Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Bill 2005 and to put on the record the Democrats’ great disappointment in this bill. We will support it, but we are distressed at the government’s complete lack of action in addressing global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. We welcome the program introduced in this bill, but we are dismayed that business will not be required to implement any measure that is identified in their assessment reports.

This is a lost opportunity, but it is more than that. It is also, I would argue, negligent on the part of the government with regard to climate change. Climate change is the most urgent problem faced by this country—or, in fact, the world. It is bigger than terrorism, it is bigger than Iran’s nuclear weapons program and it is bigger than solving world poverty. There is no more serious problem facing the world at the present time, and I do not think that is being sensationalist; I think that is the reality.

Climate change has been accepted as a reality by the world’s leading politicians and scientists. Just last week, a book entitled Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change was released. It argues that the consensus view among amongst scientists is that large-scale and irreversible disruption to the planet’s climate system will occur if temperatures rise by more than three degrees Celsius above the current level. By all accounts, we are heading well and truly in that direction. In the book’s foreword, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, adds his voice to the warning. He states:

It is clear from the work presented that the risks of climate change may well be greater than we thought.

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It is now plain that the emission of greenhouse gases, associated with industrialisation and economic growth from a world population that has increased six-fold in 200 years, is causing global warming at a rate that is unsustainable.

Given the hour of the day, I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.