Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to speak on the Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill 2023 and, as the first government speaker on this bill, to note it is an important piece of legislation for us to pass. I think I can characterise the debate that we will be having over the next couple of hours and maybe over the next couple of days. We are probably going to hear quite a lot of scaremongering from those opposite, even though they had 10 years of opportunity to do something when it came to delivering energy policy. They failed to do that, and they haven't negotiated with us on this legislation. So they are going to sit there and scaremonger and talk about all the things that they could have, would have, should have done but didn't do. Respectfully to my colleagues at the end of the chamber, there will be some overselling of some of the things that they claim they negotiated through. I hope that they are genuine and reflect the actual impact of those amendments and how they will be used by the regulators and ministers to achieve this outcome. I hope that we don't see mischaracterisation of those amendments, but we know there is a political objective here to claim that more was one through this process than was actually achieved. What I do know, from the government point of view, is that this is government legislation. We're proud to be bringing it to the parliament. Without a Labor government, we wouldn't be seeing any action at all on climate change.

This is a critical element of the Albanese Labor government's comprehensive effort to address climate change. This legislation provides long-awaited certainty and vision for Australia's response to climate change. It is an opportunity to reduce emissions from our biggest emitters for the very first time in a decade. Our policy is reasonable, sensible and consistent with the commitments that we made at the election. Ten long years have been wasted until this point. It's precious time that we can't get back, which is why the passage of this bill is so urgent. We know that industry has been calling for far too long for this policy to be settled. Manufacturers, and heavy industry in particular, have been crying out for stability and certainty in the energy space, and today we're delivering it, because we know that jobs and our environment rely on this certainty.

The passage of this legislation will also give certainty to regional Australians, who have been left in a holding pattern for far too long. Farmers, who see the impact physically manifest in their own backyards, their workplaces, deserve certainty and ambition. Regional workers, who have powered our nation for decades, deserve clarity on what our changing industry environment will mean for the jobs they have now and the jobs they will have in the future—because let's be clear about this. This is a world of opportunity for regional industry, in renewables and modern manufacturing.

First Nations communities also deserve our urgent and comprehensive action. Too often they are the communities on the front lines of climate change. I have spoken many times before in this chamber about the Torres Strait, and it's worth repeating in this debate today. On my last visit to the Torres Strait, I spent time with Councillor Hilda Mosby in Masig. Masig is one of the islands that make up the Torres Strait. It is a beautiful, abundant home for a strong community of leaders, fishers and teachers. But Councillor Mosby took me on a drive around the perimeter of the island and showed me some of the areas of concern at risk of climate damage. Right now, the Masig community is quite literally contending with the loss of some areas of the island which have profound cultural significance. This is the case for the Torres Strait. There is no time to waste. Yet in this parliament, under the former government, we wasted 10 years. In fact, for the Torres Strait Islanders, our climate response should have been settled many yesterdays ago.

This is the case for many communities across the country and many types of people who just want to see an end to the climate wars. They await our action with understandable anxious impatience. This is not to say that we want to deliver hasty or sloppy policy. This is a reform that has been widely consulted on, and it has broad support from across the economy and the community. It is never easy to make significant changes and keep everyone in the tent, but it has always been our government's approach to listen, to take expert advice, to find points of agreement and to deliver on our commitments. This policy is about sharing the load of this effort across our economy. It was carefully designed to cut pollution in our biggest industrial emitters while being mindful of the need to minimise costs and allow flexibility for the least-cost abatement opportunities to be deployed. It will provide strong investment signals and provide a balanced scheme that is effective, equitable and simple.

On the other hand, we know that the former government left this policy in a state of chaos. A decade of inconsistent policymaking demonstrated to Australia that the world the former government lived in was plagued by inconsistency and disunity. For almost a decade in government—and still now—they couldn't agree on a target or a mechanism to deliver it. They hid power price rises from the Australian people before the election. They vetoed job-creating renewable energy jobs just because they didn't like renewable energy. They had 22 energy policies during their time in government—22—and really they couldn't land a single one. And why? We know why they are opposing this bill again and why they are scaremongering and making baseless claims. It's because fundamentally they are opposed to action on climate change and they want to continue the climate wars.

On this side of the chamber, we're happy to talk about the facts of this policy, the things that it will do, the jobs that it will protect and the jobs that it will create. We're not interested in dealing with scaremongering or talking about the concept of climate denialism. You'll see that from other members in this chamber. You'll see that from members of the Liberal and National parties. But this is our government's response to climate action. We are reducing emissions, we are working with industry, we are delivering funding to the regions, we are ensuring that our government delivers on the commitments that it took to the election, and we are doing this by taking the community, industry, businesses and workers with us. This is what Labor governments do, and only Labor governments can do this important work. I commend the bill to the Senate.