Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that, at 8.30 am today, 26 proposals were received. In accordance with standing order 75, the question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the following letter has been received from Senator Waters, namely:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The biggest causes of climate change is the extraction and burning of coal and gas. To prevent the climate crisis getting worse, no new coal and gas projects can be developed in Australia.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers for today's discussion. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If Australians want to read some shocking numbers in relation to this debate today, I suggest they go and google 'renew economy'. Ketan Joshi has tweeted a thread on this today because he wrote an article on this today—on just how many millions of tonnes of emissions will come from the approval of new fossil fuel projects. They are going to dwarf this government's 43 per cent emissions reduction commitment.

According to the numbers that he published today, and this is based on an Australia Institute report from last year, the government's emissions reduction pledge, based on their 43 per cent ambition, is going to avoid 366 million tonnes of CO2 between 2023 and 2030—that is, if we sign up and agree to reduce emissions by 43 per cent, that's how much carbon will be avoided under this scheme. But, if all new coal and gas mines are approved and start running, domestically they'll cause 1,030 million tonnes of fugitive emissions—that's nearly three times the amount we're going to reduce—as well as all the CO2 burnt in mining and extracting this. That's domestically. Overseas, if these are exported and burnt, 11,176 million tonnes of CO2 will be burnt into the atmosphere. In other words, hundreds of times more CO2 is going to be emitted than reduced under Labor's target if this government continues to approve fossil fuel projects. Adam Bandt, the Leader of the Greens, said you don't tackle a climate crisis by pouring more fuel onto the fire. This is exactly what the Greens campaigned on going into the last election—that there's no point in having these targets for 2030 or 2050 if you're going to continue to approve new fossil fuel projects.

Now, we got just a short and brief insight today from Senator Wong at question time as to how Labor is going to spin this, and we are deep in an era of greenwashing, and we're going to see a lot more of it, so it's really important that people understand this. Senator Wong basically said: 'This is not Australia's problem. These are scope 1 emissions. We're talking about reducing domestic emissions on our targets, but, if other countries buy Australia's coal and buy our gas and burn them, well, that's not our problem. That's their problem.' And, of course, Mr Albanese, our new Prime Minister, has also repeated the lines that Sussan Ley and other previous environment ministers and previous Prime Ministers have repeated—that somehow our coal is cleaner and more beneficial to these countries than other sources. It's the old drug dealer's defence, and you heard it here in the Senate today! That's what it is—'If they don't buy my drugs, these people down the road are going to get drugs from someone else, and that's going to be worse for them.' What a ridiculous argument!

If we commit to climate action, if we commit to protecting future generations, if we commit to protecting our natural environment, if we commit to protecting our farming sector, if we commit to protecting our communities from extreme weather events like floods and fires, if we commit to ending species extinction, then we must commit to no new fossil fuel projects in this country. And it is not just the Greens saying this; our 75 per cent target is based on the Paris Agreement and the science, and it is the United Nations and all the experts who are saying we must end the era of fossil fuels by absolutely 100 per cent stamping out new fossil fuel projects. That's it. That's what the science tells us is necessary.

We're still talking here, with a 43 per cent emission reduction target by Labor, of a two degree warming. All of the impacts we've seen have come from one degree of warming. Even the Paris target of 1.5 degrees of warming still assumes a 50 per cent increase in the latent heat on this planet based on what we've already seen, which is still potentially catastrophic.

We are going to be debating doubling the amount of heat on this planet and getting to net zero by 2050. But what's the point of getting to net zero by 2050 if there is no Great Barrier Reef left and we have irrevocably changed the way we live on this planet? We need to act now, and the only way we can act is to end all new fossil fuel projects—full stop; period!

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be addressing the Senate today not only in my role as a senator for Queensland and not only as someone who has long argued for climate action but also in my new position as the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef. As someone who lives in Cairns, I understand more than most people how important it is for us to protect the Great Barrier Reef and to make sure that we not only have this asset to enjoy for many generations to come but also to protect the jobs that the reef relies on.

In taking up this role as the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, there are a number of issues that I am keen to address and a number of issues that I am keen to talk to many stakeholders about. Since being appointed to the role, I have had the opportunity to speak to conservation groups, tourism operators, agricultural leaders and also, of course, traditional owners, who in this space are doing fantastic work.

