsidies for fracking in the Beetaloo basin and the Underwriting New Generation Investments program. Both had serious integrity issues and were not in line with our climate goals. Thirdly, the consequential bill does not compel agencies to act in accordance with the targets, only to take them into consideration.

We can't forget that there are many local heroes from Mackellar who through their consistent advocacy for climate action have contributed to realising this moment of the bills being introduced: Greg Mullins, former fire chief and founding member of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action; Tim Silverwood, co-founder of Ocean Impact Organisation and creator of Take 3 for the Sea; Kat Kimmorley, who now works for Boundless, Mike Cannon-Brookes's philanthropic organisation; Oliver Hartley, commercial director of Everty, a provider of electric vehicle chargers; Sam Elsom, who established Sea Forest Australia; Doug McNamee, founder of JOLT, a provider of electric vehicle charges; and Nigel Howard, who established the company Edge consulting, which helps ASX 200 companies decarbonise.

The work is not finished. This legislation is just the first step and will need amendments and refinements over the coming years. But I say to all the members of parliament, as former President Barack Obama said—and we have heard it before in this chamber—we are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it. We need to look back on our time here and see that it was more than just time wasted. What will you tell your loved ones you did when the climate crisis began to dawn on us? Let's use this legislation as a launching pad for more action. I commend these bills to the House.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a big day. In this job we stand up here to speak a lot. Most of the time you feel or, at least, hope that what you are saying is being heard and that it matters—not all of the time, but most. On Monday, I spoke about what a privilege it is to be able to represent the people of Cooper in this House. I said that, when your term comes to an end, and also at the end of your life, you want to look back and say that you spent your time here with pride, that you made a difference, that you made a genuine, meaningful contribution.

Today, being part of the government legislating the climate change bills feels like a moment I will remember. The Climate Change Bill 2022 and the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022 are the circuit-breaker pieces of legislation which will kickstart our government's actions in tackling the climate emergency. These bills legislate Australia's emissions targets: a 43 per cent reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

As my colleagues, the minister and the Prime Minister have said, these targets are a floor; they are not a ceiling. They set the floor of our ambition in stone. For so long, when I've spoken to the experts, scientists, economists and researchers about what is holding Australia back from the rapid transition we've seen overseas, they've told me it's about providing certainty and sending a clear message to industry, to investors, to the public and to the world that we have a government that is serious about climate action, has genuine ambition and will put in place the policy settings necessary to enable such a transition.

As we carry out this work, we won't be engaging in policy on the run or policy by thought bubble like the previous government. We will be informed by the experts. The legislation will bring them back to the table by requiring independent expert advice from the Climate Change Authority when it comes to future emissions reductions targets and the actions we take to reach them. This advice will be public, and the minister will be obliged to both formally respond to it and take it into account in decision-making.

This has been sorely missing over the last decade. We saw a deliberate hollowing out of expertise from our Public Service under successive coalition governments. They chose to bury the evidence, ignore the experts and turn their backs not only on the dangers of climate change and the emissions that were happening on their watch but also on the opportunities that come from good climate action.

Our government is committed to returning transparency and accountability to this area. By requiring the minister to make an annual statement to parliament on the progress the government is making on climate change, governments can no longer avoid scrutiny. They will be directly accountable to the parliament and to the people and will have to explain the results of their actions with reference to independent expert advice.

These measures, contained in the Climate Change Bill, lay the foundations—rock-solid foundations—for Australia's climate action in the years and decades to come. They enable action and they bring certainty. They commit our government to emissions reductions and hold us accountable for getting the work done. There have been conversations in the media as to whether it's necessary to legislate, but what I say in response to that is: 'We want to get this right. We want to be beyond reproach and completely transparent, laying our cards on the table and committing future governments to doing the same.' This bill achieves that, and I'm incredibly proud to speak in support of it today.

The second bill, the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill starts the work of rolling out climate action across the whole of government. We know that, in order to do the real work of tackling emissions and addressing the climate emergency, we cannot look at industries, sectors and emitters in silos. We need to take the whole economy into account with a whole-of-government approach, embedding climate action and our climate targets in everything we do.

As assistant minister in the Health and Aged Care portfolio, I know this includes our health system. I was a founding member of CAHA, the Climate and Health Alliance, and have campaigned not only to reduce the emissions and waste from our health system for years but also to raise awareness of the serious health impacts of climate change. So I'm pleased to be an assistant minister in a government committed to making climate change a national health priority and to developing Australia's first national framework on climate change and health.

This bill ensures we embed similar action in a number of other Commonwealth agencies and schemes. This includes the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, two agencies we fought tooth and nail to defend against years of coalition attacks. It just makes sense that these agencies should have the emissions reduction targets at the core of what they do. It's madness that it's taken up until now to make it happen. This bill will insert the targets into the work of Export Finance Australia, Infrastructure Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Importantly, it inserts work towards the Paris Agreement into the functions of the CSIRO, the Climate Change Authority and our climate laws.

The previous government turned their backs on their obligations under the Paris Agreement. Under their complete lack of leadership, Australia was put squarely in the naughty corner by the rest of the world. We've all seen the reactions of world leaders to our Prime Minister since the election—simply put, they are relieved. And what this legislation says to the world is that Australia now has a government that takes climate change seriously, that knows the important role Australia has to play in climate action and that we now have a government that's taking action that all Australians can be proud of.

The swift action from the minister and Prime Minister in updating our nationally determined contribution to the United Nations sent a strong message in our first days of government. This bill, which we're hoping to pass through parliament prior to the next Conference of the Parties meeting in November, will be the next clear signal to the world that the grown-ups are back. I call on every member of this parliament to work with us to make sure that happens.

If you believe in climate action, you should vote for these bills. If you believe in ending the climate wars, you should vote for these bills. If you want Australia to return as a global leader in climate action, you should vote for these bills. I don't think I'm alone—in fact, I know that my electorate and communities around the country are behind me—when I say that I want the division in this place and beyond to end when it comes to climate action. We need to start coming together.

I'd like to commend the minister for his work in bringing people together on climate action. This is no small task, but, through careful consultation, he has done an incredible job bringing unions, environmental groups, business groups and hopefully our crossbench groups together to come behind these bills. He has done the legwork out in the community to put an end to the climate wars.

I'd advise all members from across the political spectrum in this place to pause and reflect on the amazing amount of work that has been done in this place, and on the opportunity we are presented with by this legislation. As I've said, it sets out very firm foundations from which we can leap, from which our government's climate action can move beyond. These bills deserve the parliament's support and I hope to see them pass with multipartisan support.

