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

I thank Senator Moore for that excellent question and for her continued interest in the science of climate change—unlike those opposite. I regret that I can advise the chamber that there are developments in our understanding of the science of climate change and that the signs are not good. In fact the signs are that climate change is accelerating. This should not come as a surprise because climate change is accelerating at the same time as carbon pollution continues to accelerate. Senator Moore is correct in saying that current estimates indicate that ocean warming is about 50 per cent greater than that which had previously been reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Those opposite do not want to hear this because they ignored this in government and they are governed by those inside their own party who are sceptics and who, even now when we discuss climate change science in this chamber, continue to deny the reality. I remind them that these recent warnings have been repeated from the past.

Sir Nicholas Stern, who will be known to most senators in this chamber, followed up his groundbreaking 2006 report with the statement:

The impact of global warming is already being felt, and future generations face grave risks if activities continue unaltered. Delaying action increases the cost of meeting any temperature or concentration goal, and raises the risks of irreversible impacts as temperature thresholds are exceeded.

The simple fact is that all senators have to face up to the fact that climate change is accelerating. It will get worse within the lives of our children. We cannot ask climate change to wait while we delay. The Liberal Party cannot ask climate change to wait while they delay endlessly. (Time expired)