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

I acknowledge that Senator Pocock made a contribution previously and regularly about this issue. I would say to him, as I said when I was climate minister many years ago, that the idea of intergenerational equity does matter, that we do have a responsibility in this place and as political leaders to think about not just the equity for those who elect us now but also those to come. That is one of the imperatives around acting on climate change. That is why, amongst many reasons, this government has been very clear about the level of ambition in our targets and the importance of acting on climate.

We know it is a big task to reach the targets that we have articulated. It would have been far better if Australia had not had a decade where we didn't do this work, but we do recognise the economic and generational imperative of ensuring we do transition the Australian economy in the ways that we have outlined. Whether one talks about it in the context of duty of care or whether you talk about it in the context of our responsibility to generations to come, whatever the words you use, I do think those who appreciate what climate change means for our people need to also think about what it means for those yet to come. That's why we need to ensure we transition the economy. And there is only one party of government that will do that work, and that is the Australian Labor Party. We are the only party of government that is prepared to do that. We see that again, if I may say, Senator Pocock, disappointingly, after years of the climate wars, where we thought, finally, some policy sense would be seen in the coalition, we see what's happened under— (Time expired)