In passing these bills, we can confidently get moving on the massive task ahead. We find ourselves in an incredibly transformative period, particularly now that our country has a government with the will to tackle climate change head on, and to grasp the opportunity that climate action brings with it. By sending signals to Australia and investors that our government will back in renewables, will back in future technologies, will back in low-emission technologies, we know we will be spurring investments in new projects. And that, of course, means jobs—new jobs, more jobs, good jobs.

We know Labor's Powering Australia plan, which we took to the election—the most comprehensive climate policy of any party—will deliver 604,000 jobs. It's a huge and wonderful undertaking. Powering Australia means massive investment in renewable energy generation, in transmission and in projects that will reduce emissions from the industries that today contribute significantly. It will empower individuals and families to adopt the low-emissions technologies of the future, like electric vehicles.

The former government failed Australians by turning their back on these opportunities, through their refusal to act and, for some of their members, their refusal to even acknowledge climate change is real. They scared off investment, they squandered opportunities—opportunities for the massive job creation we will see from Powering Australia.

I have spoken to companies who will deliver this technology. It's projects like the Star of the South, which was put on hold while the previous minister let the approvals collect dust on their desk. That's a project that is anticipated to deliver 2,000 jobs and around 20 per cent of the energy needed to power the entire state of Victoria. And for pure political reasons, in order to continue stoking the tensions of the climate wars, the previous minister did nothing to get that project moving or to deliver those jobs for workers in Gippsland and across Victoria.

I've also spoken to companies with solar farms that would have loved to expand, but they were already producing more power than the grid could handle. That is absurd. These projects were ready to go: they had the investment ready, they had done the work and they had jobs lined up for communities. Yet the inaction of the former government squandered them. Today is a step forward for those jobs—jobs for the communities that have powered Australia for so long, the communities that have the most to gain from the climate action we desperately need to take.

In concluding I'd like to reflect on the campaigners who have worked so hard over the decades to get us here. I have said many times, both personally and in this place, that the activists in my electorate provide a mountain of advice, expertise and strength to me in pushing for greater climate action. I cannot thank you enough. You all know who you are—from the members of my Climate and Environment Reference Group to the Darebin Climate Action Now people, the Tomorrow Movement activists, the school strikers, the Parents for Climate Action, our forest activists and our creek groups, and the list goes on. If I name individuals, I know I will forget someone and I will never forgive myself. Thank you. The level of expertise and passion in my electorate for climate action I think is almost second to none. These bills and our party's strong commitment are a credit to each and every one of you.

I know we are living in a climate emergency. I know how urgent it is that we take action, and so does this government. I've told you since I was elected that I would stand up for real change. Well, I stand here today as a member of the government supporting these climate bills that will begin to deliver that change. I have to tell you that I'm just a little bit proud. I can't wait to continue the work alongside all of you back home.

Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to the Climate Change Bill 2022 and the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022 on behalf of the people of the federal seat of North Sydney. Let's be clear, these bills do the following: they enshrine in legislation Australia's commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and 43 per cent by 2030 as Australia's nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement and they also provide for an annual statement to the parliament on progress towards achieving those targets. In preparing this statement the minister is required to consider advice provided by the Climate Change Authority and may take advice from other sources.

If the election result of last May told us anything, it was that the people want faster action on climate change. It has been incredibly heartening to see the new government prioritise the development of this legislation. Having consulted with the North Sydney community, I believe these bills are an important symbolic first step in what will be an exciting time of transformation for our country. As a constituent in Crows Nest said to me, it is heartening for climate change to be acknowledged and accepted instead of being ignored and avoided. But, to be clear, as a community we continue to want faster action on climate change led by facts, not politics.

This is the critical decade for climate action and the decisions made in the next three years will fundamentally affect our children's and their children's future. We need a clear and actionable plan to reduce national emissions, guided by experts, to achieve at least 60 per cent by 2030. As an electorate with one of the highest concentrations of rooftop solar in the country, North Sydney is uniquely placed to both benefit from and inspire others to achieve a faster transition to 100 per cent renewable and sustainable energy. As a community we are already pushing for active collaboration between local councils and the state government to make the federal seat of North Sydney one of the first net zero urban energy zones in Australia as we transition to a fully electrified community as quickly as possible.

North Sydney will also fight to protect and enhance our green corridors, as these are fundamental to the nature of our community. We will do this by ensuring any infrastructure projects undertaken in our electorate provide solutions for the next century. Climate change and biodiversity loss are closely interconnected and share common drivers through human activities. Both have predominantly negative impacts on human wellbeing and quality of life. We must address both issues with urgency and recognise impacts happen simultaneously and that projects must therefore be reviewed in light of their cumulative impact.

Over the past week I've consulted with the North Sydney community on these bills. I have heard from households, health professionals, small businesses, company directors, parents and emergency service volunteers. On balance over 96 per cent of my constituents who have engaged in that conversation think we should support this legislation to get things started. To quote my constituents: 'This seems like a good start and a base for further improvements in the future,' or, 'We need to aim higher, but this legislation is a fundamental first step.' One of my favourites was: 'It is the best we have had for years. It gives me hope.' I have heard this message loud and clear from North Sydney, to not miss the current opportunity to move forward, but I've also heard the message that we must keep the pressure on to develop policies and a comprehensive plan to exceed the 43 per cent target.

In the space of the past few weeks, we've seen the minister work constructively and in good faith with members of the crossbench to improve these bills, and what we will hopefully see pass in this place this week is a springboard for greater action and greater ambition to meet the size of the challenge ahead of us. I entered conversations with the minister informed by principles of recognising the importance of scientific targets and ensuring that the current emissions reduction target of 43 per cent is a floor, not a ceiling. I was guided by the principle that we must be able to ratchet up ambition in a sustainable way so that we meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement to pursue a limit on warming of 1.5 degrees. I was also driven by the principles of doing politics differently and taking politics out of climate policy. I advocated for a multipartisan approach—for example, through the establishment of a joint parliamentary committee which reflected the new balance of power across the parliament, and for increased integrity and independence for the Climate Change Authority.

