Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

My question is also to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. Can the minister confirm that on page 24 of the glossy budget overview document, it says:

... the government will provide a range of measures costing $741 million over five years—

to tackle climate change and its effects. Isn’t it the case that the budget papers reveal that actual additional spending on climate change will be less than $100 million each year over the next five years, or less than 5/10,000ths of one per cent of annual government expenditure? Hasn’t the government inflated the figure in its glossy overview document with money that was already in the forward estimates or will be redirected from other climate change programs? Did the minister, an acknowledged climate change sceptic, finally have a win in cabinet in blocking any real attempt to address the problem?