David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This bill has made it abundantly clear that the Labor Party still functions as the political wing of the coal and gas industry. Labor's first draft of this bill actually allowed carbon pollution to rise and unlimited dodgy offsets to flood the market. It was literally insupportable. It's clear that billion-dollar multinational fossil fuel companies, like Woodside, Santos, Adani, the Minerals Council and Chevron, write the climate policies of both major parties. Coal and gas corporations remain the puppeteers of both Labor and the coalition, and, unfortunately, as we saw from the first draft of this bill, Labor is a very willing puppet. Despite all the promises of the climate election, despite climate scientists, experts and every credible international organisation telling us we need to keep all new coal and gas in the ground as a bare minimum to save our burning planet, Labor is still refusing to deliver a national climate policy that seriously addresses the science and meets the reality of the climate emergency.

The Greens negotiated long and hard on this bill because we knew, and we know, that we can't wait another moment for climate action. We know how important it is to take immediate action to keep every single tonne of coal and gas in the ground that we can. That's why we kept going back; that's why we kept fighting. When we look at where we've landed, what does this actually mean for those of us—the millions of Australians—who care about, voted for and demand the climate action that the science is telling us we need? It shows we've got our work cut out for us. It shows we need to break up the weird, toxic marriage between the fossil fuel industry and the Commonwealth government. We need to stop the revolving door of major party donors, who literally switch their seats in this place for seats in the boardrooms of some of the most polluting companies in the world. It's no wonder that climate politics are so cooked, when the chefs are paid and run by the fossil fuel industry.

But there is good news. In the face of all of those forces, in the face of decades of climate-action obstruction, and despite Labor continuing to act as the political wing of the fossil fuel industry, the Greens have secured some genuine wins that will make pollution go down in a serious way. Because coal and gas have taken a huge hit with what has been negotiated by the Greens team. I want to give credit to Adam Bandt and his team for taking that hard road, for continuing to go to the negotiating table despite what at many times seemed to be a no from the fossil fuel industry delivered by the Albanese Government.

Here are some of the key wins the Greens have secured: a legislated hard cap on emissions, which means that emissions will ratchet down and actual pollution must decrease, not just the offset. That will effectively knock off around half of Labor's 116 coal and gas projects. That's a huge blow to the worst polluting projects and will make a real difference to the climate. And here's a big reason to celebrate: we have derailed the Beetaloo and Barossa gasfields. I pay tribute to those First Nations communities and activists. I pay tribute to Senator Dorinda Cox, who has campaigned long and hard against those projects. We're not done, but the future sure is looking brighter.

The Greens have secured a pollution trigger, a carbon trigger, which will force the government to assess the climate impact of all new coal and gas projects. A climate trigger has been a key demand of the environment movement for years now, and we've knocked off most of the dodgy list class of assets. Our changes could take about a quarter of future offsets out of circulation. That means companies have to commit to more actual pollution reduction, and the cost of those offsets, the cost of doing nothing, will go up. Crucially, new gasfields will have to be net zero from day one. That means opening up new gas is increasingly not viable financially.

We know that's not enough. We know that all new coal and gas needs to stay in the ground if we're going to keep this planet liveable and deliver a secure future for our kids and their kids. We have work cut out for us to break up the toxic marriage between the fossil fuel industry and the major parties in this place. The fact we had to fight Labor tooth and nail to secure these wins is more than frustrating, but it also shows what we can win. We don't win that alone here in parliament. We win that because there are millions of Australians behind us demanding this action.

The fight is not over, but today we take hope from the fact that we have stopped many of the 116 new coal and gas projects in the pipeline from going ahead. We take hope from the fact that carbon pollution for the first time will be compelled to go down. We take hope from the fact that we have derailed the Beetaloo and Barossa gasfields. We can also take heart from the fact that the share price of several large coal and gas corporations took a hit straight off the back of the announcement of what the Greens have achieved. The safeguard mechanism, this bill, which regulates Australia's 215 biggest polluters, will now have a hard cap on emissions thanks to the work of the Greens, meaning real pollution must actually come down and the coal and gas corporations can't just keep paying their way out with dodgy offsets.

These are big steps towards a future with no coal and gas, but let's be clear, this is the start of an ongoing fight. Every single coal and gas project that gets approved, if any do, every single one will be approved by Labor, because the only thing stopping us implementing policy that meets the science, that keeps all new coal and gas projects in the ground, the only thing that is stopping that is the lack of Labor's ambition.

I again give credit to those millions of Australians who voted for more. We are here to continue to deliver more. We will support this bill because we know it's going to make a meaningful difference, but by no means is this the end of the struggle.