Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, this action is not being taken in isolation. By the end of this year, around one billion people around the world will live in a city, province or country with a price on carbon. This includes provinces in China, our largest trading partner. Last week, the first of China's seven pilot emissions trading schemes kicked off in Shenzhen. The scheme will cover 600 companies responsible for 40 per cent of the city's emissions. The start of the scheme was not marked by the city being wiped off the map. Nor has the Shenzhen stock market crashed. In fact, at the end of the first day of the scheme, it closed not down but up.

For years the opposition has claimed that the rest of the world is not acting on climate change, and on more than 50 occasions they have said that China would never act. What we know is that a leader of the opposition is on the record as saying: 'China is never going to hit themselves with an emissions trading scheme.' Well, that is wrong. It is absolutely wrong, and we can see action taking place in China now. The fact is that the rest of the world is acting. With one billion people living in a place now with an emissions trading scheme in effect, this shows that the world is acting not only to contend with climate change but, of course, acting in line with Labor's approach. It is about time that those opposite started acknowledging the fact that this is part of a global movement to tackle climate change. It is the responsible thing to do, and, of course, that is why it is left to the Labor government to take this important action. (Time expired)

Opposition senators interjecting—