Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

This government recognises that failure to act on climate change will have an impact on jobs, including jobs in Queensland, and will ensure, if we continue to fail to act, that we forgo the jobs that will be developed in the cleaner technologies and renewable energy industries which will ensure that Australia continues to have economic strength, not only now but into the future.

But, of course, we recognise that this is a transition and that transition requires that we support industries, households and Australian businesses through this period. That is why the government’s scheme puts in place a very significant investment in assisting Australian industry to manage the impact of the introduction of a carbon price through the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

I would remind the senator from Queensland that the Garnaut report and other reports have outlined the ways in which employment and our economy will be affected by climate change. Approximately 90,000 people are employed in agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin. The Great Barrier Reef employs tens of thousands of Queenslanders. It is simply not open to this nation to continue to avoid the challenge of climate change, as the previous government did for 12 years. The fact is that this is a challenge that is before us. We have to manage it responsibly and sensibly, and that is why the government has put forward a balanced package.

The good senator seems to fail to recall the very substantial assistance provided to industries which are potentially affected. It includes some $750 million to the coal sector and significant provision of free permits—(Time expired)