Australians made a clear choice on 21 May. They are ready for action on climate change, and they are ready for a Labor government to deliver it. In all of the conversations that I have had with people around the Great Barrier Reef in this role as the special reef envoy, it has been clear to me that people are incredibly hopeful for the future now that there has been a change of government. They are incredibly hopeful about the plans that Labor has put in place and the things that we have said that we will do to take action on climate change and to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

Today our government has taken one of those very important steps. We have introduced legislation to take action on climate change, to make sure that this bill does what the previous government failed to do over a decade in power. I am very proud to be here today as part of this government and as the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef as we send a very clear message that the time for action on climate change is now. The stability and certainty that is going to come from legislating this target is clear for all Australians to see, and it is important for Australians and their future.

Our government will not waste the opportunities that come with climate action. As Senator Wong said today in question time, this not only is a matter of protecting our environment but also is an economic question and is about the jobs that come from investing in renewable energy. The previous government were so opposed to taking action on climate change that they vetoed renewable energy projects because it was against their own policy; they tried to take the 'R' out of ARENA; and they are still actively standing against climate change. Our government will not be one of inaction and waste when it comes to this important issue. That is why we will deliver on our mandate of a 43 per cent target.

Today the Albanese Labor government introduced the Climate Change Bill 2022, enshrining 43 per cent emissions reductions into law. This puts us on track to reach net zero by 2050 and restores our international reputation as a responsible global citizen. This legislation brings much needed certainty to workers, businesses and communities as our energy needs change. We are prepared to reap the benefits of renewable energy future. Today, Labor restored accountability and certainty in Australia's climate approach. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy will now be required to report our progress to the parliament, making sure that we are being transparent and ambitious when we strive to reach net zero.

This legislation represents a hard-fought consensus on climate change amongst Australians. It has the support of business associations, unions, environmental groups and community organisations. As the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has said, this is a critical first step and the experts will continue to inform our approach to targets moving forward. This is the first step, a step that Australians have waited so long to see taken, and we are taking this step as a government now. The legislation will enshrine a nationally determined contribution of 43 per cent emissions. As I said, it will task the Climate Change Authority to provide advice on Australia's progress against these targets. It will require the minister to report annually to parliament on the progress and it will, finally, in other legislation, reinsert the renewables component into ARENA.

This is on top of Labor's plan to power Australia. It complements our plan to create jobs, cut power bills and reduce emissions through our Powering Australia plan. Labor's plan will upgrade the electricity grid, make electric vehicles cheaper and invest in green manufacturing. The Powering Australia plan will deliver over 600,000 jobs across the country, with five out of six of those jobs created in regional Australia. It will cut power bills for families and businesses as we take advantage of Australia's vast natural resources. Our Powering Australia plan is another example of Labor's ambitious and resourceful approach when we are taking on the challenge of climate change. We won't bury our heads in the sand. We know that this is complex. We know that there are issues that we need to see through. We won't see them through a singular lens. Labor takes up the challenge and finds ways to solve this issue and deliver real social and economic returns for the Australian people.

This is in direct contrast to the last decade of denial and delay. It is clear that, under the former government, Australians had lost hope. They had lost hope. After a decade of chaos on renewable energy, Labor's Climate Change Bill will finally give the certainty so desperately needed for businesses, industry, energy investors and the wider community. In my community of regional Queensland, we have seen hundreds of jobs evaporate as a result of the disunity within the previous government on climate change, and I note this disunity continues in the opposition. They are obviously being given an opportunity to join the government to vote for our legislation. They've indicated that they will not be doing that, although I know that the disunity continues within the opposition. It really begs the question about who and what the opposition has been listening to, and clearly they didn't hear the message from the Australian people at the last election.

There are real and serious consequences from the previous government's actions that Labor is just now having the opportunity to start cleaning up, and we will work with people across this chamber to achieve outcomes for all Australians. We will work with people who want to see climate action put into reality. We will be constructive, but the Australian people know what Labor took to the last election. They understand that plan that we have, the Powering Australia plan. They understand that we have a commitment to a 43 per cent target. They understand that that was not a target or a number plucked out of thin air but was something that we put together by understanding, through independent modelling, what levers the government could pull and what emissions reductions we could achieve if we pull those levers. This is something that we have taken to the Australian people, and now, as a government, we are planning to legislate these targets. It is an opportunity, I think, for this parliament to rise above the divisive politics of the climate wars under the previous government. Under the former government we saw climate wars deliver nothing but political debate in this space, and we know there are people in this chamber who need to understand that we are here to deliver on our election commitments. We are here to listen and we will be constructive, and I think we have been constructive when it comes to the negotiations on the legislation. But we have a very clear mandate. We have a very clear agenda, and we are delivering on that agenda.

