Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Great Barrier Reef is being killed. The reef is in the grip of its fifth mass bleaching event in eight years because of climate change and heat stress caused by the burning of fossil fuels, yet the Labor government has just ensured gas expansion beyond 2050. The science is clear. Burning coal and gas is destroying the planet. What is also abundantly clear is that the Labor Party is owned by fossil fuel corporations. They're rolling over to Santos without as much as a whimper. It's no wonder then that, after promising to act on the climate crisis, the Labor Party have shown themselves to be champions of coal and gas, locking us into coal and gas production beyond 2050, and that too using public money. Net zero by 2050 was already going to be extremely challenging, and now we know it's nothing more than hollow words from Labor.

How can Labor look people in the eye and say they sincerely care about the reef and the climate crisis with their future gas strategy, which will lead to nothing but the bleakest of futures? People are already living the reality of the climate crisis with catastrophic consequences, including heatwaves, fires and floods. In my home state of New South Wales people are still reeling from the floods in the Northern Rivers. This is only going to get worse if we don't act now. The sad reality is that Labor is beholden to vested interests like in coal and gas corporations. We've all seen the crocodile tears, the hand-wringing and the empty words from Labor MPs on their party's expansion of gas, but we've still seen no actual action. You are not fooling anyone. People can see right through this, and the community has had enough of this.

Since they came to power, the Labor government have approved five new coalmines and eight new gas mines, knowing full well that, at the current rate of global heating, it is going to blast past the internationally agreed target of 1.5 degrees Celsius. What an upside down world. What an absolute shame. At the last election, if it is anything to go by, there was a clear message that voters want to see more action, and strong action, on climate. The only thing standing in the way of action on climate is Labor, whose pockets are being lined by their coal and gas donors. Shame!