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

My question is to the Minister for Finance and Administration. I refer to the minister’s reported scepticism about the destructive role of carbon dioxide as a key contributor to the causes of climate change. Can the minister explain why he relies on the work of one Danish scientist to inform his views rather than on the 2,500 world-renowned scientists who contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change? Can the minister confirm that he is still a climate change sceptic? If so, was it his idea to stall government action for a few more decades, and how does this scepticism sit with the Prime Minister’s recent concession that greenhouse gases and climate change are linked? Why is the minister reporting what he calls practical, sensible approaches to greenhouse gas reduction if he cannot see that link?