Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That's an interesting contribution. Yes, we are looking at some pretty intense challenges across the world in terms of climate change, and let's be clear: we've had 10 years of no action—none whatsoever. But the Labor government have been crystal clear in our intentions. We have committed to and taken action on global warming after, as I say, 10 years of significant inaction, and we will continue to do so. But what we won't do is close down all fossil fuels overnight, because we have a plan to re-engineer our system rather than just destroy our economy and turn the lights out. There is another way, and that way is the way that we have chosen and that we intend to progress.

Let's not forget that it was the Greens' action 10 years ago that actively stopped any progression on battling climate change. Just imagine how much better off we would be if there had been support back then and if Labor's climate action plans 10 years ago had got off the ground. Imagine how much better off we'd be now. But no. Here we are, starting from scratch. We have the coalition over there laughing at sea level rise in the Pacific, having failed to deliver any meaningful energy policies over that very long, dark stretch of their time in government. They enabled the stagnation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and did absolutely nothing on global warming. In just one year, the Albanese government has done more for the environment, more for energy, more for water and more on climate change than we saw in that entire decade. Obviously, it's not going to be enough for my colleagues in the Greens. They are very passionate about global warming, which is great. However, there's a balance here. We have to make that transition. This is about a transition, and it needs a plan. Blindly turning off every single system in the fossil fuel chain overnight would destroy our economy. So we need a balanced, planned approach, and that's exactly what the Albanese government has done.

We started the process by looking at our emissions reductions. Senator Waters has referred to the safeguard mechanism, and we legislated that earlier this year. That has been our plan for a very long time, but when you're not in government you can't bring in those plans. We've just had to sit on the sidelines and watch the coalition government trash the country. So we have a plan, and that plan is what we are rolling out and have been rolling out for the last 14 or 15 months. We must support our economy and our environment, and our plan does just that. We've introduced a range of policies, not just the safeguard mechanism, to start reducing emissions from the highest emitters by 4.9 per cent every year. We've also legislated the emission reduction target of 43 per cent. We've doubled the rate of renewable energy approvals, because to get away from fossil fuels we need another source of energy and the renewable energy pathway is the one that is right for Australia. We've committed $2 billion for green hydrogen, another form of energy that will assist in dealing with global warming and assist in Australia turning itself into a renewable energy superpower. We've got $1.6 billion for home and small business electrification. We've got $20 billion for Rewiring the Nation. We have to get those renewables into our system so that our reliance on fossil fuels can decline. We have commenced the establishment of massive new offshore wind across the country and committed $3 billion to the National Reconstruction Fund.

All these processes are the things that are going to take us to a much better place, to reduce our emissions and to do our bit. We know that the weather is getting more intense. We are in a world of pain here. We need a plan to move forward. The Albanese Labor government has that plan, and that plan is what we are going to roll out here—to the yawns of the Greens to my right.