Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We have just heard '10 times this' and '10 times that'. I think what we just heard was 10 times the ignorance of what we normally find from the coalition when it comes to a discussion of climate change and how to appropriately act upon it. I preface my remarks with the fact that the science is just becoming very clear that this year we are going to have an even greater record of ice melt in the Arctic. The scientists are coming out saying that they are finding an even more extreme Arctic ice melt than in previous years, and we know the impact of that. They are suggesting that, rather than having an ice-free Arctic in 70 years, we might end up having an ice-free Arctic in 30 to 40 years.

We know what that means for species extinction for a start. Nobody can escape the fact that, whatever technological response people might have to the impacts of extreme weather events, there is nothing we can do to save species which are going to extinction because of climate change.

I know that, when you talk to people around the world about their local environ­ments, what they talk about is the changed conditions, and no more so than in Tasmania, where the fishing community talks at length about the warming of the east coast waters off Tasmania, about the fact that the eastern Australian current is now moving further south into Tasmanian waters and the cold up­surge from the Antarctic is receding, which is allowing the incursion of predators into that environment, destroying the kelp beds, undermining the fishery and so on. That is just a local example in Tasmania of the phys­ical response that is going on with climate change as we see it as a regular event.

Having said that, at the same time as we are having this debate, the Bureau of Meteor­ology have been briefing the Queensland cabinet about the likely impacts this summer of extreme weather events. They are talking about the likely formation of at least four cyclones off the Queensland coast and the likelihood of extreme rainfall events, and already in Queensland people are on alert because of extreme fire danger.

Australia more than any other continent in the world is vulnerable to climate change, and we are seeing climate change acceler­ating, so we have no option but to address climate change if we are serious about making sure that not only this generation but future generations and our fellow species on this planet have an opportunity to live and experience and appreciate a similar environ­ment to the one we have now. Frankly, we are losing that race.

I am the first to say that, whilst what we are doing with this carbon package of bills begins the process of transforming Australia to a low-carbon economy and begins the pro­cess of addressing climate change seriously, it does not go far enough. If the Greens had been in government, we would certainly have been aiming for a much higher level of ambition than the bills generate, but we are pleased to say that the bills do not prevent any of the areas being increased in their level of ambition over time. That is because we know that as the world wakes up to itself there will be a move internationally for every country to lift its level of ambition in terms of greenhouse gas emission cuts and the speed at which it transforms its economy. The thing about all of these carbon bills is that, if the coalition were interested in actually reading them, they would find that there is no limit to parliament in the future being able to increase the level of ambition without having to pay compensation, which was one of the major problems with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. It would have meant considerable compensa­tion if Australia raised its ambition to a greater than 25 per cent cut—and that will be necessary over time. We need to be net carbon zero by 2050. Eighty per cent is not enough but 80 per cent is a long way better than where it was before at a 60 per cent cut, and that is one of the things we were able to achieve as part of the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee.

Having said that, I think it is essential that we concur with this motion from the House of Representatives, which urges that we set up a joint committee to allow the community to have input into these bills and to allow the coalition to actually get across the policy, because we have heard a whole lot of slogan­ism and fear tactics out there and a lot of unsubstantiated statements but we have not heard any engagement of the policy issues that are in these bills.

This series of legislation goes to a package which is saying that, in order to get our greenhouse gas emissions down and allow ourselves to have a consistent message for investors—and that is one of the key components here; the reason we have power prices going up now is that there has not been the investment that needed to occur, and that is because of the level of uncertain­ty. What we are now doing in this package of bills is that, on the one hand, we are intro­ducing an emissions trading scheme, a market based mechanism that will require those businesses that are big polluters to pay for their pollution to the atmosphere. Over time that will force them to reduce the level of emissions and it will help to drive a transformation in the energy sector out of coal fired generation and into gas. But that is not going to be enough to bring on renew­able energy. We know that. A $23 price is nowhere near enough to bring on renewable energy, and so we need to bring in a series of measures that will promote renewables. If we are to have the transformation that I am talking about, and if we are going to have it in the time frame that is necessary and get to 100 per cent renewable energy as quickly as possible, we have to be building at scale, right now, large renewable energy generation capacity and also we have to be investing in a grid—and a smart grid at that—so that we can then take up the opportunities that energy efficiency provides. The coalition has gone back to an eastern European model of government regulation and government paying for everything. It is an extraordinary irony in Australian politics that the party which so prides itself on supporting business has actually abandoned business, abandoned market based mechanisms, abandoned econ­omists and instead just gone back to a government regulatory way of dealing with a cut of only five per cent—and even that will not be achieved by what the coalition is actually proposing.

