Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution on this MPI debate. I will go back a couple of steps to a couple of weeks ago when the Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, was off to visit the Queen in London and he was on his world tour and he was doing some G7 stuff. Off he went, and he got to London. We saw that he had a large entourage of media, a huge media contingent, following him. There was one big blank space on the diary where no-one knew what he was doing. We found out because the local Cornwall Bugle news leaked the story. None of the Aussie media was supposed to know about it, but that is typical of our Prime Minister, who continually likes to keep things secret. We know that from when Australia was on fire and we as a nation were trying to find our leader, the Prime Minister—'Where is he?'—when he was holidaying in Hawaii. Holidaying in Hawaii isn't a problem, but whoever thought it was a great idea to holiday in Hawaii while the nation was on fire and then tell everyone to keep it quiet—I don't know where his political radar is.

His lack of political radar—I'm talking about the Prime Minister, Mr Morrison—popped up again in Cornwall, where he was off to visit some gravesites. A lot of families in Australia would love the opportunity to go overseas not only to visit gravesites, like Mr Morrison, who was finding his 37th removed great-grandfather or something—I don't quite know. I'm led to believe he didn't find anything, so he went looking for a long lost cousin who died at birth or something—I'm not quite sure. Lo and behold, the Cornwall Bugle news took a photo of the Prime Minister popping into the local Cornwall pub, having a watercress sandwich and a pint. There's nothing wrong with having a pint of beer—everyone's got to eat—but, once again, what sort of image does that send back to Australia? Even we humble senators, let alone the Prime Minister, would wonder how it was smart to think we could do this.

Our nation has been in lockdown. Our nation has closed off overseas—well, it's closed off most people going overseas and most people coming back, depending on who you are. Some people seem to get out alright and some people seem to get back in, and if you're playing sport—say, tennis or something like that—then you can run around. That doesn't matter. That's another story. What message did that send to the Australian public? There's our Prime Minister, with his watercress sandwich and his pint, wandering around a graveyard and making sure none of the Australian media knew about it. Who thought that was a good idea? We have thousands of stranded Australians desperate to get back home—Australian citizens. They can't get back here. There are many relatives who are desperate to come back and see family. We all know someone. All of us senators and the mob in the other place have been written to, on many occasions, about families being separated and not being able to get back. But there was our tactless, radar-less Prime Minister! God almighty! I don't know whether his advisers were pulling their hair out or whether they were kept in the dark too. I think they're probably good people, but he told them to shut up and not say a word.

Where in the hell does this all come from? He's the leader of our nation! We shouldn't be surprised, although it did raise an eyebrow for me. Acting Deputy President, you and I have been through a lot of shenanigans in this building. Not you and me personally—and, if we did, I wouldn't tell anyone anyway—but we have witnessed many shenanigans, disruptions, knives after dark, backstabbing, leaders falling, others rising up and careers being destroyed. We've seen many of these things, but I did raise my eyebrows when I saw the Prime Minister in London visiting the Queen and some rocks or something and, at the same time, tweeting out he was going to meet with the US president. I'd be pretty proud if I were the prime minister who got to have a one-on-one with the US president. Lo and behold, that didn't even happen. He ended up in a threesome—we know that—and that looked a little bit awkward. That's when it all started to unfold, when, all of a sudden, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr Johnson, and Mr Biden were congratulating Mr Morrison on heading towards net zero emissions by 2050. Didn't the hand grenades go off back here! Goodness me, didn't they go off! I woke up to Phil Coorey's story in the Fin Review on Saturday, and it was on. Here we go again! Even I thought we were over this, at least for a couple of years, but, no, it was on again. We've got a couple of civil wars going on in this building. We've got a civil war going on between the Nats and the Libs. That's always been going on. We have a civil war going on between the Nats and the Nats.

Senator Canavan interjecting—

Senator Canavan, I really want to hear this. What? There's no civil war going on in the Nats at the moment? No? That's not why there are dead men walking? I think that was the story.

Then we see the rise to the top again of Mr Joyce. He's back. Mr Joyce is back—Mr Joyce, the champion of farmers. Where do I start? We know very clearly where the Nats are on Mr Morrison's view of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. They've made it quite clear. We've had all the lieutenants out there. There was Mr Pitt and Senator McKenzie, who was on the after-dark stuff on Sky, sending one hell of a kaboom to the Prime Minister when he was offshore. But I must ask this question. I have been on the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee for 16 years. My anniversary comes up next week. I've been the chair of that committee for 13 years, and I've talked to a few farmers. I don't pretend that I'm a farmer; I'm not. But, last Friday, I was doing a dairy inquiry, and the red meat industry were all there talking about how we've got to get to net zero. We know the National Farmers Federation's stance on net zero. This is the National Farmers Federation, who were joined at the hip with the Nats. Well, they were until I heard the latest. I just want to share something with the Senate if I can, please, Mr Acting Deputy President. You've forgotten more about farming than I'll ever know; I give you that. This is the NFF's media release of 20 August 2020, which is titled 'NFF calls for net carbon zero by 2050':

Australia's peak farm body has thrown its weight behind an aspirational economy-wide target of net carbon zero by 2050 (NCZ2050).

Members of the National Farmers' Federation (NFF) have voted in favour of the landmark policy—which includes strict caveats regarding fair implementation and economic viability—at an online meeting this month.

NFF President Fiona Simson said the strengthening of the NFF's climate goals was a strong reminder of the role farmers already played in tackling emissions.

She says:

"Australia's farm sector continues to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions …

Ms Simson goes on to say:

"In the past decade, agriculture has consistently reduced its emissions intensity and net emissions within the Australian economy. The red meat sector, for example, has a target of being carbon neutral by 2030 and is already making great headway on research and new technologies that will enable that transformation."

The NFF media release went on to say:

However, despite progress in the farm sector, Ms Simson warned the goal of NCZ2050—

the call for net carbon zero—

would be just an aspiration without ongoing innovation and policy support.

"We need to equip farmers with far better tools for evaluating and reporting on individual business emissions," Ms Simson said.

"This will require new investment in research and development, so we have more robust baseline information, new pathways to reduce emissions, and fewer barriers to participation in carbon markets."

Action on climate change is a central part of the NFF's 2030 Roadmap which sets a vision for agriculture to reach $100 billion in farm gate output by 2030.

Her last statement is this:

There is a huge potential for Australia to be a global leader in low-emissions agriculture.

I would love to hear the Nats explain this to the Senate and to the people of Australia: if you represent farmers and rural and regional Australia, you are joined at the hip—well, you're joined at the hip with a couple. You've got the National Farmers Federation glued to this side and you've got the Australian Trucking Association—which I'm not part of—glued to the other side of your hip, because that's been the dumping ground for failed Nats for years. How do you explain the absolute difference in opinions on net zero by 2020? I'm dying to see the Nats and the Libs go to the election with two completely different climate policies.