Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Lambie for her question. There is no doubt that the Australian government takes the issue of climate change and emissions reduction very seriously, and I'm pleased that Senator Lambie is calling for action. I can take Senator Lambie and the Senate through some of the measures that we actually are taking which demonstrate how seriously we take this issue. When Australia makes commitments to reduce emissions, unlike perhaps some other nations, we take those very seriously and we deliver on those commitments. It's not just making a commitment; it is about delivering it.

Between 2005 and 2020, we reduced our emissions by 20 per cent. If we look around the world, there are many countries in the OECD—in fact the average is about nine per cent, so we're about double the emissions reductions of advanced economies. If you look at the G20, about half of G20 economies have seen their emissions increase during that period. So we take that very seriously. We take seriously our investment in renewables, which, in relation to solar, is at the highest levels in the world on a per capita basis, much higher on a per capita basis than other countries.