We are putting in place a mechanism that will allow a massive investment in renew­able energy in Australia. The community desperately wants this investment in renew­able energy. Australia is blessed with some of the best renewable energy resources in the world and so a key component of this package is an investment in renewable energy—$10 billion to be invested in renewables over time. This will enable the community to become what the British call prosumers—that is, producers of energy and consumers of energy at the same time. For somebody to make decisions about how much they will pay to generate from their house, how much they will pay to buy in and where they can engage in energy efficiency, you need a smart grid. One of the key components in the legislation requires the Australian Energy Market Operator to state art looking at planning for 100 per cent renewable energy. When the community understands this is a key component of the legislation, they will be excited by it. Australians want to see the technology developed in Australian universities by Australian experts actually in the field in Australia. One of the things people raise with me all the time is that they are fed up with our best and brightest going overseas because there is no hope for them working for a renewable energy future in this country. This legislation emphasises the ability of this country to do good things.

It is the same with energy efficiency. We know that buildings are one of the major emitters of greenhouse gases, and in addition bringing in energy efficiency reforms gives us a healthier workplace. Go to any green building and you will find it is healthier, you have greater productivity from your work­force, fewer sick days, and it is a cheaper building to run. That is where we need to be going in this country with the built environ­ment, and this is an incentive. And this is all a jobs creator. All these things are about adding sophistication into the economy, instead of doing what the coalition wants—for us to be Asia's quarry: dig it up, cut it down and ship it overseas. Keep digging up the coal and send it out of the country; put in the gas wells and send the gas out of the country; that is all you need to do. The Greens believe it is time to look at the fact that we have hollowed out the manufacturing sector. We need to build resilience in the Australian economy; we need to build a competitive position in a low-carbon econ­omy. That is what these bills start to do.

Equally, there is a fourth pillar—the Carbon Farming Initiative, which has been through both houses of parliament. This initiative addresses the fact that rural and regional Australia can play a major role in enhancing carbon in the landscape—ena­bling farmers to do what they actually want to do but have not had the money to do, and that is engage in stewardship of the land and so improve not only their soil carbon but their management of biodiversity by revegetating areas and improving degraded areas of their properties. All of these things are in the bills. That is why it is exciting and that is what why what we are hearing is the last gasp from the coalition in opposition to this—because there is no roar out there in the community. Business is satisfied that this is going ahead and that they will engage with it.

That is where I come to the great big lie out there at the moment in the statement by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, that he will repeal these bills. I am glad to have the opportunity to put this on the record. Every time the Leader of the Opposition stands up and says he will repeal these bills he is building a bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger lie. He is not going to repeal the bills. We had all that with the Carbon Farming Initiative—day after day, 13 hours in this place, about how bad it was. It was bad, bad, bad for rural Australia and then we heard this weak little voice in the House of Representatives on the third reading saying, 'Oh, the coalition will not repeal the Carbon Farming Initiative if it gets into government'. Round one, the first major plank of the new clean energy package going through the parliament, and the coalition says they will not repeal it. Let me put it on the record that they will not repeal any of these bills. This legislation will not be repealed. It is a great big lie. I want the Leader of the Opposition to be out every day saying he is going to repeal it, because we will find exactly the same thing happening again—his opposition will fade away into nothingness.

