Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

I think all Australians would be very pleased with the outcome of the APEC forum that we were very honoured and pleased to host in this country over the past week. One of the great strengths that has been able to be displayed as a result of the APEC forum has been the high regard in which Australia is held, right around the world. One of the great achievements of APEC has been to get countries such as the United States and Russia together—and China, might I add—to talk about the important challenge that we face as a world in relation to climate change.

To be able to get developing countries such as Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and China as well as the US and Russia agreeing on the need for a long-term aspirational global emissions reduction goal is a truly great, ground-breaking consensus. The important thing in relation to these aspirational goals is that we do not of our own volition set up an aspirational goal which is not in the context of the international situation. That is in fact something that the Prime Minister’s task force addressed in relation to the approach that we should take to the issue of climate change.

The Howard government has been very responsible and sensible in its approach to climate change. As the vast majority of workers in this country know, if Australia were to go it alone, all that would happen would be the wholesale export of wealth and jobs to other countries in our region, to the detriment of our own wealth and to the detriment of the working men and women of Australia. That is why, in the context of APEC, the government sought to get together as many of the differing approaches as you can get: the United States—well and truly developed; China—going gang busters; and other countries as well, such as Russia, that have come from a difficult background. So we believe that APEC has served a very useful purpose in getting the world communities together so that we can face this challenge together, because trying to do it alone will not achieve any purpose and, more importantly, it would be to Australia’s great detriment.