The initial draft that was shared with me as a member of the crossbench some weeks ago relied heavily on putting parliamentary and public trust in the climate change minister to do the right thing. The truth is that, while that's admirable, it's not good enough when it comes to legislating positive change, so I've worked with members of the crossbench and the minister to increase the role of parliament—all members of parliament—to increase transparency and to enable greater insight into what advice is being received from where and when. The amendments that I fought for will help ensure parliamentary responsibility and accountability over the minister's response to scientific advice that comes forward from the Climate Change Authority. This is how we will keep climate policy on track, regardless of which of the major parties may be in government.

There remain several aspects of the bill and the government's broader climate policies which still urgently require action, which I'd like to briefly outline. Whilst the bill is an important symbolic first step, climate action must be enhanced by grounding longer-term carbon emissions reduction targets in science based principles. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned countries that the current 2030 targets will ensure we hit 3.2 degrees Celsius of warming this century. This will devastate our economy and our environment, which are already reeling from the impact of fires and floods. Australia, thanks to the action taken by the states and despite the laggards in the last parliament, is currently already on track for a 37 to 42 per cent emissions reduction by 2030. I do not want to see this government and this parliament rely on that progress as an excuse to do nothing.

We know that to align with the science and Australia's commitment to the Paris Agreement the government must meet the long-term target of net zero by 2050 and urgently present a whole-of-government plan to decarbonise the Australian economy. A whole-of-government plan must include a national adaptation plan and a response to a national climate change risk assessment; the phasing out of subsidies for coal and gas, with no new coal and gas extraction projects; and the ruling out of biomass energy from burning native forest wood products as renewable energy. We must see detailed sector by sector emissions reduction plans for all sectors of the Australian economy, not just those covered by the government's pre-election policies of electricity, industry and carbon farming.

We must have a plan for reducing transport emissions, which have been increasing up until recently. Australian cars currently run on some of the dirtiest and most emissions intensive fuels in the world. Dirty fuel is particularly problematic for our North Sydney community, with some of the highest levels of traffic passing through our electorate every day. I will push this government to deliver legislated vehicle and fuel efficiency standards in Australia.

The government must also address various fossil fuel legacies left behind by the previous government, including the composition of the Climate Change Authority board, to ensure that it can provide independent scientific advice and not be held hostage to the interests of the fossil fuel lobby. While the floor of 43 per cent could definitely have been more ambitious, I believe that rather than focusing on what this bill is not we should see it for what it is: an important signal to both our domestic and our international markets on the direction we are headed.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the government on this legislation, an outcome which would not have been possible if I had not been elected as the Independent for North Sydney.

We have a long way to go. I will continue to advocate for the changes the people of North Sydney want to see, including pursuing cleaner petrol and stronger fuel efficiency standards for Australian vehicles. But at least the conversation and positive change is underway. I commend this bill to the House.

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This bill delivers on our election commitment to Australians to restore national leadership on climate change. The bill is long overdue. It's an opportunity for parliament to end the climate was and affirm a national commitment to net zero emission targets. I thank the Minister for Climate Change and Energy for introducing this significant legislation.

Australians voted at the election to end a decade of denial and delay on climate change. In my electorate of Corangamite—which includes the Great Ocean Road, the Bellarine and parts of Geelong—people were fed up with government inaction on climate change, the most significant threat of our time. They were frustrated by a government which had 22 attempts at an energy plan but failed to land any of them.

People across our nation are concerned about the state of the environment their children will inherit. They worry about the changing weather patterns and environmental damage they see in their communities across the nation and the globe. A vacuum of political leadership federally has led to crippling uncertainty around investment by business and industry in energy transformation projects.

Australians understand there isn't a day to lose in tackling climate change. Yet under the previous government Australia lost a whole decade. That's why it's crucial that we act decisively right now. It's crucial to ensuring confidence and producing certainty for industry, for investors and the wider community. Only confidence and unity of purpose will drive multipronged energy transformation.

Our target is to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 by 2030 and to net zero by 2050. It's backed by business associations, unions and environmental groups who've come together to support the government's emission targets. This commitment brings Australia into line with other nations, including France, Denmark and Spain, that have legislated net zero by 2050.

The 43 per cent target by 2030 is ambitious, but with the government's Powering Australia plan, it is very achievable. The 43 per cent is floor, not a ceiling, on Australia's emission reduction aspirations. And it has been arrived at carefully, based on extensive modelling and the science.

The bill sets out a plan for industry, states and territories and the Australian people to work together to reduce emissions in the coming decade and beyond. The comprehensive Powering Australia plan is essential. It will deliver 600,004 jobs across the nation, and bring renewables to 82 per cent by 2030. It's part of the government's plan to make more things here in Australia. Reducing emissions and making more things here need not be mutually exclusive; we can do both. The Powering Australia plan recognises that our electricity grid is outdated and needs to be fixed. If it's to handle the move to renewables, the grid must have capacity for both large and small volume renewable energy to be fed to many locations and to be moved around the nation to where it's most needed. Manufacturing regions, like mine in the Geelong region, will have the opportunity to contribute to the grid upgrade and to other aspects of Powering Australia, creating new jobs—local jobs—and new business opportunities.

The wider Geelong region, which includes much of my electorate, has an enviable manufacturing history, great researchers, innovative forward-thinking businesspeople and a willingness to be at the front of innovation. I'm encouraged by the enthusiasm which businesses and local councils in my electorate already have. They are looking for ways to reduce emissions as part of their day-to-day operations. All they needed was a government willing to provide a plan, giving them the certainty and confidence to invest. Australia has the highest uptake in the world of home solar, but just one in a 60 households have battery storage, because the upfront costs are still too high.

This government plans to fix that for up to 100,000 Australian households by installing 400 community batteries across the country. Community batteries offer great economies of scale, better than household batteries, with lower capital, installation and maintenance costs. They also store and distribute electricity more efficiently by allowing excess solar power to be shared with households unable to install solar.

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy announced one such community battery will be installed to service the community of the Sands Estate in Torquay in my electorate. That community has extensively researched and understood the multiple environmental and financial benefits of having a community battery. Many other communities across the nation will similarly benefit from this program over time. The government is committed to allocating up to $3 billion from the National Reconstruction Fund to invest in green metals such as steel, alumina and aluminium, clean energy component manufacturing, hydrogen electrolysers and similar manufacturing.

I know that my electorate of Corangamite and the adjacent electorate of Corio are positioning to play a role in some of these opportunities. I recently bought together business, manufacturing, research and government leaders in my electorate to discuss the possibilities within the National Reconstruction Fund—organisations like the Geelong Manufacturing Council; G21, the Geelong Regional Alliance; the Committee for Geelong; Deakin University; and Regional Development Victoria.

