Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That Vanuatu's Climate Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, would only back Australia's bid to host the 2026 COP if Australia doesn't commit to any new coal or gas handouts, yet Labor's first budget has $1.9 billion to open up a new LNG terminal and petrochemical hub in Darwin Harbour.

Here we have a government who wants to host a climate conference on the one hand but is actively giving billions of dollars to projects that will wreck our climate on the other. In fact, you can't have it both ways. This government cannot attend COP 27, claiming they're back—like the saviours that they think they are—whilst campaigning for donations from their fossil fuel mates and giving public money back to them. During my time at COP 27, just two weeks ago, I heard about the impacts of climate change that we're already having, particularly on our Pacific island neighbours, who also want to co-host COP 31 with the Australian government. I heard about the costs that local communities are facing now and about the impacts on culture and the traditional way of life. First Nations people are being displaced, leaving their ancestral homes because of climate change.

Climate change is real and climate change is here. The climate science spells it out clearly: we must say no to new fossil fuels and no to public money being given to these fossil fuel projects for expansion or the opening of new ones. The Greens will continue to push the government further and faster to be more ambitious in their climate commitments. Vanuatu's climate minister is asking the Australian government to do the same before they will agree to co-host COP 31 alongside them. It seems like a reasonable ask, would you not say, but we know that the government struggles when made to choose between its strong climate action commitment and lining the pockets of corporate donors in the fossil fuel industry.

The $9.1 billion in the budget for gas and petrochemical plants in the Middle Arm harbour was alongside the $42.7 billion in fossil fuel subsidies. Middle Arm, just like many other projects the government is throwing money at, is a dirty fossil fuel project that does not deserve public money. Middle Arm is estimated to increase the Northern Territory's emissions by 75 per cent and increase industrial air pollution by 500 per cent.

Middle Arm will sit just three kilometres away from Palmerston, where locals will have to breathe in the air toxins produced by this precinct. The project will destroy our climate and environment but also impact on the health of those living in this area. The Beetaloo and Barossa gas projects will also be used to power this gas and petrochemical hub at Middle Arm—public money for Middle Arm feeding into the public money for Beetaloo and Barossa, and these projects all depend on each other.

Last week we saw the resources minister jetting off to Japan and assuring foreign investors that their investment in Australia's fossil fuel industry is good and is a welcome investment. So thanks to her for doing that on our behalf. While the Australian government loves to give away money to billionaires, much of this investment in the fossil fuel projects comes from overseas investors such as Japan and South Korea. If only the government could commit to phasing out fossil fuels and putting the equivalent of that $40 billion into renewable energy and the infrastructure that we need to build a clean, green energy grid.

The government has a very important decision to make, and we think it's an easy decision—indeed, a decision that should have been made the second they won the election. The Greens want to stand in solidarity with Vanuatu and all of our Pacific nations. For years, they have been sounding alarms and begging the Australian government to take climate action seriously and take the action that is required. The social licence for fossil fuels is disappearing—and disappearing fast.

This government can no longer justify their subsidies to their giant corporation mates whilst wanting our Pacific neighbours to support our bid to host a climate conference. In COP27 I heard not just from our Pacific neighbours but also from those of the Torres Strait Islands—those that I've spoken about in this chamber and the alarming rates at which our low-lying islands are disappearing. We need to take that seriously. Our domestic policy that Minister Wong talked about today is just as important as supporting our neighbours in the Pacific.