His opposition will fade away into nothingness because business is seriously engaged. Big business in Australia is going to have to buy permits, we are going to have small businesses across the country making the changes, we are going to have consumers looking at how they can engage and we are going to have superannuation investors—with trillions of dollars in superannuation—looking at investing in the smart grid. People will be looking at investments in new renewable energy projects, and they want certainty for their investment. They need to know the terms of that investment—it is over a long period of time—and if they invest they will not thank the coalition for coming in and trying to repeal the legislation. Furthermore, when they buy these carbon permits there will be property rights and the coalition will have to compensate every big business around the country who has bought and banked carbon permits. They will have to go out there and compensate them. All I can hear is an echo around the country—this great big new lie. That is what this promise that the coalition would repeal these bills will end up being—because it will not repeal them. Therefore, I would urge the coalition to stop carrying on with this sham. The coalition refused to participate in the multi-party climate committee. Two positions were made available for the coalition to participate in that committee. If they had been serious about engaging in climate change they would have been on the committee and in the debates on how best to bring in carbon pricing in Australia in a way that was integrated across government, that ensured that the people paying were the polluters, that the community was compensated in the way it has been proposed and that is exactly what we have done.

I would like to hear the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, stand up and say that he will remove the increases to the pension and that he will reduce the tax-free threshold when he gets elected. He will not do it and it will not happen, because it is a great big new lie. That is why I think, as we get closer and closer to the next election, people will see this for what it has been. It has been a giant, hot air bubble of fear that is rapidly losing any kind of impetus in the community. Business have been coming out in the last 24 hours, saying, 'We're engaging this legislation, we're looking at how it will affect our businesses and we are working out ways we will engage with it.' What we are getting for business, the community, our children and fellow species are internally consistent pieces of legislation which will start the process of seriously reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transforming the energy sector out of coal into gas, investing in renewables, getting into energy efficiency and enabling rural and regional Australia to play its part. We will see an increasing number of people exposing the kind of nonsense that we have heard. Senator Abetz has stood up here and said that other countries are not doing anything. If you say it over and over again, all it will do is reinforce the ignorance of Senator Abetz.

California is going to an emissions trading on 1 January next year. It is the eighth largest economy in the world. Four provinces in China are going to emissions trading. That is a huge economic equation. They are going to that with a view to going to national emissions trading within a few years time. We have the European Union and New Zealand and there will be an international linkage of these.

Yesterday there was a briefing in this building by four experts, who have been brought here by the climate commission. And I note that nobody from the coalition bothered to turn up, because why would you let information get in the way of ignorance? One was a policy adviser from California and one was from the World Bank, who was an expert in the grid. They were talking about their ability to engage with Australia, to learn from each other and to link those economies. These are enormous opportu­nities for Australia and Australian busi­nesses. That is not being lost on the business sector, nor is it being lost on the next generation of academics and young people leaving our universities with skills, who want to use those skills to secure a safe climate for the future. That is what young people want. People want to align their values with their work, because it makes you happier if you align your values with your work. Young people are saying: we want to put our shoulder to the wheel in whatever we do to reduce climate change, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to use our brains and our best endeavours for the betterment of this country, the planet, our children and fellow species. And good on them.

That is why you have such a large number of people with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition across Australia. Everywhere I go young people are motivated because they are worried about species extinction. People ridicule the Greens when we talk about the fact that the polar bear, for example, is drowning in the Arctic because of the loss of the sea ice and because they cannot hunt and feed, so they are starving in some areas. We are watching a tragedy of an iconic species. But they are not alone. There are species in every ecosystem losing out because of the changes we are seeing with climate change. In Northern Australia, we have seen the impacts of the extreme flooding events last year on the Barrier Reef, with sediment all over the sea grasses and the impact on the dugongs, for example. This is in our own country. As I said, in Tasmania the sea urchin is impacting on the magnificent kelp beds on the east coast of Tasmania, not to mention on the productivity of the fishery. No matter how much carrying on there is from the opposition, trying to beat up fear, the reality is that people in Queensland know that climate change is real. They have experienced it with the extreme weather events. People in Victoria who lived through the fires understand extreme weather events and so do people all around the world witnessing what we have seen with food insecurity as a result of some of these events.

I look forward to this committee process, I look forward to representing the Greens on this committee and I look forward to getting these bills through and the legislation being operational by 1 July next year. I especially look forward to Mr Abbott, the Leader of the Opposition, defending the great big new lie that he will repeal the bills, because there is no way he will do it. The community will be horrified when they find out just what an empty promise that is. (Time expired)