Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, you'll hear them carping, because they don't like to be confronted with the truth, but that is the truth. That's what killing off Labor's CPRS scheme has done. Thanks to the Greens, even though they'll carp, carry on, interject and try to put another spin on it, it's their actions, not ours, that have added millions of tonnes of carbon pollution. Let's also not forget that two Liberals were prepared to cross the floor to support Labor, so disgusted were they with the Greens and their dirty deal with the Liberals. That's how bad that deal was. Now the Greens are in here trying to present themselves as honest brokers. I'd say they're green with envy, not green environmentalists.

In Mr Morrison, we've got a PM who has zero credentials on any commitment to mitigating climate change. We've got a PM who, instead, wants to cling to power at all costs. Who could forget that it was this Prime Minister who brought a lump of coal into the parliament, proudly declaring, 'Don't be afraid. Don't be scared. It won't hurt you'? He is a PM who won't support renewables, as he's on the record claiming that wind and solar are unreliable. Remember when he said that the wind doesn't blow all the time and the sun doesn't shine all the time? Then there was his scare campaign against electric vehicles, ably assisted by Senator Cash. The claim was that we'd all lose our weekends. Well, Mr Morrison and Senator Cash, I've recently purchased an electric vehicle. I did that because—guess what?—there's not one electric vehicle on the government's lease vehicles for senators and MPs, not one. So I went out and got my own. It's not one of the expensive ones; it's an MG, at about $44,000—still unaffordable for most Australians because the Morrison government don't put one ounce of subsidy behind that car. But, for the record, my weekend just got a whole lot better with that car. My MG is at home right now and, if my partner's been using it and it needs charging, on most days it will be taking advantage of the solar panels on my roof. I'm a lot better off already.

As I said at the start of my contribution, WA farmers are pushing back against the Morrison government's failure to take emissions seriously. They really are. If you haven't introduced yourselves to AgZero2030, make sure you see the sort of work that they are doing.

One of the things that I am most proud of is the WA Labor government. Again, you won't hear the Greens going on about the sorts of energy policies it's pursuing. I'm also proud to say that, despite many years of the Liberals trying to sell off and privatise WA power, it's probably the key thing that got McGowan across the line the first time we won the state election. Colin Barnett and the Liberals were hell-bent on selling Western Power, and Labor was hell-bent on making sure it wasn't sold. The WA Labor government is investing in solar panels. We had Onslow off the grid recently because of the use of solar panels, storage and good systems controls. We're doing microgrids, not just in the rural areas but in metro areas as well.

But, as I say, you won't hear the Greens congratulating WA Labor and other governments on that, because it's all about their moment in the sun. With this motion, which is completely over the top and absolutely designed to get them a little moment on social media, they're another party focused on their internals and not on what is really happening.