Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Labor Party for raising this very important issue, because, from what I have just heard, what has just been highlighted to this chamber is that our tactics are working. We are on a path to lowering emissions through technology, not taxes. Private enterprise is working with government to achieve a lower emissions future. It is exactly what this side of the chamber has been saying for the last couple of years. Everyone wants to focus on the fact we haven't got a carbon tax and that, therefore, without a carbon tax, we're not addressing net zero, we're not addressing carbon emissions without a carbon tax. Well, what a crock. What an absolute load of rubbish, which has just been proven by Senator Chisholm's contribution.

Yes, through our road map to a lower emissions future, through our technology not taxes policies, private enterprise is getting on with the job, as are our government agencies. Australia has reduced its emissions by 20 per cent since 2005, the majority of which has occurred since we took government in 2013. That is only one per cent less than what has been achieved by the EU. We have done it through technology, not taxes. We have done it by expanding consumer choice, not restricting it. We have done it by partnering with the private sector, not hitting them with a big stick. We have done it by consolidating our advantage. We have done it by seeing Australia adopt rooftop solar panels at a rate higher than anywhere else on the planet. That is because we have not taxed people out of the market. We have not made it impossible.

What I hear on the ground, even from people who absolutely believe in climate change, who absolutely support moving towards a low-emissions future, is that they are scared for their future. I've heard from farmers who acknowledge climate change, who live with climate change, who've lived through drought and with flood, who deal with the threat of bushfires year in, year out. What they don't want to see is them being locked off their farms for some arbitrary native vegetation target that does not achieve carbon abatement that is as good as its alternatives. But that's what we saw the last time the Labor Party was in power. We saw farmers lose their right to farm. They ignored the potential for soil carbon capture and storage through cropping enterprises. They ignored the potential to reduce methane emissions from livestock by changing dietary requirements. Since we've been in power the CSIRO, working with James Cook University, have developed fantastic seaweed based feedstock for the livestock industry that is achieving huge emissions reductions, phenomenal emissions reductions. These people should be rewarded, not lambasted because they haven't implemented a tax.

I've heard from miners worried that we're just going to shut the industry overnight, which is also a crock. There are 129 new coal fired power stations currently under construction by countries that have signed up to net zero. Guess whose coal they want. They want ours, because ours burns more cleanly and more efficiently. So I'm not shutting the coal industry, and I won't support any moves that do. I back the mining industry, because that's where we get our lithium from for the batteries that underpin our renewable energy.

Thank you, Labor, for highlighting all the progress that we as a nation have made. I wish we would all get behind the achievements that both private enterprise and government agencies have made to get us to 20 per cent reductions, to get us on the pathway to Paris. (Time expired)