Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Nobody denies the reality of climate change, and we have said this many times before in debates here in this very chamber—I must say with the same players: Senator Brown, Senator Milne and Senator Wong. It is almost as though everybody is reading off a script and not listening to what the government has said and not paying any attention to what the government has done in respect of greenhouse, climate change and renewable energy.

We cannot deny climate change. In the south-west of Western Australia, where I come from, there has been a massive decrease in rainfall over the last 20-odd years. That is climate change, and it is very evident in Western Australia. Senator Brown has talked about the melting of Greenland’s icecaps. It is happening. it is real, and that is climate change. I have a brother who lives in Munich, in Germany. He loves skiing, but he could not ski very much last winter in Europe because there was not very much snow. And that is climate change. We hear of icebergs floating off Auckland, suggesting that the Antarctic icecap is melting. Well, that is climate change too. So it is there, it is real and it is all around us, but it has been going on for centuries. That is the other point that cannot be denied.

Europe was, once upon a time, a tropical area. There is evidence of tropical vegetation over most of southern Europe, and the Sahara was once fertile—so more evidence of long-term climate change. I heard a program on Radio National not so long ago about coral core samples being taken off the coast of Java which suggested that there has been cyclical climate change on earth for the last 10,000 or 20,000 years. Thus the issue of climate change is not new. We have to be fair and recognise that.

I looked up on the web causes of climate change—and I have said this in another speech as well—and the listed causes of climate change include continental drift, volcanic eruptions and changes in the orbit of the earth. The earth sometimes just slightly changes its axis and inevitably that brings climate change, because the seasons are related to the position of various parts of the world on the globe—therefore, if the axis of the globe changes, then obviously there will be climate change. Most importantly, there seems to be a correlation between climate change and episodes of sunspots. That has been going on for thousands and thousands of years.

More recently: there have been increases in world’s greenhouse gases since the 1700s and the industrial revolution. It is true that there have been increases in the levels of CO2 and methane in our atmosphere and that those emission levels have accelerated, particularly in this century. In the opinion of many people greenhouse gases do contribute to climate change, but they are not the whole story. There are other things to consider, such as changes in the earth’s orbit and sunspot activity. I do not think the Greens or the ALP can rationally deny that those are factors in climate change.

Another thing that is very evident, and totally and absolutely undeniable, is the fact that, since it first came into office in 1996, the Howard government has been very proactive about dealing with greenhouse issues and with recognising the need for us to change from the use of fossil fuels and move to other energy sources. In fact, the Howard government has a very proud record of having set up the world’s first government greenhouse office, back in 1996. That is undeniable. I think this is about the fifth speech I have given on this subject where Senator Wong has participated in the debate and where she comes in here and criticises and lambastes the Howard government for its failure to do anything about greenhouse, when she knows—it is a simple fact—that this government established the world’s first greenhouse office when it first came into office 11 years ago.

As part of the government’s comprehensive climate change strategy, the government has committed some $2 billion to the management of environmental issues. That commitment of $2 billion has leveraged something like $6.5 billion from private sector sources for environmental programs. The government’s climate change strategy—which, as I said, has involved a commitment of over $2 billion—has recognised our reliance on fossil fuels at the moment and our need to change to renewable and other energy sources. The government’s strategy provides a pathway for moving Australia’s energy sector to a low-emissions future. That is something undeniable. It is a simple reality of this government’s history in office. It shows that the comments that Senator Wong, in particular, keeps making are totally wrong. She knows they are wrong. She comes into the Senate repeating her allegations about the government not doing anything about greenhouse emissions when in fact we have a long history of having been very concerned about it.

Our policies have included the $500 million Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund, the $100 million Renewable Energy Development Initiative, the $75 million Solar Cities trial, the $20 million advanced electricity storage technology initiative and the $14 million wind energy forecasting program. The government has explored lots of areas or sources of energy which are not going to emit greenhouse gases. That is something that Senator Wong, the Greens and perhaps the Democrats—who may claim otherwise—simply cannot deny. The runs are on the board. This government has been very conscientious and concerned about climate change during its whole period of office.

People like talking about Kyoto—and I am surprised it has not got a run so far. But I guess it will; there is still time.