Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Siewert, I use the word 'terrorist' in the true meaning—they are terrorising. That is exactly what they are doing. They are terrorising people. They're terrorising employees, they're terrorising people in this building and they're terrorising the general public. That is exactly what they are doing. They are inflicting fear and terror on the general public.

This government does take environmental change—climate change, warming, cooling, whatever is going on—seriously, and we are committed to doing our part to fulfil Australia's commitment. We are on track to not only meet our 2030 targets but, in fact, exceed them.

I think it's important that we play our part in addressing all types of pollution, whether it's emissions or plastics. There's a whole range of factors that are affecting our environment. We must play our part. But, throughout history, the temperature of the earth has been dictated by sunspot activity. We have no control over sunspot activity. There has been the medieval warm period, where the earth warmed. There have been ice ages, and, in fact, a lot of scientists predict currently that we are heading into a period of low sunspot activity. That doesn't take away from our obligation to play our part, but it is certainly not the case that the temperature of the earth is completely controlled by carbon emissions. That is a falsehood. That is not a fact.

If we are serious about lowering our emissions and if we are really serious about Australia meeting and exceeding our targets, lowering our emissions and still having reliable, affordable, dispatchable energy, then I refer to Senator Lambie's question during question time: why are we not looking at nuclear power? This has to be a consideration in our energy mix if we are to meet our targets and not destroy our economy and our way of life. If we look at the developed nations around the world that have low emissions—countries in Europe, the UK and America—they all have nuclear power as part of their energy mix. In fact, all of the developed countries that have low-emissions footprints have either nuclear power in their energy mix or access to large hydro schemes. So I would say that, if we are serious about meeting and exceeding our targets, we should be looking at nuclear power: Canada, 15 per cent; the UK and America, 20 per cent. We have an abundance of fuel here in Australia. (Time expired)