Our government is committed to reducing transport emissions. It's making electric vehicles more affordable, so that families who want them can afford them and help reduce emissions. The government has moved to introduce a fringe benefit tax exemption to apply to non-luxury battery electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell electric cars and plug-in hybrid electric cars. Moving to cleaner fuel transportation is important. In Australia, transport makes up around 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Just 1.5 per cent of cars sold here are electric and plug-in hybrid, compared to 17 per cent in the UK and 85 per cent in Norway. In total, there are only around 24,000 registered electric cars on Australian roads, of around 15 million total cars. The government will also work with industry, unions, states and consumers to develop Australia's first national electric vehicle strategy. This will encourage Australian manufacturing of electric car components like batteries.

This bill also sets clear objectives and functions for a range of government agencies. It'll ensure the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency are fully focused on contributing to Australia's emissions targets. It will require that targets be taken into account by Export Finance Australia and Infrastructure Australia and it recognises the CSIRO's contribution.

Transparency is at the heart of everything this government does, including climate change. The minister for climate change will report annually to parliament on the progress towards meeting our emissions targets. The government will also restore the role of the Climate Change Authority to provide independent advice to the minister and to help inform public debate.

The importance of everything in this bill comes into sharp focus when we see the real impacts of climate change. Internationally we've seen raging wildfires in North America and record heatwaves across Europe. Unusual weather events are becoming common within Australia. People in Queensland and New South Wales have been subjected to multiple devastating record-level floods. Homes are destroyed, crops swept away and lives taken. Fires have ravaged eastern Australian states over recent years, more devastating than ever. People of the Torres Strait are battling to stop their island homes from disappearing under rising sea levels.

Perhaps the most significant indicator of all that has happened recently is the State of the environment report. This review, completed by scientists last year but held back by the Morrison government until after the election, shows some devastating impacts on the environment. It has found abrupt changes in some Australian ecosystems over the past five years. The health of Australia's environment is poor and has deteriorated over the past five years due to, in large part, the pressures of climate change.

In my electorate, coastal communities are seeing the impact of rising sea levels on coastal erosion. Flood-prone uninsurable areas on maps are creeping further inland. The people in my electorate are passionate and motivated about addressing climate change. I meet often with these groups, who do wonderful, practical things to raise awareness and reduce emissions at a community level. They are surfers, they are mothers of young children, they are university academics, they are tradies. They care. These people care.

My own climate change challenge among local schools is a project that is now in its second year. The challenge encourages teachers, students and members of their families to take action in their school and at home, to assess and find practical ways to reduce the carbon footprint of their daily lifestyle. People want to play their part and make a difference. So too does the Albanese government. Together we can achieve real change.

In this place, we deal with legislation on many important issues. However, there is no more important issue than addressing climate change. This bill resets Australia's ambitions, our approach and our commitments on reducing emissions to tackle climate change. That's what the people of Australia voted for at the election, and it is what we must vote for in this place.

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me begin by saying that I am so pleased that the first piece of legislation I will be debating is the Climate Change Bill 2022. This is an issue which is vitally important to me and to the people of Wentworth. Climate change matters to Wentworth. We care about it because of the impact that it has around the world and in Australia. Who can forget the devastating images of people wading into the ocean as their homes burned or climbing onto their roofs as rivers swallowed their houses?

But climate change also affects Wentworth. We already see it. We saw it in the east coast lows in 2016, when millions of dollars of damage was done to our coastal infrastructure. We saw it again this year, when our iconic beaches were again inundated by enormous waves. Extreme weather events will only get more prevalent under climate change, and Australia is the OECD country most vulnerable to it. We know that we will see much more of that in the future. Our community will be hotter and drier, with the number of days over 30 degrees doubling by 2050. And we'll see the other impacts that it will have across our community and our world. That is the future for Wentworth, for Australia and for all of us unless we decide to act today and join in collective action across the world.

We all have a responsibility to recognise what our actions are doing to harm ourselves, others and most importantly—and I say this, seeing the students up there above in the gallery—to future generations. This is why I'm supporting this bill. It is because of you guys sitting up there. We have an opportunity. Acting responsibly on climate isn't just about bearing a financial burden. It's about realising the financial opportunity that comes from changing how we act and how our economy operates and from embracing innovation.

Australia is, once again, truly the lucky country. Australia is one of the sunniest and windiest places on earth. A solar panel here creates two to three times more electricity than it does in Europe or Japan. We have lithium, uranium, nickel and many other vital minerals and resources that are vital for a decarbonised future. Australia is facing tremendous opportunity, one unlike any other and one that we must embrace. I'm pleased to say that Wentworth businesses are already starting to embrace this, like MicroTau, who's founder lives in Wentworth, who has created contact film that goes across planes and on ships to reduce drag, reduce fuel consumption and reduce emissions.

Let's come to the core of this bill. The core of this bill is that it sets out a target for Australia to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and formalises the government's and the parliament's commitment to acting on climate change. This commitment is welcome and is long overdue. The previous target of 26 to 28 per cent by 2030 was manifestly inadequate, and as an aspirational target it was completely ineffective in dealing with climate change and ineffective in providing certainty or a framework for business investment in decarbonisation. That's absolutely crucial, and that's crucial to Wentworth. Businesses will be at the forefront of this change, but they need to believe that the parliament and the people are behind those changes in order to make millions and billions of dollars worth of investment, and I believe that this bill provides that. It was also ineffective, as the election demonstrated so clearly, in effectively delivering on the community's expectation.

The community's expectations have been clear for years, at least since the 2007 election, when both parties promised action on climate change. But most of the last 15 years have been squandered, with responsibility for action left to state governments and local communities, who have embraced the potential of renewable energy. The enthusiasm and action of local communities has been truly inspiring—and in Wentworth, absolutely, too—but Australia could have gone so much further and so much faster with federal leadership. Instead we have wasted years and literally billions of dollars due to inaction. So I welcome this government's commitment to action, but I want to be clear: this bill does not go far enough.

This bill does four main things. It sets a 43 per cent reduction target by 2030 and net zero by 2050, it requires the minister to table an annual climate change statement, it requires the Climate Change Authority to provide the minister with advice and it requires independent reviews of the act. I don't have any objection to the bill in principle, but I wish the government had gone further. In particular I believe that the target is inadequate. A 43 per cent reduction is simply not sufficient. It is not supported by climate scientists, who state that the world needs at least 50 per cent reduction by 2030 to have a strong chance to keep warming below two per cent and ideally 1.5; it is not supported by business groups, such as the Business Council of Australia, who have identified that Australian businesses can thrive under more ambition—Australian businesses can thrive under a 46 to 50 per cent reduction by 2030; and it is not supported by the community, certainly not the community of Wentworth. A 43 per cent reduction is a political compromise when we need political courage.

