Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

Well, clearly we have in Senator Canavan a man who has the courage of his convictions—so much so that he's prepared to hold the whole government hostage in his race to get what he wants in his unscientific version of what is in the national interest. But there is no doubt that we are in a very real race across the globe to act to the benefit of both our environment and the economy. Leaving it—as some would argue and as this government wants to do, it seems—to 2049 to decide how you're going to get there means funeral bells for both our environment and our economy. 'Let's do this with technology,' they say. They haven't given any kind of indication of the framework under which industries will need to lower emissions in order for us to reach any such goal. Happily, federal Labor is well underway in planning a more ambitious medium-term emissions reduction target than the coalition, as well as committing to net-zero emissions by 2050. We know that a net-zero target by 2050 is not nearly sufficient. Targets have to be backed by policies and mechanisms that deliver the promised abatement that we need to get to that point.

We know, as we move towards renewable energy and move to lower the carbon intensity of our economy, that good climate policy is also good jobs policy. It's all very well for Senator Canavan to bemoan, from his point of view, the lack of stability and the level of income that might be attached to such jobs. The simple fact is that this is a government that undermines the industrial relations system and people's ability to get good wages in new industries. It's only the established industries with long histories of unionism where we have such well-protected working conditions. So the real challenge here is to enable our economy and those jobs to transition so that we have those productive and well-paid jobs of the future. We also know that regional and rural areas are the centre of the new jobs in a new climate future and a new energy future.

We don't need to be told by the Australian Greens about the urgency of this problem and the need to act now, but I don't mind backing the Greens up in their message to the government, which is that we need to get on with our transition. We don't need to be told that Australia's climate policy doesn't matter because we only represent a small share of global emissions. We know that we are one of the highest per capita emitters in the world, and I think my own home state of Western Australia is perhaps the highest. We know the livelihoods that are damaged by climate change, including in farming communities, as weather patterns change, as bushfires rage through and as extreme weather events take their toll on agricultural production, tourism, infrastructure and so much more—livelihoods in the regions.

Australia should be in a position where we're able to persuade others on the world stage to take stronger action on climate change. To be credible, we must have our own house in order. The decarbonisation of the global economy is indeed the greatest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution. We've heard in recent weeks from the Business Council, the ACTU, the Conservation Foundation and the WWF, who have asserted that there are 395,000 clean-energy jobs that could be created by 2040. In fact, the likes of the ACTU, the ACF, the WWF and business have been banging on about this for a decade or so now. The proof is in the pudding. There are already real jobs in these sectors, but we have a government that's holding us back.

Every minute, every day, every year and every term of this government has cost us jobs, brought forth more emissions and held us back. We know that the environmental and economic transformation of the energy systems in our nation will take time. The longer we leave it, the less of an advantage we have and the harder it will be. We need to take responsibility and invest in the opportunities we have right before us before we have trade sanctions against us, before people don't want to take our exports because of our nation's emissions profile. There are so many scenarios that this government refuses to recognise, some of which are already in play.

As someone from Western Australia, I know what an energy intensive and successful economy looks like. It's an economy that this country currently depends on to get through COVID, but in WA we know we have to adapt. We have a bright future ahead in renewables, but will we be able to build those markets as a nation with the kind of leadership we are seeing here now? Perhaps we'll be subject to trade sanctions. Perhaps the world won't be able to accept our gas or our clean energy and hydrogen, because we'll be a pariah on the world stage for our lack of action. We can't stick our heads in the sand the way the National Party wants us to do. The rest of the world might not always want our gas and our coal, despite what Senator Canavan says. This is bad news for both the economy and the environment. I truly wish we had a better head start in adjusting our economy even now. We've already seen right here in Australia that green energy is cheaper than fossil fuels.

It doesn't help coalmining communities to put Australia behind in the race towards climate action. It will simply make their situation worse. We know there are well-paid jobs for our communities, but we can't deliver them if we keep doing what we are doing, if we don't change, if we keep producing coal and fossil fuels until we can't, because we're forced to stop, without a plan to transition. We already have people expressing concern about simple things, important things like accumulated leave entitlements. What happens to them if the coal or gas company they work for becomes a stranded asset? What happens if we have houses that aren't worth anything because there's no job in that community? This is the kind of future that the likes of Senator Canavan would have us look towards. But we know we can do better than this. Australian communities know that a clean energy and a renewable future is inevitable. The sooner we act, the more we reduce the cost of action—acting sooner, rather than later.

I'm not against using technology to help our economy transition, but we have to have a real framework to get us there. This government haven't given us any. They've been there for eight years, and we still do not have a plan for climate action. Even now, at the eleventh hour, when Prime Minister Morrison is finally able to say, 'Yes, I'll go to Glasgow and to the international meetings,' we're yet to see whether the National Party will continue to hold the government, our nation and our whole economy to ransom. It has been eight years, and we still don't have a plan. But is it any wonder why, when we look at the nature of the debate we've had in the chamber today and listen to the likes of Senator Canavan decry a carbon restraint future? (Time expired)