Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join this debate and echo the words of Senator Fierravanti-Wells. I express my concern and sorrow to those who have been affected by disasters recently and across time immemorial. I'm disappointed that the Greens would use these human tragedies to try to make some cheap political points, as they continue to do.

It's interesting to observe these debates. I don't always agree with Senator Roberts. His view is his own view, but is, it appears to me, a more scientific view than that of anyone else who speaks in these particular discussions. But what I'm interested in is this. When someone like Senator Roberts has a different view from Senator Rice, Senator Hanson-Young and Senator Whish-Wilson, they're treated with disdain and giggling fits and the putting-down of anyone who doesn't happen to follow their ideology. Senator Roberts made some valid points. He quotes the facts of cyclones. I saw this years ago. He has actually said when the cyclones hit, and yet the Greens would tell you that this is a new phenomenon. I remember when Yasi hit the Greens said, 'This is the worst cyclone to hit Australia since 1917.' Now Senator Rice says, 'These are the worst floods to hit South-East Asia for a long time'—40 years. What happened before those 40 years? There were floods of that magnitude and there have been at all occasions. Certainly, with the media and social media the way it is, we're more aware of these disasters when they happen. Senator Roberts gives the facts. The Greens will never dispute those because they can't. They just try to belittle the deliverer of the message.

I never enter into the debate of whether human activity is causing climate change. The climate is, of course, changing. There's no doubt about that; no-one can deny that. I never enter that debate because I don't have that scientific knowledge, but neither does anyone else in this room, and neither does everyone else at the UBC—the Ultimo Broadcasting Corporation, which used to be called the ABC. They don't have the facts either; they don't have the scientific knowledge. They just mouth the platitudes of others who have a particular agenda, and the Greens are amongst them. The Greens could not tell you about the science themselves; they just mouth the platitudes that someone has told them. I continue to ask them and they never answer me.

Australia is doing its bit. We're reducing our emissions and we help with disaster resilience—not climate resilience; disaster resilience—particularly in the Pacific. Australia emits less than 1.2 per cent of the world's emissions of carbon. If the world's emission of carbon is what's causing climate change—which it is, according to the Greens—then I ask the Greens: why are you so determined to destroy Australia's industry and our standard of living by even further reducing the emissions of carbon?

Senator Rice interjecting—