The government has acted in good faith in negotiations on this bill. I commend the government for that, and I will take them on good faith that the 43 per cent target is a floor to our collective ambition. The target is not enough, but what is most crucial is the policy and action underpinning the target to ensure that we exceed the target, that we deliver at least 50 per cent reduction by 2030. That work will come. I intend to be part of that work, to be a constructive voice that will at times push the government to go further and go harder than they might otherwise go—to provide that political courage. I will work constructively with the government on risk assessments and mitigation strategies. We can't continue to spend 97c in every dollar of disaster relief focused on cleaning up the mess and only three per cent on the vital actions that are required by mitigation and adaptation. I will work with the government on transport emissions. We have the opportunity to bring in fuel efficiency standards that will not cost the public purse at a time when we have so much debt but will unlock low-carbon and electric vehicle choices for Australians. I will be a voice that draws on my experience, the experience of my constituents, the passion of my constituents and the experience of many experts around the country to ensure we are implementing policies that stimulate innovation and investment, that support our economy and that deliver the change we need.

There are two other changes that I would like the government and the House to consider. The bill as drafted would require the minister to make annual statements to the Australian parliament about Australia's progress in reducing emissions, relevant international developments, the government's climate change policies and the effectiveness of the government's climate change policies. My first change would require that the statement consider the sectoral impact of policies. It is important that Australians and Australian businesses can see what progress is being made by each sector of the community and that each sector of the community understands what its responsibilities are. I hope that this will be the foundation for the government to develop these sector-specific plans, setting out targets and measures that would provide certainty for business, investors and other stakeholders.

My second change would require the statement to consider the effectiveness of government policies in general, rather than just climate policy specifically. This is a subtle change but an important one. It will allow the minister with advice from the Climate Change Authority to consider the impact of government policies which might be making emission reduction targets more difficult, such as subsidies for fossil fuel industries. Transparency is vital in this parliament and this transparency will help inform the public debate and allow voters to take an informed view of the full cost of the government policies in relation to climate action. I believe these changes are reasonable and sensible and will help us make progress towards our emission reductions. I hope the government and others in this place will seriously consider supporting them.

Finally, I would like to talk about the consultation process for this bill and thank the minister and the rest of the crossbench for their engagement. Again, I think of the students up here watching us. I think that they are looking for a parliament that comes together and collaborates on one of the most important issues of the day, so I am really pleased and delighted that this is an example where the government has acted in good faith and worked effectively across the parliament. Through this collaboration, we have the acknowledgement in the bill that the target is a floor, not a ceiling, for our action. We have linked the bill back to the science of climate change, which is absolutely crucial. We have strengthened the accountability that the minister must show parliament and we have ensured this bill will be reviewed periodically. I hope we will see much more of that collaboration in this 47th Parliament and set a high bar for this country and for future parliaments.

In conclusion, I will be supporting this bill. It is an important first step, the first real step in far too long, but it is not enough. We need more action. We need risk mitigation strategies. We need adaptation plans. We need greater action on electric vehicles. We need to stop putting public money into fossil fuel subsidies and thoughtlessly expanding the number of gas and coal mines without paying heed to the impact on the world. We need to move to the future, not to the past, and bring our communities with us, all those communities around Australia, however they are impacted by this bill. We need strong accountability mechanisms to ensure the government is adopting the right policies, and to ensure those policies are comprehensive and effective and are accountable to the people of this parliament and to the people of this country. I, for one, will be holding the government to account and ensuring that they take the next step and the one after until our country is finally in the place it needs to be.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth and I wish her well in the 47th Parliament.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can't tell you how good it feels to be in this chamber today speaking on the Climate Change Bill 2022 and the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022. After my time in the previous parliament, when time after time I had to come into this chamber and point out how the Morrison government was failing us all on climate change, and after sharing my electorate's frustration at a decade of not just inertia but outright obstruction to climate action from a Liberal-National government more interested in running a culture war than protecting our future, it feels so good to be in here talking about legislation that puts in place the framework for the transformation we have to make for all of our futures—to get a renewable future and the jobs, the industries and the clean energy that will come from that, and, of course, the liveable planet.

It is a really big task, and we don't have much time to do it, but I am confident that we will do it. The minister has been very clear, in his speech here and in his public statements, that we will work constructively with those here in the parliament and elsewhere who want to help us do that. It has been important to hear from so many members today about how they are willing to work constructively with the Albanese government to get on and do this work. I know there are people who say that 43 per cent isn't enough and I do hear that argument; it's not falling on deaf ears. If we can achieve more, that will be really good, and it is important to recognise 43 per cent is a floor, not a ceiling.

But we can't do any of this if we don't actually start the work. If we keep quibbling, if we keep arguing and if we keep delaying, we won't start the work. We know that business wants to get cracking and we know that state governments already have. What has been standing in their way has been federal government obstruction from the previous government. In fact, we've got groups like the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Energy Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Institute of Company Directors—quite a diverse group of interests—all coming together to recognise and say that the lack of a settled policy is what is hurting Australia at the moment.

We have to get this framework in place, and we have to start the work. We can't continue to delay. On that note, I would really urge those opposite to consider their role in providing a settled framework for Australia. Don't get distracted by starting a new culture war around nuclear. The work's been done. Some of your own members did the work in an inquiry two years ago. It's a distraction. Let's get on with it. Let's get on with the renewable future that could be there for all of us. That opportunity is what's in front of us; don't let that pass you by.

This legislation will be really important in transforming our country. When I reflect on what I hear in my community and that frustration that I mentioned earlier that so many people feel after a decade of inaction, I know that this legislation will show people that it's Labor governments that do the big reforms. We did it with Medicare, we did it with the NDIS and now we will do it with climate action and make sure that this country is powered by renewable energy.

With this legislation today, we are demonstrating that climate is one of our biggest priorities. As the minister has said, tackling climate change is going to make an enormous economic contribution to our country. This is going to be a transformation that brings us new industries and brings us jobs—also in the areas that have traditionally been reliant on fossil fuel production.

