Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the opportunity to make a statement about these climate change bills today. These are important issues—very important issues—and there is a lot to be said about this whole policy space. This is a bill that is not a particularly large bill; it's only 10 or 12 pages long. That doesn't mean it's not important. Certainly, it is a pretty threadbare bill in what it does. The minister himself, Mr Bowen, has described this bill as being 'not necessary'. That is an interesting approach to a piece of legislation that you want to get through the parliament. But perhaps the reason it is unnecessary is that the NDC the Nationally Determined Contribution from Australia, has been set in international law now.

I've never been convinced that international law is particularly strong. I'm not sure how enforceable it is, but the reality is that the way that the system works under the climate accords means that the NDC is set via international law. That's been done by the government, and they've decided to go with 43. Personally, I'm relaxed about it going higher. I'd be relaxed about that happening if there was the work done to show how it can be done and how much it will cost, but the point is that Minister Bowen is the minister for this area, and he's described his own bill as being 'not necessary'. That's an important starting point, but I don't want my contribution to be a hyperpartisan rant, because these are important issues. But this particular bill, by any assessment, is actually quite a threadbare bill.

The cost of this transition to get to net zero is eye-watering and you can see, through the Senate inquiry, that no-one knows how much it is actually going to cost the country. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to get the answer. I said at the start of this process, when this bill was introduced, that I thought that the inquiry, which was conducted by the environment and comms committee, which is a very good committee, had one question to answer.