When it comes to climate change, every time I'm on my feet in this place I continue to remind the chamber that there are people in our country in Queensland right now who are feeling the effects of climate change. Along with the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator McAllister, I had the opportunity to go to the Torres Strait a few weeks ago. We sat down with those community members, and it was a real honour to listen to them directly and to see the changes that are happening—the coastal erosion. It really begs the question: if any person from the other side of the chamber could hear those personal stories, could see that coastal erosion occurring and could still choose to think that this is not a place where we need to get down and get the work done on climate change, then I don't understand what they are here for. What we've got from the opposition so far is more denials, more diversion and more debate and delay. But this government, a Labor government, is getting on with the job, and that is why we have put this legislation to the parliament. We'll give the parliament an opportunity to discuss that legislation, to talk about the value of acting on climate change, but we will get this done, and, if the parliament does not legislate the target, we will still set about achieving the things that we promised the Australian people, because the time to do that is now.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to commend Senator Green for getting through 10 minutes on an MPI put forward by the Greens around banning coal and gas without mentioning either of those particular fossil fuels. I was enlightened by your contribution there about the Labor Party's—now government—policy to legislate, but I'm still at a loss to understand, based on that contribution, where you stand on this MPI. I'm sure other government speakers will enlighten us on exactly where they stand, but I'll put on record my views and the views of the opposition here, which have been made clear time and time again.

Sometimes, though, I do think that some in this place live in a parallel universe. I think we could be forgiven for thinking that because today we saw the inflation number released—6.1 per cent. I don't think we should just brush off and forget about that figure and not pay attention to the impact it's going to have on Australian households and businesses, job-creating entities. These sorts of things are an important backdrop to the motion that the Greens have so generously put down for us, as put forward by Senator Waters:

The biggest causes of climate change is the extraction and burning of coal and gas. To prevent the climate crisis getting worse, no new coal and gas projects can be developed in Australia.

Now they've spoken to that as a standalone statement today, but the impacts of doing that on the economy—and I mentioned earlier on today that there are two fragile things that we need to take into account here: (1) the environment and (2) the economy. Environmental decisions have an impact on the economy, on people's jobs, on their ability to pay power bills, on their ability to keep food on the table and on their ability to keep their businesses running, and to make a decision over here with absolutely no regard for what impact it will have over there is a ridiculous approach to public policy, and that is exactly what we're seeing here. I can see why Senator Green refused to even go near it, because it is difficult for the Labor Party to reconcile their rhetoric around fossil fuels and the problems they're going to have when it comes to the Australian Greens and trying to legislate in this place and deal with their demands when it comes to things like this.

I've already mentioned inflation hitting 6.1 per cent, hitting a many-decades-held record, which is, as I say, going to have an impact. We know that, similarly, power prices are going sky high and that from June 2021 prices have gone up in the National Electricity Market by 200 to 300 per cent. That's a huge amount. We know that Labor won't be able to fulfil their promise to the Australian people from just nine weeks ago that power bills will go down by $275. Bank interest rates are going up. Fuel—the cost of fuel—to put into your car is going up. And Australian households are hurting. They're doing it tough. So, on the first substantive day of sitting in this parliament, in the Australian Senate, when we're here debating this issue with absolutely no regard for the impact that it has on households and businesses, it's something Australians need to wake up to and listen to, to see the impacts that these sorts of policies, this sort of direction, would have on households that are doing it tough and on Australians that are working hard. It is something, frankly, that the Greens should probably reflect upon, given it demonstrates how out of touch they are with Australians, who just want to get on and live their lives and want the government to bring in policies that help them live their lives, to make a better future for themselves and their children, to have a go and to get rewarded—you know, those great Australian ideals. But, as I say, this MPI has been written with zero regard for the impact such a call would have on the ability of honest, hardworking Australians to make a go of things.

We already know the facts around how much the resources specified in this MPI contribute to energy generation in this country. The great bulk of energy generated in this country is from these resources. Now, we know there are plans. The government have outlined their plan to transition to renewables, but the idea that you can just shut down exploration and expansion of existing resources, which are going to be needed—any expert will tell you that—without forcing businesses and households, hospitals and schools to turn the lights off, the heaters off, is a short-sighted, cynical stunt which will have bad impacts on Australians.

