Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in response to Senator Brandis’s tactless motion, which states:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:The—

alleged—

failure of the Rudd Labor government to consider the interests of the state of Queensland and, in particular, the Queensland economy in the development of the proposed emissions trading scheme.

As a Queensland senator I am appalled by this motion. This motion is simply a lame coalition scaremongering exercise brought about by the Queensland election. We have a proud slogan in Queensland: ‘Beautiful one day, perfect the next.’ If we had a coalition government in Queensland they would change the slogan to be: ‘Doom one day, worse the next.’

I would like to deal with two aspects of this motion: first, the Queensland economy and, second, the emissions trading scheme. The Queensland economy, just like every other economy, is suffering at the moment not because of the Rudd Labor government and not because of the Bligh Labor government but because of something we all know as the global economic crisis. This is something the Liberal-National Party seems to be in complete denial of. The Rudd Labor government has worked tirelessly to cushion states such as Queensland from the effects of the global economic crisis. We injected firstly $10.4 billion into the economy last year for those struggling the most—pensioners, carers, veterans and families. Senator Brandis, there is no denying it: these payments have worked. Retail sales grew in December and January—and there has been an increase in the housing market—despite the fact that world retail sales have declined.

We then injected a further $42 billion into the economy. This money has affected and will directly affect the Queensland economy. We are providing crucial support to regional Queensland farmers affected by the drought. There is support for families, middle- and low-income earners and students. The household stimulus package will protect Australian jobs. We are building infrastructure to fix Queensland’s national highways and black spots. This injection of funds will see employment levels in Queensland grow.

Nationally, we are building 20,000 new homes and Defence homes. With the ADF having many sites in Queensland this will directly influence the Queensland economy further. Larger infrastructure projects that provide an even longer term boost to our productive capacity will soon be announced by Infrastructure Australia and will keep Australians working well into the future. So we have two massive injections into the economy which will directly affect Queensland, not to mention the fact that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s own seat of Griffith is in Queensland.

I find it hard to believe that the emissions trading scheme has failed the interests of Queensland. There were, if you recall, Senator Brandis, committee hearings in regional and city Queensland, consultation groups, submission requests, newspaper articles, websites, radio advertising and so on which allowed every Queenslander to have a say in the development of the emissions trading scheme. To say that the trading scheme has failed the interests of Queensland is false. In fact, Queensland is strongly focused on. The Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator the Hon. Penny Wong, visited one of my neighbouring suburbs just a month ago to discuss this very issue.

I remind you we have a crucial say as Queenslanders. We have the Great Barrier Reef, our vulnerable coastline, and World Heritage areas, including the wet tropics rainforests. Queensland is also one of the states with the biggest risk of climate change. We are especially disposed to drought, floods and fires. No doubt people would recall the recent flooding in North Queensland as a prime example of this. I also remind you that the Rudd Labor government has invested millions to support those Queenslanders suffering from these floods. We also have a fast growing population of more than four million people. With Queensland growing at such a fast pace, we cannot afford to not act. We cannot afford to see global sea levels rise, with the potential of massive floods; we cannot afford to double CO2 levels, have the temperature rise and have the health effects of heat related illness; we cannot afford to have industry loss in agriculture, which is valued at $8.8 billion; we cannot afford to have tropical cyclones and further droughts—the list goes on and on.

We have said time and time again that the cost of inaction is too dire. This is evident through the comprehensive report Australia’s low pollution future. Treasury’s modelling demonstrates that early global action is less expensive than later action, that a market based approach allows robust economic growth into the future even as emissions fall and that many of Australia’s industries will maintain or improve their competitiveness under an international agreement to combat climate change. The modelling shows that Australia and the world continue to prosper while making the emission cuts required to reduce the risks of dangerous climate change.

Just last night I was in this chamber delivering an adjournment speech on jobs growth in Queensland, and in the insulation business. I visited a new factory—CSR Bradford—on 19 February. Despite this business operating only from 8 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday since it opened in January, its management is now indicating that the business will quickly be gearing up to employ 70 staff and move to a 24/7 operation. That is where the growth is in Queensland, in the environmental industry. Clearly the component in the $42 billion stimulus package will generate local jobs in the community, enhancing our economy. In fact, in explanation on the subject of jobs, Mr Tannous, the general manager of this business, claimed that the insulation industry’s prediction of 4,000 jobs may have been a serious underestimate. He went on to explain growth in installers, the company’s call centre, sales staff and transport operators as examples of where the jobs growth will occur. It is a real shame Senator Brandis, who is not still in the chamber, does not bother to visit some of the businesses I get invited to and to experience their environmental commitment and contribution to Queensland’s working families.

For the record, this program will allow eligible Australian owner-occupiers to access the insulation and have it installed for free up to a cost of $1,600 from 1 July 2009 until 31 December 2011. Renters will also be able to access this scheme, with landlords being entitled to a rebate of $1,000. Those who wish to install prior to that can seek reimbursement following 1 July. These are all strong initiatives for jobs growth and the economy. The reality is clear: the emissions trading scheme will generate jobs for the future. We on this side are about supporting today’s jobs and building jobs for tomorrow to sustain the economy.

Consistent with what I have seen at CSR Bradford and CSIRO, the Allen Consulting Group found a big shift in the sectors in which employment would grow, arguing that three million people could need additional training as jobs growth slowed in manufacturing but increased in sectors such as construction, transport and services. Senator Wong has indicated the climate change regulatory authority, which would administer the scheme, would need 300 staff. Additionally, accounting and law firms are setting up divisions to service the greenhouse accounting and carbon trading market. A spokesman for PricewaterhouseCoopers said its division already employed 34 people and expected to grow, as reported in the Australian today.

Internationally, governments already going down the path of environmental procedures and policy have emphasised the employment upside to climate change investment. Even US President Barack Obama has promised five million new green jobs. Additionally, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised one million new green jobs. But, on the other side, we have people such as Queensland’s own Senator Barnaby Joyce, who has described green fanatics as ‘eco-Nazis’, Senator Cory Bernardi, who claimed human activity had nothing to do with climate change, and Senator Nick Minchin, who denies climate change is man-made.

What is the answer to jobs in Queensland? The Liberal National Party has indicated it would instigate an ‘efficiency dividend’—a cute name for budget cuts—of three per cent across all government departments. This is the hidden agenda only the LNP would be capable of. Maybe that is why the Queensland Public Sector Union has mounted a massive campaign against this lack of job creation. We have already heard from Lawrence Springborg, the LNP leader, of the desire to ‘front end’ and ‘denecessary’ jobs in Queensland. I have been representing workers for more than two decades now and I have never heard of a worker being ‘front ended’ or made ‘denecessary’. Before a Queensland state election—that is what this motion is all about—here we are in this chamber getting from the coalition more scaremongering and fanciful statements about job losses. Most workers would see through this motion of Senator Brandis as the stunt it is.

At a time when we are facing a global economic crisis of mammoth proportions, the Rudd government’s $43 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan and previous $10.4 billion stimulus package will go a long way towards jobs for our children’s future. Neither this Rudd Labor government nor a Queensland Bligh Labor government will fail working families. This is part of our Labor principle, something a coalition government will never understand. As a Queenslander, I can only say that Labor will keep Queensland strong.