Australia should absolutely be at the forefront of the transformation to renewable energy—that's the opportunity that's in front of us—not only to ensure that we're doing our part to tackle the crisis that the whole world faces but to make the most of the new and emerging industries that will guarantee good, secure jobs for people now and into the future.

This is one of the reasons why, as a government, we have worked so hard to get the support of the Australian people and to get ourselves into government so that we can make these changes and put tackling climate change at the top of the agenda. I know for me, personally—and I have said this to my electorate so many times—it is one of the main reasons I am in this place, to make sure that we get on with this work and this huge transformation that we have to make for all of our futures. We are running out of time—for us, for our country and for our planet. We must act on climate and that is what our government is doing. It won't be easy, but we are getting on with it.

The framework that sits behind a lot of this is our Powering Australia plan, which we took to the election, backed by extensive independent modelling and really well-detailed and well-thought-through policy that sets out how we are going to support this transition to renewable energy by investing in the transmission and storage needed to balance the electricity grid, leading to lower electricity prices and, as I said, new jobs and new industries—604,000 jobs, in fact, is what our modelling for that plan shows—and spurring $76 billion worth of investment across our country. Again, I know that in my community many people are looking forward to the opportunities that will bring in terms of the skills they may be trained in, new job opportunities and new ways for them to lead their lives.

We will see parts of this plan rolled out in our communities. We've made a commitment to deliver community batteries and solar banks right across Australia, including one in the Belfield area in my electorate, and I very much hope that the Belfield battery will be just the start of my community and others making that switch to storage. I know there are many groups across Jagajaga who have been doing some work on the feasibility of having their own batteries. I commend them for that work. Keep talking to me about that. I'll keep advocating for us to get more batteries in Jagajaga.

We are also supporting $3 billion of investment in renewables in manufacturing and low-emissions technologies through our government's National Reconstruction Fund, training new energy apprentices in new jobs. I know that my TAFEs in Heidelberg and Greensborough will be looking at the opportunity to expand the skills offering that they provide in that space. And then there is accelerating the uptake of electric vehicles. I am sure I am not the only member in this place who has many members of their community come to them and ask, 'Why are electric vehicles so expensive and what's the government going to do about it?' Well, rest assured, we are going to do something about it.

It's been heartbreaking to watch this past decade of missed opportunities on climate. Every failure to act has cost us valuable time, and we don't have much left. So I sincerely hope that, after all this inaction, this is a parliament that gets on with it, that sets the framework, that makes sure that we are on the right path to the renewable energy future that we should all have—not just for our generation, but doing the work that parliament should do, where we look at what we're providing for the generations to come. This can't just be about what works for us in the here and now. It has to work for those who are to come. The climate wars have to come to an end. It is time for us to work together, to listen to what the country has told us—that they want us to work together, that they want us to get on with this—and to take climate action, to switch to renewable energy. What better way for this place to demonstrate that we are all ready to do that than to support this bill that is before us today to get on with the work.

With this bill, our Labor government is making it clear that climate change is one of our biggest priorities. We will not let the chance to tackle climate change slip us by. We will not let the chance to create the jobs and the industries of the future slip us by. We will feel the responsibility that we have, to this generation and future generations, to act on climate change. We are showing that from the very start of this 47th Parliament we will close the door on the past decade of inaction. I sincerely hope the climate wars have ended, because we need our country to be able to work together to fully embrace action on climate change and fully embrace the transformation to our economy that will come with that. It's on that basis that I commend this bill to the House.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—This is Labor adopting a Greens policy. By reducing Export Finance Australia's flexibility, the Climate Change Bill 2022 puts our national security objectives in the Pacific at risk. Do you think other Pacific powers have hamstrung themselves in this same way? No—not a chance.

This bill could also force Infrastructure Australia to prioritise less-emissions-intensive public transport projects in urban areas over major road projects in regional areas or new ports or airports. The experience in the United Kingdom has seen activists delay the construction of Britain's new high-speed rail network, HS2. The experience in the UK has seen activists challenge the UK government's plan to invest in road maintenance and the construction of new roads because this could lead to increased traffic and thus greater emissions. The experience in the UK has seen activists successfully delay the construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, delaying that construction for years. That case had to go all the way to the UK's equivalent of our High Court before it was finally thrown out. These are the consequences of legislating targets.

The bill before the House could also restrict the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the NAIF, from supporting an expansion of our traditional export industries, particularly energy and agriculture. To that, no doubt, the Greens would say, 'Fine,' because they don't like coal and gas anyway. But this legislation will also hamper the development of clean energy industries. Take the example of critical minerals processing. The former coalition government prioritised the development of new critical minerals processing projects as part of the government's $2.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy. But critical minerals processing can be harmful to the environment. It is also energy intensive, and therefore emissions intensive.

So what does that mean? If you apply to new minerals projects the same rules Labor and the Greens would like to apply to coal and gas, how could these agencies support projects that increase Australia's emissions? The problem is that they are seeking to legislate something that will hamper not just Australia's competitive advantage but progress with clean energy technologies. If they apply that rule, which they are suggesting they will, then suddenly critical minerals processing comes into question. At a time of heightened volatility and uncertainty in the Indo-Pacific, with rising interest rates and stalling economic recovery under this Labor government, not to mention a global energy crisis, this is absolute madness.

This Prime Minister and his climate change minister have been so focused on the politics that they have forgotten to think about the consequences of this legislation. The coalition, for its part, remains absolutely open to sensible policies that reduce power prices and support economic growth while reducing emissions. When we were in government we exceeded our emissions targets, despite not legislating them. When we left office, emissions were lower than ever before, at more than 20 per cent below 2005 levels. We reduced our emissions faster than did many of our peers—Canada, Japan and New Zealand, just to mention a few.

As a reminder to the government that has walked away from tackling prices, the coalition also drove prices down. Power prices dropped by eight per cent for households, between 10 and 12 per cent for businesses, and that was over just the last term of the coalition government yet the Labor government went to the election promising even lower prices, only to abandon that promise in the first week of the new parliament. The coalition, at the end of the day, will not support legislation that puts our energy and national security at risk or our economy. There are a range of other concerns that the coalition has regarding this legislation and that includes its lack of equity and balance.

Firstly, if the bills were equitable they would account for the economic consequences of higher energy prices and their impact on Australian businesses, investments and jobs, along with the households and families and the basic way of life for everyday Australians. But these bills do not account for any of these things. What the government must not forget is that when power prices rise they disproportionately impact those who can afford them least. In other words, if Labor does not accept that economics need to be taken into account with these bills then surely they must consider the moral consequences of what they wish to implement.

