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

I speak to this motion in a sense to try to find some way in which to dispel the myths and absurdities that Senator Cormann espoused through his contribution to the motion. Before doing that, I have to say that there were two areas where I could bring myself to agree with Senator Cormann in his contribution. One is that, no, the sky will not fall in come 1 July. Senator Cormann acknowledged that, and I certainly acknowledge that as well. The sky is certainly not going to fall in. We are going to continue on. Our economy will continue to grow. We will continue to have a sustainable future and a future where we look at our economy and our economic growth in a sustainable way which has an impact on the emissions and pollution that our economic activity creates.

The other area which Senator Cormann referred to is what the future is going to be like by 2050. I think that is a really important thing for us to think about, and that is exactly why we are acting now to ensure that when we are gone from this place and 2050 comes about—and even 2060, 2070 and so on—our planet, and our nation as part of it, continues to be a planet that we have left sustainable and things continue as best they can, both economically and environmentally. Of course that is not for us; that is for our future generations. That is exactly why the Labor government is acting now. That is exactly why various other nations around the world either are already acting or have already acted when it comes to addressing carbon pollution.

Senator Cormann says Australia is heading in the wrong direction. I think it is about time he comes to understand that Australia, with a number of other countries, is actually leading in ensuring that we address something that is fundamental to our planet. It is so fundamental that we are not alone in addressing the emissions that are continuing to rise in nations around us. Countries such as China, which at this point in time has become the largest emitter, are addressing the issue of carbon pricing and are also looking at introducing emissions trading schemes. China is looking to do so in something like seven provinces and will take that pilot as an example of how they can introduce a national emissions trading scheme. The reason they are doing that, and the reason Australia, Europe and a number of other countries on the globe are addressing this issue in the context of introducing an emissions trading scheme, is that they know one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways of addressing carbon is through a new economic model—that is, emissions trading.

Of course that is in complete opposition to the position of the current opposition, which is to have a direct action policy, which we know is a much more expensive method of addressing carbon. But we also know that it was not always the opposition's policy to have direct action. We know that once upon a time many senators and members of the opposition were very much for introducing an emissions trading scheme. I only have to look at a number of quotes that are on the public record from opposition MPs such as Julie Bishop, who said:

The Liberal Party has a policy of both protecting the planet and protecting Australia. We support, in principle, an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) ...

Fancy that, eh? And Greg Hunt said:

... the market system is a preferable regime as it better ensures that the polluter bears full responsibility for the cost of his or her conduct.

Funny, that, isn't it, Senator Cormann! Some of your fellow opposition members who are still part of the opposition and who currently make up your team—unlike former Prime Minister John Howard, who I know was also very much a fan of an emissions trading scheme but has now gone from this parliament—have 'changed their minds', so to speak, and no longer support an emissions trading scheme, which was once supported by their former Prime Minister. For example, Christopher Pyne said:

The idea that somehow the Liberal Party is opposed to an emissions trading scheme is quite frankly ludicrous.

Your fellow opposition member Christopher Pyne in July 2009 on Sunday Agenda said that to be opposed to an emissions trading scheme is 'quite frankly ludicrous', Senator Cormann. And here it is: you come into this place with a motion which claims that Australia is heading in the wrong direction by introducing an emissions trading scheme. We in government on this side of the chamber know—very much so—that the longer we delay taking serious action to reduce our emissions the more costly it will certainly be for our economy in future. That is why we need to act now—very much so. We need to introduce an emissions trading scheme now to reduce that cost on our economy going forward and also to do something about emissions.

In fact, the International Monetary Fund, which is tasked with advising governments about how best to manage their economies in the context of prevailing global economic conditions, with that in mind said two important things last year, and I want to share those things with Senator Cormann. One was: 'The Australian economy is strong and well placed to withstand current fragilities in the international economy. Australia is right to be introducing a carbon price starting with a fixed price and moving to an emissions trading scheme.' The International Monetary Fund, and OECD, support for a carbon price went on. The IMF said:

We support the proposed introduction of a carbon price as part of a transition to a permits trading system to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

On top of that, we have the incredible force and weight of scientific evidence, which has also led us to the position of acting on climate change and introducing a carbon price. But of course that scientific evidence was around before 2007. In fact, that scientific evidence was the reason that the coalition went to the 2007 election on the platform of delivering a carbon price through an emissions trading scheme, something which, as I said earlier, was stated by many members of the opposition. There are a number of myths that continue to be raised by opposition members, including Senator Cormann, about climate change itself and about why the Gillard Labor government is acting, through an emissions trading scheme, and those myths certainly need to be corrected in the context of the motion before us. One of those myths is that the climate is not changing and that the science is wrong. I have heard a number of times those senators and members alluding to that very myth. Of course, governments do have a responsibility, I believe, to follow peer reviewed scientific advice. That scientific advice, which has been presented to the government, is that the climate is changing. It is that greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity are contributing to that changing climate. And it is that, if climate change is not tackled, it will cause significant human, environmental and economic costs. So I ask Senator Cormann: on the basis of that scientific advice, does he really think it is in Australia's interests not to act and address climate change through reducing our emissions? Does he really think that Australia, as he says, is heading in the wrong direction?

Organisations that have given the government this kind of advice are none other than the CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Academy of Science—and, of course, across the globe we have also had from 2001 to 2010 the warmest decade on record. Each decade, in fact, in Australia since the 1940s has been warmer than the last. These findings are backed by the overwhelming majority of climate scientists whose research has been published. It has been peer reviewed. It is in scientific journals. You can go online and read it. It is out there for all to read and see, every day and night that you want to read about it. But those senators opposite would have us believe that the science is wrong and therefore the government is going in the wrong direction.

Another myth that Senator Cormann and other senators have referred to is that Australia is acting alone when it comes to addressing climate change—another furphy from those senators opposite. That is certainly not right. Australia is certainly not acting alone; in fact, Australia is not even the first when it comes to introducing an emissions trading scheme. Many countries around the world are taking action to reduce their carbon pollution, including putting a price on carbon. In fact, 90 countries have made pledges in the United Nations international climate change conference to reduce their carbon pollution by 2020 and beyond. This does, in fact, include the United States and China, the two biggest emitters. Many countries also already have carbon taxes, carbon prices or emissions trading schemes in place. These include 27 countries in the European Union and Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, New Zealand and the United States, in relation to California. Several other countries have legislated or are planning carbon prices to start in the next two to three years. These include South Korea, South Africa, Mexico and the seven Chinese cities I referred to earlier, all of which have a combined population of more than 200 million people.

This is significant because we know that in addressing climate change we all have to act together as a globe and do something about it. Carbon pollution certainly does not fit within the nice boundaries of each country. It is only through coming together and coordinating our efforts, by trying to change the behaviour of some of those biggest emitters, through introducing an emissions trading scheme, that we will act in unison to reduce those emissions. And that is exactly what we are doing by joining with some of the nations in our region and also some of the nations on the other side of the globe.

I understand that Senator Cormann and those other opposition senators have also referred to the fact that Australia's carbon price that we are introducing is one of the biggest in the world.