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

I see Senator Macdonald rising to speak. If his contribution is not on this amendment, given how long we have been discussing it, I wonder if he would allow this amendment to be voted on. I am happy to take his question after that. I ask him to consider that. We have been discussing this Greens amendment for a long time, though somewhat tangentially, and there will be a vote on it. I can indicate to him that after that, if he has other questions, I would be happy to respond to them.

Senator Milne, perhaps the best way of outlining Australia’s position would be to refer to the conditions we have put on our 25 per cent conditional target. We place those with a very clear eye to looking at what would enable global action capable of stabilising CO2 equivalent concentrations at 450 ppm or lower. In this, we talked about advanced economy reductions in aggregate of at least 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, a clear global trajectory where the sum of all economies’ commitments was consistent with 450 ppm or lower and a nominated early deadline year for peak global emissions not later than 2020. And there are a range of other issues associated with comprehensive coverage and financial resources and so forth. That is the government’s policy. That is the position. I have not answered the average question because that is not the way the government have approached it. We have approached it in terms of aggregate and a global trajectory.