Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my colleague Senator Polley. The government’s response to the very real dangers of climate change is a continuation of its reformist agenda and its commitment to make major and decisive decisions in the interests of all Australians. We have seen an example of that most recently in the Rudd Labor government’s decisive actions to the global financial and economic crisis, so tough decisions have been needed and will be needed. It was not easy to float the Australian dollar; it was not easy to pull down tariff walls; it was not easy to open up financial markets or introduce national superannuation, and responding to climate change is certainly the most difficult of all of these policies.

We are tackling climate change through economic reform, for climate change is already affecting the world economy as well as national and local economies. The flow-on of these effects will mean more changes for households, family budgets and jobs. The Garnaut inquiry highlighted some inconvenient truths for some in this place. What would happen if we did nothing about climate change? Irrigated agricultural production in the Murray-Darling Basin could drop by more than 90 per cent this century if we do nothing. Unmitigated climate change would increase the cost of food by more than 10 per cent relative to other goods.