Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will not be supporting this motion. We did approach the Greens to amend this motion into a form that we could support, but we were unable to reach agreement with them. We had been seeking to find a common ground on these devastating bushfires, because we believe that's what Australians want us to do and what they expect from their politicians. Regrettably, some have been deliberately seeking to score political points, and we won't engage in that kind of behaviour while families are grieving, communities are in danger and courageous Australians are fighting these fires. But we do believe that it is the responsible thing to do, when we are through this immediate crisis, to focus on what we have to do to keep Australians safe, with climate change making Australia's fire seasons longer and more intense.