Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Labor won't be supporting this suspension this morning. It is important to put it on the record, because we're constantly accused by the Greens of not agreeing with them. We are not agreeing to this suspension today, firstly because we had, again, no notice of it. If the Greens were serious about trying to get Labor's support for a debate to be brought on urgently, as they are intending to do, they would engage with us prior to this being circulated in the chamber. I had no line of sight, as manager, that this was being done until I walked into the chamber this morning.

The second issue is that we will not agree to having our climate policy determined by the Greens political party through a suspension debate in this chamber. Labor has been very clear that we will be finalising our policy and the measures which underpin that policy within our caucus through the leadership of Mr Bowen and Mr Albanese. It will not be determined by an order from the Senate.

This is a very similar motion—almost identical, I think—to the one that was moved last week, and we didn't support that one either. If there was a genuine desire to find time for a debate around climate policy, I think we would have been able to do that, whether it be through general business or whether it be through MPIs or urgency motions. They are the avenues through which this debate could have been sought and could have been held. That would have given people the opportunity to have their say.

In conclusion, I would say: if you want serious action on climate, we are going to need a change of government. If you want the jobs that will come from having a serious policy on climate, you will have to change the government. If you want Australia to be a renewable energy superpower, you will have to change the government. If you want serious climate policy, you will have to change the government. And if you want to provide business with the incentives and the investment certainty that they have been desiring for the last eight years, then you will need to change the government. I don't think these motions do that.

These motions are politically inspired by the Greens political party, which is openly campaigning for Labor to lose seats. There are six Labor seats that you are targeting in the election. I don't know how that advances climate policy, frankly. You are openly campaigning against the party that wants to take serious action on climate. We need to call this out. It's not in your political interests to have a change of government. You are a party of protest and you like fighting Liberals on climate. That's what you like. All of your standard operating procedures are geared to having a government that you're opposed to.