Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Grogan. You, of course, have a very long history in supporting all of these issues, even before you arrived in this place. Right now, this parliament is faced with a very simple choice. For the first time in a decade we can seize the opportunity to reduce emissions from Australia's big emitters or we can squander that opportunity yet again. Reforms to the safeguard mechanism are crucial to meeting our legislated emissions reduction target, the target that most honourable senators voted for in this place last year. When this parliament voted for a 43 per cent emissions reduction target for our country, the very senators who then argued for a higher target are now the ones who would have it be even lower. Without the changes that the safeguard mechanism involves, our nation is looking at a 35 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, which is eight per cent lower than what was legislated by this parliament last year. Those honourable senators who said the target should be higher now have a choice to make, because, if they vote against these reforms, they are voting for a lower outcome than what was legislated just last year. Those senators would be voting against a 43 per cent emissions reduction target and against net zero by 2050.

We all have the opportunity here to take 205 million tonnes of carbon out of the air by 2030, the equivalent of two-thirds of the cars on Australia's roads. We have the chance to drive change among the 215 biggest emitters in the country, who represent 28 per cent of Australia's overall emissions. Yesterday's IPCC report, which has been cited here today, showed that this decade is the critical decade for action, the critical decade to make an urgent, rapid and far-reaching transformation across our economy, and that's exactly why all senators should vote for the changes we're proposing for the safeguard mechanism.