Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann. I congratulate Senator Cormann on his recent appointment and wish Senator Brandis all the best in his future endeavours. We have come back to parliament in the middle of a stinking hot summer. The Bureau of Meteorology has just said that temperatures in January were exceptional, with countless records—far too many to mention. Sydney just sweltered through a day hotter than 47 degrees. We had flying foxes falling out of the sky because of the heat. This is the new normal, yet we have a government and an opposition which remain wedded to coal and wedded to climate pollution. Minister, what do you say to the people of Batman, who in a few weeks time will have a chance to tell you and the Labor Party what they think of your policies that are driving up pollution, destroying jobs, inflating energy prices and killing the Great Barrier Reef?

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I'm not going to call Senator Cormann until there's some order. The minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr President. I take Senator Di Natale's word for his weather report. But what I can say to Senator Di Natale is that jacking up taxes or jacking up the cost of energy for Australian families and Australian businesses and just sending emissions and jobs overseas does nothing to address climate change or reduce temperatures in Australia or indeed in other parts of the world. In fact, I remember sitting on that side of the chamber when Labor and the Greens came up with this incredibly ingenious plan that would actually increase overall global emissions, because you were just going to shift economic activity and jobs to other parts of the world. For the same level of economic output, emissions were going to be higher than they would have been if that particular task was performed in Australia.

I look forward to the regular weather report from Senator Di Natale, but I can also reassure him that, on this side of the chamber, we will not be punishing the Australian people and doing something that doesn't make any difference at all. We'll continue to pursue our policy agenda to address climate change in a responsible, economically sensible and environmentally effective fashion.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Di Natale, a supplementary question.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, your government, along with the Labor Party, have backed Adani's polluting Carmichael coalmine. You're now refusing to rule out a backdoor loan to the mine by propping up rail infrastructure to the mine. I want you to explain to the people of Batman—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Di Natale! Please pause the clock. I'm going to insist on there being enough order that I can hear the question so I can then deal with subsequent points of order. Senator Di Natale, please continue your question.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, what do you say to the people of Batman who don't want the Adani mine to go ahead and certainly don't want their hard-earned cash going towards a jobs-destroying polluting coalmine?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Di Natale is only half right. It is certainly true to say that coalition senators, those of us on this side of the chamber, strongly support the Adani project as a job-creating multibillion-dollar investment which will deliver very important jobs, in particular, to the people of Central and North Queensland.

On the coalition side of the Senate, we do support it. I'm not so sure about the Labor Party. The Batman by-election might have something to do with it. Whenever there's an election—and I've said this in this chamber before—we get the Shorten wibble-wobble or the Palaszczuk wibble-wobble. The Labor Party is in favour but they're against. We've got an election coming up in Batman, so now they're likely to be against. That is at least what the Labor candidate appears to have said. Let me tell you unequivocally: there is no wibble-wobble on the Liberal-National Party side of this chamber. We are in favour of this $16 billion-plus investment. We are in favour of the in excess of 11,000 jobs that it will create. We want to see it proceed and we'd like to think that the Labor Party— (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Di Natale, a final supplementary question.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, there is no wibble-wobble about your plans, or the Labor Party's plans, to expand coalmining in Australia. Adani is just one of many. How are our commitments under the Paris climate agreement compatible with your plans to keep building and expanding coalmines and remain the world's largest coal exporter?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is true that coal is our second-biggest national export earner. Obviously, on our side of the chamber, we continue to strongly support the coal industry. Do you know why? Because Australian coal is so much better than some of the other coal that could power plants in other parts of the world. This is a great contribution that we can make to lowering global emissions by exporting more good-quality Australian coal.

In fact, the Greens should be joining the long queue of investors into high-quality black coal projects, including opening up the Galilee Basin. We know that former Greens Senator Bob Brown used to be a very strong supporter of coal in his day—and I haven't got the front page of the Hobart Mercury in front of me right now. We know that historically he's been quite a strong supporter—and I'm sure that Senator Canavan may be able to wave the newspaper for the benefit of the chamber. I would encourage Senator Di Natale, if he really cares about reducing emissions, to back the Australian coal industry to export more— (Time expired)