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

I am not sure how much of that was a question. Some of it seemed to focus on me, some of it focused on press releases and some of it focused on the debate we had for hours, I think, on Wednesday night. In terms of polling—I am not quite sure which poll the senator was reading from; I think there were a range of polls in the papers over the weekend—can I just say we do not do this because of polls. We do it because we think it is the right thing to do. I would also remind you that you also went to the last election committing to do this.

I would also make this point. I understood that there was bipartisan agreement in the parliament for the targets, so I am not sure if the senator is suggesting that he is now changing the coalition’s previous stated position of supporting the targets, including the unconditional target of five per cent. If that is his position, it might be useful to know that.

In relation to the issue about international financing, we did go through this in some detail last week. You are right, Senator Boswell, and I have said so. We will be accountable for what we propose internationally, but we have not made that announcement. If and when Australia does so, we will be accountable for that and we will explain to the Australian people why we have made the decision that we have made. But what you are asking for is for me to pre-empt that government announcement, and I am not going to do that.

One of the other things the senator said is, ‘You’ve only got press releases.’ A press release from the President of the United States is probably not a bad commitment. I do not believe that is a serious political—