Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I would also suggest that Senator McKim, when he raises climate change, may wish to look a little more thoroughly through the budget papers in terms of the measures that are there to ensure we address emissions reduction. There is $1.2 billion in this year's budget to establish Australia at the forefront of low-emissions technology, innovation and commercialisation, particularly pursuing international partnerships, a high-integrity carbon offset scheme in our Indo-Pacific region and support for four additional clean hydrogen export hubs, bringing our support there to a total of five. There is also support for Australia's hydrogen industry overall, support for the development of carbon capture technologies and hubs and support for the national soil carbon innovation challenge.

Let me also address Senator McKim's question about inequality. The greatest path to be able to achieve greater equality is by creating more jobs across our economy, by getting workforce participation to its highest possible levels and by achieving the maximum in terms of workplace participation. And that's what our government has proudly achieved, being able to drive pre-pandemic workforce participation to record highs and now seeing record numbers of Australians in jobs, which is the fastest way to address— (Time expired)