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

I'm delighted to stand to speak about the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Reform (Closing the Hole in the Ozone Layer) Bill 2022. As we well know, there is much about which we disagree in this place, in this chamber, on many topics, and we have seen that on display very much today. It is a pleasure, therefore, to be standing to speak about a bill on which we agree with those on the government benches. So indeed today, as we speak about this piece of legislation, we do so with a real sense of bipartisanship. And it's probably a reminder that, despite the fact that parties such as the Labor Party and the Liberal and National parties of the coalition have very different political philosophies, when it comes to the big picture on things such as the environment everybody wants the same end goal. Everybody wants to ensure that they leave the planet a better, safer and indeed cleaner place than they found it. I think it is that aspirational drive or a cleaner world that, at the highest of levels, can unite everybody in this chamber.

What often divides is the question of how we go about it. But here today we have a bill where we also have unity on the question of how. And we come at this as a coalition, as Liberals and Nationals, very proud of our history on things relating to the environment, to management of biodiversity and also to issues of conservation. Indeed, you could argue that the conservative side of politics are the original conservationists. It was Edmund Burke who talked about his version of being a conservative, that it is a calling of protecting, a calling of an organic society, guided by intergenerational responsibility. That means responsibility to the land, to the water, to the broader atmosphere. It is why, when you're at a branch meeting for fellow members of the Liberal and National parties or in Queensland the LNP, you will have people around those tables who are very well versed, because they have the lived experience of working on and protecting the land and the waterways. And it is why we are so proud as a coalition of our track record when it comes to matters of the environment.

What we have today, though, is something that goes beyond just the coalition; it is indeed bipartisan. We are building on the signing of the Montreal Protocol by the Hawke government some 33 years ago. Since then we have seen successive governments of various political stripes building on and supporting that basic agreement signed up to by that government. Indeed, it was the Abbott government that decided to trigger a review into the programs that are being legislated for today. Tony Abbott did that as Prime Minister on the basis, again, of building on it and improving it. It was then the Turnbull government that picked up some of those recommendations from the review and legislated for them, and now we are in the 47th Parliament and the Albanese Labor government is seeking to legislate to enact some of those other recommendations coming from the Abbott government's review.

The bills before the House very much mirror what the coalition had put before the election and of course the lapsing of parliament. We now have the new government putting them forward, but they very much mirror what the coalition was looking at, and they are in three parts, the first part being the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Reform (Closing the Hole in the Ozone Layer) Bill 2022. That principally looks at improving the program for synthetic greenhouse gas management, with that program to be modernised with greater compliance and enforcement arrangements, inserting into law various obligations that are currently imposed only by licensed conditions, better clarifying licence and exemption requirements and increasing the time permitted for businesses to submit and report and pay levies.

Then there are two other bills that have come before the parliament bundled together, and they are the import levy bill and the manufacture levy bill. This is all about ensuring that we have improved efficiency in the management and the administration of those two levies, which are used to recover the costs associated with the operation of the program to which I just referred. This includes removing the caps on the levy rates for the program, the creation of a capacity for the manufacture levy rate to be more flexibly set, delegation to senior departmental officials of the power of the minister to grant exemptions to levy payments, and the abolition of the levy applied to the importation of ODS equipment.

In summary, the coalition is happy to stand with the Albanese government on what has become, over decades, a bipartisan approach to ensure that we protect the ozone layer and ensure that we better the environment. In these times, when there is much disagreement in the policy areas of climate and energy, it is indeed a pleasure to stand here today with the government on this bill with a sense of real unity.

(Quorum formed)

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know—like everyone in the chamber who has come to hear my speech!—we're very pleased to hear the former government speak about the ozone protection and synthetic greenhouse gas bills 2022. I had been intending to say something positive about the member for Fairfax! On a day of division, when it comes to legislation about protecting the world's ozone layer, it is a bipartisan story. When it comes to human survival, it's great to see humans—animals that evolved in intelligence in the Darwinian struggle to survive in the jungle—actually come together and use our intelligence for the good of humanity. More importantly, the story of ozone is a story of hope. When it comes to the battles humanity has to go through to save and protect our environment, this is a battle that we have to win.

