Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Scientists, businesses, parliamentarians and the Australian community have been calling for the government to take action on climate change. But over seven long years they have refused to listen, stubbornly indifferent to the consequences of inaction. Now the Australian government's failures have caught the attention of international leaders, who are calling on Mr Morrison to take action on climate change and to commit to strong emissions targets. Not that long ago five international leaders, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron, wrote a letter to Mr Morrison demanding that Australia make a bold new commitment at the Climate Ambition Summit. It couldn't be a clearer message. The world is looking to Australia for leadership, and this government fails the test.

Australia has already lost 10 years to baseless fear campaigns against climate action. We can't afford to lose another 10 years. When Labor was last in government emissions came down by more than 15 per cent. Under the Liberals and the Nationals we see no such progress. Eleven years ago, almost to the day, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens voted down Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Eleven years later, as a direct consequence of that shameful act, Australia is still waiting and is still missing an effective climate change policy that will see a reduction in our emissions.