Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Chairman. I am happy to ask a question of Senator Macdonald: does he believe in climate change? That would be the first decent question to ask. Does he actually believe in doing something about it that would lead to a low-carbon future in this country? In relation to being in committee and the opposition having an opportunity to ask questions, the opposition have wasted so much time on not asking questions. They are not getting into the detail of the clauses in these bills because they have not done their homework. They do not understand the degree of detail in these bills so they have chosen to gloss over the in committee stage by frivolously grandstanding and giving second reading speeches rather than getting into the nitty-gritty of what we are here for, which is to look at the detail of how these bills will work in reality when they become legislation tomorrow.

Senator Macdonald did touch on the science. In relation to the slight touch on the science that he made, we are here to try and reduce carbon pollution. If we do not try and reduce carbon pollution, the world risks serious effects from climate change. He seems not to care about the rest of the world, only Australia. Therefore, it does not matter that other parts of the world are not acting as fast as they should be—and, in light of that, Australia should not be acting. But Australia itself faces acute risks from not acting on climate change. Australia is a very hot and dry continent. This means that, among the world's developed countries, Australia itself faces acute risks. Studies have indicated that warming of more than two degrees Celsius will overwhelm the capacity of many of the natural ecosystems in Australia to adapt. With that level of warming, for instance, the survival of the Great Barrier Reef, which Senator Macdonald referred to earlier—