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

Thank you, Chair. First, the extent to which Australia’s national emissions are reduced will depend on what the government sets the Australian targets and caps at. We put on the table a range depending on how much the rest of the world is doing. That range is between five and 15 per cent off 2000 levels, or 25 per cent off 2000 levels if the world is doing an ambitious agreement. The extent to which the world acts will be a question of what targets and reductions all nations of the world are prepared to put on the table. That is self evident. So the extent to which a global agreement can achieve a particular environmental outcome will be a question of how much all of us are prepared to put on the table. Unlike the National Party, the government does not believe that simply because Australia produces about 1.5 per cent of global emissions we should just say, ‘It’s not our problem.’ If everybody sits back and says, ‘We’ve got to wait for everyone else to act, not just some,’ we will all still be waiting. That is the reality. It is just simple logic. If we all sit there and say, ‘I’m going to wait till they do it and they do it and they do it,’ everyone will still be waiting. So we take the view that if you believe climate change is real and is bad for Australia then we have to do our part and try to help build a global agreement.

Progress reported.