Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Waters did give me the courtesy of alerting me that she'd ask this reasonably particular and fact based question. I can draw her attention to the website of the Climate Change Authority, which says this:

The Climate Change Authority is developing advice on the 2035 emissions reduction targets for Australia's next Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), as requested by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

On their website they go on to talk a little bit about how they're doing that. What they're doing is complex whole-of-economy modelling, policy analysis, consultation and consideration of international trends.

The question from Senator Waters seems to suggest in some way that the decision to make this request of the Climate Change Authority is a device of some kind by the government. Senator Waters might recall that the decision to insert such a requirement into this legislation was a decision that was supported by the Greens political party. In fact, it was a decision that we also welcomed. We think it is useful to have an independent, authoritative source of advice and analysis that can assist the government in recommending any future target. We are proceeding in exactly the way it was set out in the legislation. We are requesting advice from the Climate Change Authority. We look forward to receiving that advice, which the minister, as he has indicated on many occasions publicly, will consider and weigh before recommending any future target.

The point is there is a lot of work to do in relation to our existing targets. Those opposite, as I understand it, don't plan to have a 2030 target at all. In fact, some of them are talking about walking away from the 2050 target. Some of them are calling to pull out of the Paris Agreement. We're getting on with climate action.