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

Here we are, some 11 years since the Greens sided with the National Party and voted down the CPRS. It's really frustrating that we're here again today, debating this urgency motion, without a pathway forward for how we as a country and as a parliament are going to deal with the very urgent case of combating climate change. We had this debate this time last year, a decade after opposition to the CPRS triggered what has become known colloquially as the climate wars in this country, and still there isn't a pathway forward. Still people come into this chamber and bicker and point and say, 'We're going to be better than you guys,' and, 'You're not doing enough.' I think the people of Australia deserve more leadership from politicians in this place. Communities are worried about what's happening to our climate. People are worried about what it means for their jobs. Our kids are worried about what it means for their future. And yet here we are, 11 years on, having pretty much the same discussion. That's the depressing nature of this.

The Greens come in here holier than thou on this subject, but you are complicit too. You come in here and point the finger and vote things down, as you did 11 years ago, and look where we are now.