Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It might surprise you, but over Christmas I read Malcolm Turnbull's memoirs. He very clearly labelled Senator Canavan as one of the 'terrorists', as he calls them, within his own party—the culture warriors who did so much to derail climate action in this country and blow up any agenda for climate action in the last five years.

With the contribution from Senator Canavan tonight, it's very clear that nothing has changed. Interestingly, Malcolm Turnbull also says that the right wing within his own party, the culture warriors, are also socialists. I would have to agree with him based on what I've heard tonight: a Nationals senator rallying against free trade deals. That's what we heard in here. It was a tirade of anti-free-trade, anti-farmer abuse from Senator Canavan. Perhaps, in some senses, his concerns around free trade deals are very much in line with the Greens. So there you go, Senator Canavan—that's something I think we can all agree on!

But clearly he's failed to stop even his own Prime Minister from putting into place a so-called 2050 climate ambition target. But, a day after that was announced, we get Mr Barnaby Joyce in the other place and the Deputy Prime Minister in this country, when asked about the Prime Minister's new-found 2050 ambition—which, by the way, has only come because a new US administration has decided to show some global leadership and he's looking for some kind of face-saving gesture—go: '2050? I'm not going to be here in parliament then. None of us are. In fact, I'll probably be dead.' That's how serious the Nationals are taking this issue. That's how short-sighted they are on this most important of issues.

When you look at putting out climate targets for another 30 years, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a complete joke. You'd also be forgiven for not trusting this mob. In the last eight years since they've assumed power in this country, they have literally torn up every existing climate policy that was put in place—a carbon price, a clean energy package—and they've ramped up fossil fuel exploration, especially during COVID, whilst not providing a single credible policy to tackle global warming. And it's worth highlighting that Australia has, within this past decade, gone from being a global leader on climate action to a global embarrassment.

It's been particularly astounding this week to watch Senator Canavan and the other Nats roll out and call for agriculture to be excluded from any 2050 climate ambition. It's particularly galling, because there is no other industry more vulnerable to climate change than agriculture. There is no other industry more vulnerable.

The Bureau of Meteorology told us at Senate estimates recently that, even on existing emissions trajectories, a business-as-usual scenario, we're looking at three to four degrees warming globally by the end of this century. Think about that: record heat, drought, extreme weather and fire, which we have seen in recent years, are going to get much, much worse.

There was a public rebuke for the LNP by some of their key stakeholders, the National Farmers Federation. They don't want agriculture excluded from the 2050 climate ambition. They believe the farming community in this country has an important contribution to make. And it's not just the National Farmers Federation. The national position of climate is at odds with various agricultural bodies—Meat & Livestock Australia, Farmers for Climate Action. Meat & Livestock Australia, who are potentially facing a carbon tariff, has an industry target to be carbon neutral by not 2050 but 2030. Farmers for Climate Action also support an economy-wide target for 2050. So clearly farmers' groups think this is really important, yet the farmer's friends, the National Party, continue to come into this place and deny climate, deny climate action and turn their back on rural and regional agricultural communities in this country.

The reality of this situation is it's not just Europe in our free trade negotiations that have said that they plan to put in place a carbon tariff. President Biden went to the last election promising this is something the US would look at. And we know there are negotiations between the UK and the EU at G7 meetings to talk about carbon border adjustments, whether we like it or not. Even Japan, our biggest customer of coal and gas, is looking at making a decision in July. Farmers should be benefitting from a carbon price in these countries. If this government hadn't come in here and ripped up the carbon tax, if this government hadn't come in here and ripped up a price on carbon, if this government hadn't come in here and ripped up the Carbon Farming Initiative, where Australian farmers get to sell their carbon abatement credits into export markets, for example, in Europe, they'd be getting $50 a tonne for their carbon abatement credits.

Now, industries in Australia like meat and livestock and other farming and agricultural industries are facing a $50 a tonne tariff. We estimate that since this government ripped up the Carbon Farming Initiative and brought in their Emissions Reduction Fund, which has been almost a complete failure, Australian farmers have lost out to the tune of $12 billion on this lucrative market of carbon trading. This is purely because of the ideology of a few 'terrorists within the Liberal Party', using the words of Malcolm Turnbull, like Senator Canavan and others in this place. They've held this country to ransom and farmers and agriculturalists in rural and regional Australia are paying. And they're paying in so many ways. There have to be incentives for our farmers to be involved in climate action. That is what we're talking about here: bringing all our country with us, bringing the whole nation with us to actually put in place not just 2050 targets but 2030 targets based on science. Unless we have 2030 targets, we will never achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Do not trust this mob. They have done everything to avoid even talking about climate change in the last 10 years. Do not trust them on their track record. Without the Greens in parliament to hold them to account, we will get nothing. There needs to be a political pathway for change. You need to vote Greens.