Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Let's be clear about what this legislation aims to do. This legislation, although it is dressed up as a bill to address electricity prices, is a sham. The main purpose of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Bill 2019, is as a stick to bully power companies, to keep unreliable, old and dirty coal-fired power stations open longer. That's what it is aiming to do. Just think about that today. Today, as we are here in Canberra, the catastrophic fire conditions in New South Wales—the first time that catastrophic fire conditions have been declared in New South Wales—is the sign, if ever we knew one, of the fact that we are in a climate emergency. The fire emergencies that we are facing at the moment in eastern Australia are a direct reflection of our climate emergency.

The timing of this bill could not be starker. What we should be having in this parliament today is legislation to deal with the fact that we are in a climate emergency—legislation that would be keeping people safe rather than legislation that is just going to make our climate emergency worse. It is going to continue the pollution for longer. It is going to prop up coal-fired power stations and allow them to continue for longer. It's the exact reverse direction to what this parliament should be considering today.

We need to get serious about this. We need to get rid of legislation like this. It is all about the government supporting their corporate mates, supporting the people who are deeply invested in coal, gas and oil and who just want business as usual to continue, but we can see what business as usual is creating. The conditions around us are because of our climate emergency. Yes, Australia has had bushfires before, but we have never had catastrophic fire conditions in the places where they have been declared today. We know what needs to happen and that is for us to get out of coal, gas and oil.

As people know, I've just had leave. My wife, Penny, died two months ago. Penny was one of Australia's leading climate scientists. In the aftermath of her death there have been outpourings of the importance of the work that she did as a climate scientist in leading and being part of teams with people saying, 'These are the projections for how Australia's climate is going to change.' Thirty years of work of those climate scientists, which Penny was a critical part of for the last 30 years, to say, 'Wake up, Australia. Here is the science. Here is what's going to happen to our way of life, to our safety.' We need to be taking action, so I've returned to this parliament on a mission. I have a purpose. Penny and I, for the last 30 years, had been a team of her being the scientist and me being the activist and then the politician, of putting the science out front, saying: 'Here it is. Here is what the impact of climate change is going to be.' Whether it's about the extreme fire risk that is putting people at risk; whether it's about the rising sea levels that are putting people at risk; whether it's about the change in the climate of our wheat growing areas, which is going to make them the same as the climate of the central deserts, this is what the science says. This is what this parliament needs to be paying attention to now. Instead, we are here debating legislation that is only going to make our climate emergency worse.

As I said, I am here with a purpose and that is, with the Greens, to continue to work to make sure that we do declare a climate emergency, that we do take action that is going to really be keeping people safe, rather than legislation like this which is just bullying companies to try and keep old, dirty, polluting coal-fired power stations open for longer.