Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It's interesting, isn't it, that the Greens political party ignore the discussion we just had earlier in question time about Tuvalu and the groundbreaking agreement that the Albanese government has engaged in. But you make a point, Senator, about the Pacific. We are actually engaging with the Pacific. I also would make this point. We are a long-term energy security partner with the countries of North Asia, and we are committed to taking ambitions climate action while maintaining that long-term partnership. We do that because it's in our interests and because it's in the interests of Australians. As you know, Australia is putting in place key policy and legislative changes to drive our transition to net zero while also limiting the impact of volatile global energy markets for Australians. The senator may not agree, but the government believes it is in Australia's interests to play a key role in providing reliable and affordable clean energy and critical minerals for our Indo-Pacific partners. It is in our interests for Australia to remain a competitive global energy supplier. We want to become a renewable energy superpower, to meet our own emissions reduction goals and support the stable and secure decarbonisation of economies in our region. Surely the Greens would support that too. As in Australia, our regional trading partners also need time to adjust. Japan has set an emissions reduction target of 46 per cent by 2030 on 2013 levels. Korea has set a target of 40 per cent by 2030 on 2018 levels. Obviously we do want to work with others in the region and we do want to ensure that the partnerships that we have with Japan and Korea continue. (Time expired)