Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Families and Communities) Share this | Hansard source

I'll just try and recover my composure. It's always great going after Senator Macdonald! I've been working, one way or another, on climate and environment policy since about the turn of the century. When you say it like that, it's quite a long time.

There's one observation that I always make if I'm talking to a group of people that are keen for change, that want to see change. It's this: in politics, whatever the issue, whatever reform you're prioritising, opportunities come and go. The window opens up for change. There's a moment when the public is ready to have the debate. You have to act at that time, because often—not always, but often—the window closes again. I was very active around 2006, when a very big window opened up. People might remember that Al Gore made a documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, about the human and biophysical costs of allowing climate change to go unchecked, and it caught the public's imagination. Australia was gripped by the millennium drought, and Sir Nicholas Stern issued his report. He described climate change as the biggest market failure the world has ever seen.

All across the country, here and globally, popular support for action accelerated. The Walk Against Warming saw 100,000 people turn out across the country. A Labor government was elected. It was elected with a mandate for action. My colleague Senator Cameron spoke earlier in this debate and reprised the sorry events, the folly of the Greens political party's decision-making in 2009, when they voted against a progressive government that sought action on climate. That was a golden opportunity for reform. It was a golden opportunity for reform not realised, and we have been condemned to years of inaction as a consequence of that decision, that failure to understand that an opportunity presented for reform and for action and that that opportunity failed to be taken. We can't allow an opportunity like that to come and go again, because I would put it to you that we're on the cusp of a moment like this again.

A record share of Australians accept the science of climate change. We can find anyone on the street to explain this to Senator Macdonald. Ipsos had a survey out in the last couple of days showing that 46 per cent of Australians now agree that climate change is entirely or mainly caused by human activity. That is the highest share since Ipsos started asking the question back in 2010. Another 33 per cent say climate change is partly caused by human activity. Sixty-five per cent of the people who answered the survey say that climate change is already affecting Australia, and it's not a challenge for the future; it's a challenge for today. These same people know that climate change is causing the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef and they know that the government isn't doing anything about it. They know that, because of the attitudes of people like Senator Macdonald, nothing has happened in six years. All that has ever happened is attempts, over and over again, to destroy those institutions put in place by Labor to effect change in the carbon intensity of our economy. The share of Australians that rate the federal government's management of climate change as 'fairly or very good' has fallen from 18 per cent, which was a pretty pathetic benchmark, to just 13 per cent in the past year. I tell you what: those in areas where people care about this can't be given much hope by having someone like Senator Macdonald come into this chamber and make the speech he just made. He rejects the science, he rejects the impacts of the science on assets like the Great Barrier Reef—and he's said it repeatedly in this place—and he rejects our obligation to act. He rejects the idea that we are part of an international community and that we have a responsibility to act.

On the Labor side, we know that people are hungry for action now, as they were 10 years ago. People are hungry for a response, and we will not let them down. In the last few days, my colleague Mr Butler laid out the approach that we will take. We will reduce pollution by 45 per cent by 2030. We'll have 50 per cent renewables by that time. We will have net zero pollution by 2050. We'll invest in renewable energy. We will slash power bills. We will support solar batteries. We will work with the industry to cut pollution by extending the safeguard mechanism that is there and extending the coverage of that mechanism. We know that trade-exposed industries will need assistance to adjust. We'll establish a $300 million strategic industries reserve fund to work with industry to implement solutions to reduce their emissions. We will cut pollution in the land sector, revitalising and reforming the Carbon Farming Initiative.

We want to see a revolution in our transport sector. We know that transport emissions are going up, and we also know that Australians are paying too much, spending too much on petrol at the bowser, because Australia's vehicle fleet is simply not efficient enough. People are paying more than they ought to for petrol. It is a direct hit on cost of living, and we will put in place policies to improve the fuel efficiency of the Australian fleet. We'll introduce vehicle emissions standards which are broadly consistent with the standards in the US, because we know that a transition of our vehicle fleet is essential. We'll electrify Australia's national road networks with a $100 million grant program to match industry as well as state and local government proposals to establish fast charging, and that will be critical in rural and regional Australia to make sure that electric vehicles can be used in those areas. We'll re-engage internationally, and we'll kickstart the hydrogen economy with a $1 billion plan.

The response to all of this from the Liberals has been predictable, but the response from the Greens political party will be deeply dispiriting to many people, because progressive Australians are hoping that perhaps the Greens politicians have learnt something from the past. In December this year, we will be coming up to a very important anniversary. It'll be 10 years since the Greens political party, here in this very chamber, teamed up with the most conservative forces in our political system to stop the CPRS. I've been looking through the Hansard from that day—those who voted aye and those who voted nay—and it's an extraordinary list. Scott Ludlam is listed just under Barnaby Joyce. Christine Milne is listed just after former Senator McGauran and just before Nick Minchin. Bob Brown's listed: he's there just after Brandis and just before Bushby. There has never been any serious public reflection on this period—never any apology for that decision by the Greens political party, which condemned Australia to a decade of inaction.

It leads us to today. In bringing forward this misleading matter of public importance today, all the worst aspects of the Greens political party are on display, just as they were in 2009: the same unwillingness to consider ideas other than their own; the same lack of interest in the hard work that is required to build a broad coalition across industry and community to gain support for difficult reform; the same lack of interest in the work required to speak to more than 10 per cent of the population, to actually speak to the majority of Australians rather than a narrow group of people who already agree with you; and the same naked determination to differentiate themselves from the Labor Party at any cost, even if it means crippling prospects for real environmental reform. It is depressing indeed to see these tawdry motivations so obviously on display today.

I opened my remarks talking about windows for change, the way they open and the way they close. In the coming months, all Australians will be asked to make a decision about the next government, and Labor will be seeking a mandate from Australians to take serious action on climate change. We'll be seeking a mandate for a bold transition, and we'll do so knowing what it will really take to do that in a way that secures the livelihoods of the communities that will be affected and knowing what is required to truly ensure that our industries transition and thrive in the new economy. The truth is the only way to get a government that will take action on climate is to vote Labor.