Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water. Next week in New York the UN Secretary-General will host an urgent Climate Ambition Summit with an expectation that developed countries attend with pledges to end support of fossil fuels. Minister, will you or someone from the government attend the summit, and how will you explain your approval of coal and gas projects?

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I just want to hear from the—

An honourable member interjecting—

The question needs to be directed to the relevant minister. Under the standing orders the question can be directed to the relevant minister, but I'll hear from the leader of the Greens.

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

Thank you, Speaker. Just on who the question was directed to in the first place, I don't know if the suggestion was that it was addressed to the wrong minister, but it was about the approval of coal and gas projects, which is the Minister for the Environment and Water's responsibility.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question was about next week's UN summit and who would be attending that summit.

An honourable member interjecting—

Yes, I know there was another part of the question, but I think anyone would make the assumption that is the part of the question that needs to be addressed. I'm going to give the call to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and I'm sure we all thank the honourable member for her question because it gives us the opportunity to make clear the foreign minister will be representing Australia at the UN Secretary General's summit. We have been invited as a country with an appropriate policy on climate change. It might not have occurred a few years ago, but it has occurred now, and Australia has been invited.

Australia will be very well represented at the summit by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who will be making clear this government's policies and approach. The leadership we bring to international forums, like the Prime Minister brought last week, like we are taking to COP this year, means we are in very good company arguing for the strengthening of the world's action on climate change. Australia is back at the table of climate leaders. We are no longer left out of international summits because our previous climate policy wasn't good enough to get an invitation.