Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a Liberal with traditional values, I'm delighted to take part in this debate. What Senator McAllister and colleagues opposite have forgotten is that they self-described the last election as the climate change election, which they lost. Why did they lose that election? Because the Australian people sided with the coalition, because it had the sensible policy in this area.

The extreme policies of the Australian Labor Party were rejected by the Australian people. Here they are seeking to re-prosecute the case of the last election, which they so comprehensively failed. We, on this side, were blessed with the support of the Australian people, because of our sensible approach. This is yet again the Australian Labor Party saying to the Australian people, 'You got it wrong.' The Australian people, I suggest, got it right, as they do.

What I would invite the Labor Party to do is have a look at their policies and understand why they lost the last election. Indeed, somebody that might help them in that regard might be the member for Hunter, Mr Fitzgibbon. He has certain views that are not necessarily mainstream within the Australian Labor Party these days but they're very popular on the ground, I must say. I am very thankful that Mr Fitzgibbon has been frozen out of the Australian Labor Party. We, on this side, celebrate the diversity of views. We celebrate that different people will, in good faith, come to a position with different considerations. We, in a democracy, ought to celebrate that and the fact that Mr Joyce, the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister, has expressed certain views.

Let me remind those opposite that everybody on this side is absolutely convinced that trying to reduce emissions by as much as possible makes good sense. Good environmental stewardship is something that we all believe in. But something we won't believe in is the sort of nonsense that the Australian Labor Party used to fund. Who was your climate change commissioner—Professor Flannery or somebody—who said, time and time again, 'We are in a drought paradigm—the Brisbane River will never flood again'? They paid him $180,000 per annum to prognosticate for two days a week. After he made those profound prophecies, the Brisbane River flooded once and then twice, with loss of life and property, completely debunking his assertions. Another one of his assertions, which Labor funded, was that the Murray River would never flow out to sea again. As Senator Birmingham, from South Australia, would know, the Murray River has flowed back out to sea again. The objective evidence—which is there for all to see, whether you like it or not—is that the Brisbane River has flooded twice since that prophecy and the Murray River has flowed out to sea since that prophecy. Has Professor Flannery ever apologised? Has the Australian Labor Party ever apologised for unnecessarily scaring the Australian people? Of course not. It doesn't matter if it's about the environment or Medicare, they are into trying to scare people into voting for them.

We on this side have practical policies. Rather than scaring people to vote for us, we help them come to the understanding that we are on their side and that we actually support their aspirations. We want the very best for our country, and that is why good environmental stewardship, as shown by the coalition—the Liberal and National Party together in lock step—has delivered for the Australian people. In return, the Australian people have very kindly delivered for the coalition at the ballot box. Here we are watching the Australian Labor Party trying to reprosecute their failed election campaign of 2019. I suggest those on the other side get with the program, the program of the Australian people, which is: 'Let's do something about good environmental stewardship, but don't over-egg it.'