Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the Greens for bringing forward some debate on these important issues, but, as the nation well understands, we need governments to be able to make decisions that change the nature of our economy, in terms of our energy-intensive nature. Labor certainly believes that strong action on climate change is needed to protect not only our environment but the prosperity of future generations and our international obligations. We know that we need to modernise our economy and adapt to inevitable climate impacts. Labor has always been deeply committed to these principles, and it was a privilege to be in this place as a member of the last Labor government, seriously working through these issues. We know, when we see the impact around our nation from this summer, what a devastating impact climate change can have on our nation. As a party, our core principles and our approach to climate change policy remain certain and unshakeable. It is, indeed, why we have committed Australia to being a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, and this is consistent with achieving the goals of the Paris accord.

We know that we can do this as a nation and we know that the sooner we start doing this the better. The Greens might say, 'Well, why not vote for this legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Climate Trigger) Bill 2020?' Actually, 'the sooner we start doing this' is not just about rapidly dreaming up a clause that comes down on the economy like a tonne of bricks, with the job impacts that go with it. We need to make step-by-step changes to transition our economy and to transition jobs—something that is sorely lacking from this government. What the Australian people should be listening for from this government is their plan for jobs in a carbon constrained future. Is this government going to continue pretending that a carbon constrained future is not on the cards? Where are the practical steps that you as a government will take to put us on this path? It's all very well to have a Prime Minister who now seems to be prepared to start talking about the need to adapt to climate change when, it seems to me, the words have only very recently started to come out of his mouth at all.

We need a nation that is committed to high wages, high incomes and lower power costs. We in the Labor Party truly believe that this is possible, because we can already see greater benefits to the national economy from being on this transition plan. That is what modelling shows us relative to continuing with business as usual, which will inevitably have some massively dislocating impact on the economy in the future. What's very clear is that the environmental impact is already having a massively dislocating impact on our society and on our economy.

We as a nation must not only do the right thing by future generations but also do the right thing by our economic interests today and tomorrow. We have a government that seems prepared to act to the detriment of the safety and prosperity of all Australians. This government refuses to adapt, even though every state and territory government—Labor and Liberal alike—have recognised these issues themselves. Australia has the potential to become an energy superpower, but only if we have the leadership to bring Australia together to seize the opportunities in front of us as a nation.