Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Birmingham) to a question without notice asked by Senator Waters today relating to climate change.

I asked about the climate emergency we're in, given that we've just had the two hottest November days and had record-breaking temperatures across the country. A heatwave is due to move across this continent over the coming days. I mentioned that the Bureau of Meteorology have advised us, on the record in Senate estimates, that in fact the targets that this government have set for 2030 would have Australia on track for a four-degree rise or upwards of temperatures.

I think perhaps people don't appreciate the extent of devastation a four-degree rise would cause. The Paris Agreement commits us to two degrees, with aspiration of it being 1½ degrees, and yet this government's policies have us on track for more than double that. That's a recipe for not just economic destruction and an awful lot of human misery but also mass crop failure and the rest of the reef bleaching—after half the coral cover has already died from mass bleaching events, of which we've now had three in the last five years. It's a recipe that we should be avoiding at all costs. So I ask the minister: will the government be reconsidering its 2030 targets in light of what the science says is necessary to keep us all safe and to retain a liveable society and natural world?

What I got were the talking points. Emissions data released today shows that Australia has dropped its emissions by 16.6 per cent. I asked the minister about that very point because, in fact, when you take out the land-use emissions that Australia uses but no other country uses, our emissions are higher than they were in 2005, so, in fact, there has not been a reduction at all. Once again, we see this government using dodgy accounting tricks to disguise what is patently obvious to most Australians: that this government has no climate plan. It is completely in bed with the coal, oil and gas sector. And we know the extent of donations that flow to the coffers of this government and, sadly, also to the opposition party. We're up to, I think, $9.2 million from the fossil fuel sector. And look what that buys. It buys inaction on the climate crisis. It buys that devastation that we could so readily avoid with a rapid transition to 100 per cent jobs-rich, affordable, clean energy. We could be running that manufacturing on clean renewable energy. We could be exporting that renewable energy, and that renewable energy technology, to the world. This is a recipe for us addressing the climate crisis, creating jobs, helping to rebuild after a pandemic and helping to do our bit globally.

We see many of our trading partners are actually setting much stronger targets than we are. In fact, many of them have set dates to exit fossil fuels. But this government has got its head completely in the sand. We've got that climate summit coming up soon, just ahead of the Glasgow climate summit, where 2030 targets need to be spoken of, and this government has given no indication whatsoever that it will listen to the science and increase its targets. We are likely to be amongst folk like Saudi Arabia and Russia when it comes to our climate ambition. Now, that's embarrassing. We already have the highest per capita emissions profile in the world—we still have that dubious honour—and yet we have such potential to turn that around. When I put that to the minister, I just got the talking points. I got this obsession with gas. Apparently gas is a transition fuel. Well, nobody believes that. It's not, in fact, the case. It is almost as dirty a fuel as coal. It wrecks farmland. It endangers groundwater. It often happens without First Nation people's consent. It is not a good way forward when we have reliable, clean, renewable alternatives that create more jobs and don't wreck the land.

Obviously the renewable sector doesn't donate enough to this government, or the opposition, to get more support. It's pretty tragic that that's what has got to happen in order for science based, evidence based policies to eventuate. We live in hope of the government lifting its climate targets ahead of 2030 so that we can actually address the climate emergency and come out of this economic and health pandemic stronger, and with a long-term future we can be proud of.

Question agreed to.