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

Thank you, Senator Hughes. I know you'll get your turn to make your interjections and your contribution.

And the words that spring to mind are 'minimal' and 'insufficient'. Today's news is clear. The young activist Prime Minister—sometimes our past comes to haunt us, like this bill that he presented in 2005. We want to know and we are asking today: Where's the action? Where's the strong vision that this Prime Minister had in 2005 and brought to this place? What happened to the Labor Party who were once committed to taking stronger action on climate change? What happened to them? They've disappeared.

The reality is that we're not doing enough. Not only are we not doing enough; this government is pouring petrol on the fire. The impacts of climate change are not fixed in the future, are not something that are going to happen to our kids and our grand kids; it's right here and now. There's not a week that goes by when there's not an article about oceans boiling, record temperatures, flowers blooming unseasonably early, ice melting, coral bleaches, floods, fires, heatwaves—the list goes on. Frankly, I'm terrified. I'm terrified for my children's future on a planet where we have already disrupted the delicate balance of how this earth thrived for thousands of years. I'm not going to stand here and sugar coat that. I think the Greens have been particularly clear about our position on that.

As the Greens spokesperson for resources, in my day job I meet with a lot of climate groups who know the situation that we face. They know the action that is required, and they continue to run absolutely wonderful campaigns to do that. They know that we cannot open up another single one of the projects that are currently in that approval pipeline. And they know there are serious flaws with the current legislation that allow for these projects to continually be approved, despite all the evidence saying that we should not proceed with them.

In my other hat, as a First Nations spokesperson, I also meet with traditional owners from across the country. Traditional owners tell me that they don't want these projects on their country because they face some of the impacts of climate change—specifically in regional Australia. The Nationals sit over there and tell you how we should be worrying about what's happening in the regions. Get out in the regions and talk to traditional owners.