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

Senator Di Natale, you are wrong. You are wrong when you say the budget did not mention climate change. You are quite wrong. It is true to say that the term was not used in the budget speech. The budget speech, Senator Di Natale, is not the budget. Your assertion that it is not mentioned in the budget papers, that large body of documentation that supports the budget, including the portfolio budget statements, Senator Di Natale, is wrong.

If I can direct you, Senator, to the portfolio budget statements for the Department of the Environment and the supporting documents in relation to the Department of the Environment, which is the lead department, as you know, in relation to this area of policy, you will see plenty of mention of the issue. Might I remind you, Senator Di Natale, since you assert in your question—again, wrongly—that the government has done nothing in relation to the matter that it is not the first time I have had to remind you, Senator Di Natale, that we took to the Paris climate change conference one of the most ambitious emissions reduction targets in the entire word—a reduction of 26 to 28 per cent of 2005 emissions by 2030 and, Senator Di Natale, as you are aware, as the regulator has reported, Australia is well in excess of its targets at the moment. That is a per capita reduction of emissions, Senator Di Natale, of 52 per cent. Perhaps, Senator Di Natale, you could equate the Senate with what other countries are proposing an emissions reductions target equivalent to a per capita reduction of 52 per cent in compliance with their Paris obligations.