Labor's policy to achieve the objectives laid out in these bills also requires the construction of new facilities and transmission lines across the country. These will have a direct impact on countless local communities, including in the minister for infrastructure's electorate of Ballarat, yet the bills before the House lack any requirement for the minister to report to the parliament on how the implementation of the government's policies affects these communities. There is no requirement for the government to take into account the effect of implementing these policies on regional communities or even on agricultural land.

Secondly, if these bills were balanced they would reflect a technology-agnostic approach that encourages free enterprise and promotes entrepreneurship, research and development. Sadly, however, the Albanese Labor government has abandoned the technology investment roadmap process and the cost reduction targets that the former coalition government put in place. This is what you get from the Albanese-Bandt government in the bills that we see before the House. The new government has also removed any references to reducing the cost of new and emerging technologies from its NDC. Indeed, much of the investments initiated by the former coalition government are now under review. The Labor government has no plan to reduce the cost of deploying new and emerging low-emission technologies. It is not just the balance of technologies that count; it is also the balance of the economic burden that is to be carried. Labor's policy to achieve the objectives laid out in the bill include applying punitive penalties against selected sectors of the economy and, by extension, to their communities and their workers. I'm not just talking here about Labor's proclivity for increases in taxation, as reflected in the changes they plan to make to the safeguard mechanism. Not content with removing safeguards from the bills, Labor has actively removed all safeguards from its updated 2022 NDC. This government and this minister are actively avoiding scrutiny. When you consider all the possible adverse consequences of this bill, it makes you wonder why the government wants to introduce legislation that it has itself called 'unnecessary'. Seeking to reduce emissions, without accounting for the economic impact, the price impact, on businesses and families is foolishness of the highest order, and it represents a derogation of duty on the part of the government.

The coalition has initiated a review of its climate and energy policies. Any new emissions reduction targets or policies to achieve them that the coalition takes to the next election will reflect the latest economic developments and emissions projections. They will also account for the role that new and emerging technologies could play in an Australian context. A least-cost approach to reducing emissions means that all technologies must be on the table. That includes carbon capture and also advanced nuclear power technologies, both of which feature in the United States's, the United Kingdom's and the EU's plans to get to net zero emissions.

In summary, Labor have made it very clear that they will not honour the commitment they made to the Australian people just over two months ago. We have already learnt of, in this first sitting of the parliament, their intention to break a promise of reducing power bills by $275. This is the Albanese Labor government's first broken promise. They went to an election with a climate change policy that included two parts: a 43 per cent reduction in emissions and a $275 reduction in power bills. The parliament opens, and they furnish and they table their legislation to enable this climate change policy. But there is no mention of price. There is no mention of that economic consequence, making this legislation effectively a broken promise.

We also know that this bill is not about the 2030 target because the 2030 target of 43 per cent has already been set by the new government. The United Nations has been informed. This bill, no matter how people vote on it, will not make one bit, one iota, of difference to the 43 per cent target that has been set by the government. It's completely the prerogative of the Prime Minister and the cabinet to change that target, and they have. So this is not about the target. It's not about the 43 per cent. This is about the legislation, and Labor have caved in to the Greens and, in doing so, is prepared to put communities, projects, jobs and intellectual property staying in Australia at risk. This is what they have at risk.

The consequences of their consequential amendment bill are a scary prospect and one that the government have not thought through. This ultimately is legislation that comes as nothing more than a political stunt. The coalition will always support policies to bring down emissions, but we will not do it where we compromise our economy and our national security.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the Minister for Climate Change and Energy canvassed this bill at the Press Club a few weeks ago, the first thing he said was that this bill was not required for the Labor Party to implement any of the policies that they took to the election with regard to emissions reduction and lowering power prices. That really says it all as to why we are here having this debate right now and what the motivations are around this legislation that the government say is not required for them to put in place any of the policies that they took to the election. I certainly look forward to them putting in place and honouring the policies they took to the election in this area, particularly their promise to lower the average household electricity bill by $275 per year.

I'd like to make a few very clear points when it comes to the importance of climate change and emissions reduction in this country and globally. The first is that every serious political force in this country is committed to achieving net zero emissions by the year 2050. Some are saying perhaps before then, but 2050 is within the global frameworks—Paris, of course. The Liberal Party has a policy, which it took to the last election, to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The National Party has that position. The Labor Party, now the government, has that position. The Greens have a position to get to net zero. I won't speak for individual Independents et cetera. But every major political force is committed to that. That is not up for debate in this debate or, frankly, in any of the debates leading towards policy positions around climate change now and towards the next election. That is very clear. It's not about if, but about how—how do we get to net zero emissions in the time frame outlined in a way that is environmentally and economically responsible?

The second point I make is that my side of politics arrived at that position in the last term of the parliament. That was a commitment made as a coalition—as the Liberal Party and the National Party together—to achieve net zero emissions by the year 2050. I was heavily involved within the processes of my party to convince my colleagues and was a part of that process that led to the commitment that Prime Minister Morrison announced and took to the Glasgow COP26 conference in 2021. I'm very proud of the role that I played within my party to achieve that position, because it's one that's important, it's one that I believe in, it's one that my electorate wants to see achieved and it's one that is important for the planet.

It is an inherently conservative value to be a conservationist and to care about the environment and this planet that we live on. That is an inherently conservative value. It's one that I hold. The first significant world leader to put the challenges of climate change on the record was Margaret Thatcher. I don't think Margaret Thatcher has any crisis of confidence from anyone as far as her credibility and bona fides of being a genuine conservative go.

So the 2050 position is clear. It's my own values. It's the values of my electorate. It's the party position of my party, the coalition, and all the significant political forces in this country. That's not what the debate is now. It's about how we are going to progress to achieve that. We on this side of politics, on the Liberal-National Party side, need make sure that we are taking to the next election a very clear Centre Right policy approach to reducing emissions in our country across the various time lines that are significant in these international agreements. One is 2030, but 2025 under Paris will be upon us very soon. Obviously everyone needs to outline exactly how we're going to achieve that pathway to net zero by 2050.

I look forward to again, like I did in the last parliament, being a part of achieving a policy position in my party of net zero by 2050 and to again being a part of achieving the significant suite of policies we take to the 2025 election around what approach we will take towards emissions reduction for 2030—what our target will be for 2030; we will have a new position on 2030—2035 and beyond. I very much look forward to being a part of that, because I am committed to ensuring that the Liberal-National Party coalition has a strong Centre Right political set of solutions to the challenges of achieving net zero by 2050 and the milestones along the way.