The first time I remember hearing about the environment and that human beings could be responsible for damaging the world we live in was back in the 1980s—when I had much longer hair! At that time, scientists discovered there was a hole in the ozone layer. I had no idea, in high school, what the ozone layer was, but apparently the Brut deodorant I was using was contributing to making a hole in the ozone layer, and, if I didn't stop using Brut, the hole in the ozone layer was going to get bigger. But, like all teenage boys, I certainly needed to keep using Brut! I'm sure any teacher would know that. The member for Lalor, as a former principal, would know that grade 9 boys need a lot of Brut deodorant. But having two teenage boys at home right now, I can attest, with all respect to my children, who I hope are not listening to this, that the need for teenage boys to wear deodorant has not dissipated.

Nevertheless, I go back to the hole in the ozone layer. The ozone hole would cause the sun to burn our skin more, and it would damage our crops and all life on our planet. So we all had to do something about it, rather than rely on teenage boys to stop sweating. What the scientists said was that man-made chemicals in everyday products such as aerosols, refrigerators and air conditioners were harming the ozone layer. These products had chlorofluorocarbon gases, and these CFC gases were a big problem.

The most astonishing thing—and it's actually sad to say that it's astonishing—is that, when scientists raised the alarm, the world listened. The world listening to scientists should actually be the norm. In 1985, when a hole was confirmed in the ozone layer over Antarctica, the discovery galvanised public opinion. There were concerns about the risks of skin cancer, cataracts, sunburn et cetera because of ultraviolet radiation, and there were very good reasons for Australians, in the sunburnt country, to be worried and to act on protecting the ozone layer.

Protecting the stratospheric ozone layer is especially important for Queenslanders, because we have a lot of sun and we enjoy a very outdoorsy lifestyle, even in Townsville. So I was surprised that the member for Herbert would try to shut me down rather than hear about this. Ozone depletion allows more of the dangerous UV to reach the earth's surface, and this would have a direct effect on the health of Australians and on our environment.

Australians felt exposed and vulnerable to ozone layer depletion. We became more attuned to the environmental impact of global activities. At the time, apparently, Australia was one of the world's largest per capita users of CFCs and halons. So, when the scientists raised the alarm about CFC gases, world leaders decided not to wait. What they did instead was apply what's called the precautionary principle: if in doubt, cut it out. Even before the science was settled, they started to act. Imagine how far along we would be with reducing our greenhouse emissions if some Australian politicians, such as Tony Abbott and his cronies, had taken the same approach to climate change.

In the eighties the environment was not the polarising issue it is today. What's even more remarkable about that is that you have to remember the left-wing politicians who dominated the world stage back then. Do you remember that leftie Ronald Reagan and the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher! The Soviet Union's leader was Mikhail Gorbachev. These were big figures in a world dominated by the politics of the Cold War. But despite their ideologies and their competing political interests, they still had to overcome business interests, Treasury doubts and political short-termism to protect the future health of the planet. They refused to accept the delaying tactics of chemical companies, some of which argued that action should wait until the science was clearer. Margaret Thatcher, not known for being a big supporter of regulation, was actually a leader in the push for the Montreal Protocol and in the effort to enable compliance by poorer countries. While many uncertainties over the science remained, President Reagan recognised the danger posed by the ozone hole and backed international negotiations to ban CFCs—Ronald Reagan!

On 1 January 1989, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer became law. By contrast, politicians today in Australia can be very fiercely divided over the government's role in helping to end climate change. The scientists are united, but some politicians are still arguing. Unfortunately, the public can be divided along partisan lines as well because of this bad leadership.

The internet easily lets people do their own research. But, luckily, in the eighties the world responded. At the time there were consumer boycotts, political action and a huge investment in new technologies to replacing CFCs in all their commercial and industrial uses. In his signing statement, former trade unionist and well-known environmentalist Ronald Reagan heralded the Montreal Protocol as 'a model of cooperation' and as 'a product of the recognition and international consensus that ozone depletion is a global problem'.

New CFC production was virtually brought to a halt over the 1990s and early 2000s. It took a while to phase out existing devices that used CFCs, but CFC emissions have been steadily falling since the protocol went into effect. The Montreal Protocol was the first agreement in the history of the United Nations to be ratified by all 197 countries.

There are actually two ozone holes: one above each pole. But since the Montreal Protocol came into effect, more than 99 per cent of the gases responsible for the polar problems have been eradicated. According to the latest United Nations study, the ozone holes are healing at the rate of one to three per cent a decade. Well done humanity, well done scientists and well done politicians who know how to lead a country!

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour and if the member's speech has been interrupted he will be granted leave to continue.