Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

But three of the best ones, and they have probably joined the club too. Really, it is such an irrational process they have engaged in; they seek to engage in an irrational debate. But on this side of the chamber we know what we have to do and we know why we have to do it. I for one am not going to be condemned by my children and my grandchildren, and everyone else's children and grandchildren, for being part of the generation that probably consumed more of the Earth's resources than any other and that knew about the impact of climate change but refused to stand up and take responsibility for doing something about it when we could do something about it. We know, and every economist will tell you, that the earlier we act to reduce human emissions the cheaper it will be. John Howard knew it because that was the result of Peter Shergold's study. That is why the coalition had a plan which was effectively a carbon tax plan, and that is why we have one too. We know that the sooner we act the cheaper it will be for our economy.

We are not doing it for me; we are doing it for the next generation and the generations after that. We are taking responsibility for what has happened before us, but previous generations did know the impact of what we now know—that is, human induced climate change is actually happening. So we have an absolute obligation to act. We have a responsibility to future generations to act. We have an absolute responsibility to the environment to ensure that the market can help solve this problem for us. We as legislators need to do that. We need to put in place those market based signals and put a price on pollution.

That will drive many new industries. It will certainly change in many respects the way in which we work in our economy. But we will make sure that nine out of 10 households are not worse off. In fact they will be better off because we will put in place a compensation package to ensure that, whatever the impact of climate change is on them—and extensive economic modelling has been done on that—they will be compensated by the very tax that is raised from the biggest polluters. So we put the price signal on through the 500 biggest polluters, raise the money and compensate people with that money.

I have heard people say that that is just the money churn, but what they forget is how the market operates and how businesses will seek to become more cost-effective and more efficient. It will drive new technologies. It will drive R&D. People will seek to reduce their electricity bills. People will seek to reduce a whole range of polluting activities because that will now add a cost and, if they can avoid that cost, they will. If they do not try to avoid it, someone else will come along with a different style, a different technique or a different process, and they will avoid the cost and they will be cheaper. That is the way the market works. That competition will be there and it will drive innovation; it will drive a change in the way that we act in our environment. It is essential to this country that we do that not only in the cities but also in the country.

We are not the only country that is acting. Right around the world people are well ahead of us in what they are doing to fight human induced climate change and its impacts. It is happening all around the world. We really need to get over this scare campaign, this irrational position that is constantly put by the opposition. Accept the science and let us get on with our responsibility as legislators and as Australians to do this thing.