Part of that absolutely must be considering all options, and there is one options which all of the major economies around the world who are committing to 2050, and taking aggressive targets in the medium term as well, are considering. All of those major economies right across the world have nuclear is a part of that approach—the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan et cetera. Nuclear is base-load power that is emissions free, and all of those nations with aggressive emissions reduction targets have nuclear as part of that solution. How can we possibly say with a straight face that we want to get to net zero emissions in this country by 2050 and equally, at the same time, not say we should look at one of the most significant sources of base-load emissions-free electricity generation? It is absolutely ridiculous to say that we are not going to have a discussion and a proper look at that as a potential part of the mix when it comes to us achieving net zero by 2050.

Now, I've followed the nuclear debate in this country and internationally for a long, long time. In South Australia, Jay Weatherill, the Labor Premier of South Australia, called for and established a royal commission into the entirety of the nuclear cycle. He said, 'I want us to look at nuclear. I want us to look at mining more uranium in South Australia. I want to look at moving along the supply chain of uranium. I want to look at further processing of uranium in South Australia. I want to look at generation.' Jay Weatherill, the left-wing Labor Premier of South Australia, wanted to look at generating nuclear energy in South Australia, and he wanted to look at taking the planet's high-level nuclear waste and putting it in a dedicated facility in South Australia. Jay Weatherill, the Labor Left Premier of South Australia, initiated a process and wanted to have a look at that, and that occurred. Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, the former Governor of South Australia, became the Royal Commissioner, and they did that body of work.

Frankly, post that, the process that Weatherill set up, around citizens' juries et cetera, to take the outcome of the royal commission further was a failure because of him and his government, and I don't necessarily support elements of what he was trying to do anyway, but the point is that it is ludicrous for us not to look properly at nuclear. The economics have not stacked up in the past, particularly in this country, and that's because, in the past, we've never had a debate about the abundant use of fossil fuels like coal for electricity generation. The Latrobe Valley and the Hunter Valley, co-located to the two great metropolises in this nation, Sydney and Melbourne, have abundant coal that can be mined for and generated into electricity onsite, sent down the poles and wires into the businesses and households of this country, particularly in those major centres. But if we're going to get to net zero by 2050, that is not a possibility into the future. That's why nuclear has not stacked up in decades past, and even now it is extremely expensive.

That's fine, because we'll determine that in this debate. We will discover in this debate, when we look at this properly and we understand not just what nuclear's capability is now, from an economic point of view, but what it might be into the future as technology continues to develop, whether or not it is an economically viable solution to the mix of generation into the future. But why is it that those who want to decarbonise this country and the planet can't stomach and won't tolerate the concept of part of the energy to replace energy that generates emissions being emissions-free generated energy? Why is it that they say that can't come from nuclear? Furthermore, if that's the case, why aren't they saying that to their friends in other countries of this planet, particularly in Europe and North America, that are using nuclear and absolutely will be using more nuclear as they proceed to get towards their target of net zero by 2050, or whatever their targets may become or change to in the future.

It is just appalling that there are some in this debate who want that but aren't prepared to have that discussion. That needs to be front and centre in this debate.

I am very disappointed that this has become a political point-scoring exercise instead of a genuine opportunity for the government to be focused on implementing the policies that they took to the last election to achieve the targets that they laid out. This bill doesn't have anything to do with that, and they should be focused on implementing their policies, particularly the cost saving in their policy of $275 a year on household electricity bills.

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I remark on some of the ridiculous things that have been mentioned by those opposite, I do want to take a moment to just stop and appreciate that, for the first time in a decade, this place, the people's House of Representatives in Australia, is taking an almighty step forward when it comes to tackling climate change. That is a moment that we are all extremely proud of. I am certainly proud to be a part of a Labor government delivering climate action, as we said we would. What we are seeing is government and Australia exactly as the Australian people asked for—to be collaborative, to work across political divides and to try and get outcomes to benefit the Australian people.

What is going to happen is that we're going to see a number of people, not just in the government but in the crossbench and in the minor parties, support this piece of legislation in this place and in the upper house. This will become an act of law, and I couldn't be prouder of the fact that it took a Labor government to help bring forward significant climate action in this country. I thank each and every member for the way in which they have constructively engaged in the debate on the climate change legislation. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy has done an outstanding job of bringing forward this bill and bringing forward Australia's credible position as a global player to tackle climate change.

While all of that is going on, and while this country takes an almighty leap forward in tackling climate change, in legislating the targets we took to the election and in legislating the policies of transitioning towards renewable energy—and while this parliament takes a proud and direct step forward as part of the international community, together with the Pacific nations, our friends and family and all the communities who have been affected by climate change—there are some in this place who are parking themselves out of the debate, who are dealing themselves out of climate action and who are deciding that they don't want to be a part of the solutions. They are becoming increasingly isolated on that side of the House. They're not going to listen to my political advice, but, as an observer, it is absolutely insane that these people have just watched their friends and colleagues, some of whom are people I admired very much, who were members in the previous parliament—people of integrity and of capability—being completely eliminated from this place, and they have ignored every single lesson that the Australian people have sent them. And I don't say this out of any great sense of winning or anything like that. It doesn't bring me any joy that this is still some sort of ridiculous partisan divide and that the economics and the politics of this are not settled. Those opposite are still dealing themselves out of progress. Australia does not get served by the attitude of dealing yourselves out of climate change. The Australian people get served by this place working collaboratively between government and non-government members to try and get outcomes, and that is what this bill does.

The climate change bill makes some significant legislative changes. The first one is to legislate our emissions reduction targets as part of our nationally determined commitments. We are giving certainty to the private sector, which is saying, 'We want the investment of trillions of dollars into renewable energy and into cheap, clean energy with dispatchable power.' We are saying clearly that we want that in Australia and that there is certainty in the market, and that is what the legislation provides.

This bill also makes a number of amendments to existing funds, like the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, which focus government spending on the transition towards a low-emissions future. It is now a part of government focus and government agency that we are moving towards a low-emissions future. That is what this bill enshrines in law. That is what those opposite are voting against. They're voting against the resources and utilities of government that can help to invest and to transition our economy into a cleaner future. And why is this not surprising? It's because the last time they were in government they came into this place and tried to dismantle all of those instruments—

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I thank the honourable member for Macnamara. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour.