George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

This is not the first time that you have asked me about our emissions targets. You must not have been listening, Senator Waters, because, as I have pointed out to you many times, and as I will continue to point out to you, Australian has one of the most ambitious emissions reduction targets in the world. I understand, Senator Waters, that you and your colleagues from the Greens party would wish to have even more ambitious emissions reduction targets—unrealistically ambitious emissions reduction targets. But our emissions per capita will, under the targets that the Turnbull government has announced, fall by 50 to 52 per cent per capita by 2030, which is greater than the decrease in emissions by the United States, the European Union, Japan, Korea or Canada. We have announced that, through to 2030, we will have among the most ambitious emissions targets in the world.

Senator Waters, those are the facts. Those are the commitments that Australia made in Paris. I know that you think that we should be even more heroic in our targets than we have been. But, if we are leading the world, as we now are in our per capita emissions targets, I do not think, Senator Waters, that you can ask for more than that.