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

I will take that point of order. So, is the proposition that we do not act until everybody else acts? Let’s have a think about that. If every nation on this plant said, ‘We are not acting until everybody else acts,’ why don’t we just give up now? Why don’t we just say, ‘Let’s consign our children to the sorts of temperature rises that we know are coming if we do not act’? It is an illogical proposition. It is why sensible Liberals have seen the need for action on climate change. It really does show how the map of Australian politics has, in these last days, been redrawn. We now have the Liberal Party putting a position that is browner than former Prime Minister Howard’s. That is what is occurring.

This is an amendment that is part of what we negotiated with the opposition before those in this party with extreme views took over the Liberal Party. It really is quite extraordinary, isn’t it? These people would rather tear apart their own party than take action on climate change. They come in here and they talk about the impact of putting a price on carbon. They do not want polluters to pay. That is their proposition. They want people to be able to pollute as much as they want for as long as they want without any cost. That is the policy proposition. They want to ensure that we maximise the risk for our children and our grandchildren and they dress that up as responsible economic policy. Even John Howard recognised the ridiculousness of that position. The fact is you went to an election with this policy. You have not put forward anything—other than that it was just a convenience—that suggests why you have walked away from that. They will come in again and they will say, ‘No-one else is acting.’

On a number of occasions I have gone through all the action that has been pledged by other nations—