Let's say this MPI and what the Greens would love to do to Australia in some dystopian world became reality, when would the lights switch off? Would it be in five years, 10 years? When would we not be able to keep the lights on in schools or store in appropriate refrigeration units vital medicines in hospitals? When would we stop being able to do that? When would you be sitting in the dark at home eating your dinner? When would the factories stop being able to do what they do best, manufacture, something we want to do more of here, with our resources rather than outsourcing it to countries that do burn fossil fuels? That is something you guys seem to forget about. The jobs are lost, the businesses are shut down and the cycle goes on and on, and this is something that these trite statements, these motions that we see from time to time never, ever take account of and never have any regard for. Those people who work in those industries and those people impacted, they don't matter, apparently.

We only have to come down to Tasmania, where we have businesses that do rely on coal to be able to do what they do. The Railton cement factory, for one, is something. We have this shortage of material to go into the housing and construction sector. But let's say the Fingal colliery ran out of coal and needed to expand, I presume if the Greens had their way we would no longer be able to source coal. We would not be able to produce concrete to be able to feed that plant and, of course, the housing and construction sector but that doesn't matter. How about the Norske Skog paper mill in the Derwent Valley? It doesn't matter. They use coal to fire their boilers. They are looking for alternatives, of course. I am sure they are ones that we would want to stand in the way of. But, as it stands, under your motion, we would be standing in the way of that and the 500 or 600 jobs in the Derwent Valley. Who cares? Don't worry, that community does not matter. This is the thing. There is no regard for these people and no consideration at all for the flow-on effects this would have for the economy and, indeed, also for the environment.

I'm waiting to see what the alternatives are. I look at a bit of recent history around what we could be doing, because if we're shutting down fossil fuel use and there are no more new gas or coal operations and projects across this country then where would we be sourcing this energy that we need to be a competitive economy from? In this fragile economy I talked about before, the one that's facing the economic headwinds that the government have already been talking about and the international community is bracing for, where would we get this alternative energy from?

I heard Senator Whish-Wilson refer to 'renew economy' earlier on. I was looking at the website and there was a link on there talking about how the Greens opposed the Marinus Link, a vital piece of infrastructure which is there to generate investment in renewable energy, in the battery of the nation, expanding our hydro generation. But no, we can't have that. So, okay, we can't have hydro. We all know the Greens were given birth to out of the Franklin dam dispute, so they are definitely against hydro. They also opposed the Robbins Island windfarm, one example of renewables they're opposed to. So we have hydro, we have wind but they are a no go. So where would we be getting this energy from? They want to be a part of the solution here but they don't provide solutions; they just tell us what we shouldn't be doing. They have no regard for honest hardworking men and women who will be impacted by this. But I'm not surprised by this and I doubt a great many Australians would be either, to be honest with you.

We in Tasmania know exactly what we're dealing with here when it comes to this sort of thing and the party behind the movement of such MPIs and motions. When you have the Greens near the levers of power, bad things happen. We warned Australians about this and here we are, the first substantive day of sitting in the Senate, and this is the first thing they chuck down. I tell you, this is what we need to expect. It is a word of warning to the Australian Labor Party, the government, we all know you have two pathways to legislate in this place. One of them is with the Australian Greens, and we've just been given a sneak preview of the kinds of things, I dare say, probably the stuff they've been laying on the table in new negotiations over your legislated 43 per cent reduction in emissions bill. This is what the world is in for in Australia. At a time when people can't pay their mortgages, can't pay their power bills and can't put fuel in the car, this is what the Australian Greens are proposing. It is a dim, dark future not just because we can't keep the lights on but because the policies this crew put forward are bad for Australia, are bad for businesses and households and will mean economic disruption and the removal of our ability to compete in the international economy.

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not my first speech. I rise today to speak about the call from people in the ACT and millions of Australians around the country for policy decisions in the 47th parliament to be guided by science. For the past few years, faced with unprecedented challenges—a global public health emergency—science has guided health policy. Scientists have been celebrated for their quick work developing vaccines. We have valued and respected their research. We need to extend that value and respect to all of our scientists. We need to depoliticise critical debates and start to genuinely listen to our scientists. We have rightly heard calls for a science-based response to the potentially devastating threat that foot-and-mouth disease poses to Australia.

We need the same when it comes to the science around climate and environment. The evidence is significant and requires an urgent response. The latest IPCC report, the result of the best scientific minds examining hard evidence, states that greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 if we are to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The IPCC's advice could not be clearer: we cannot afford new fossil fuel projects in Australia. Rather than opening new fossil fuel facilities, focus should be given to the incredible opportunities offered by a transition to clean energy and a focus on ensuring regional Australia benefits from this clean energy transition. Australia's renewable energy reserves are 75 per cent greater than our combined reserves of coal, oil, gas and uranium. Clean energy exports could be worth almost triple the value of Australia's existing fossil fuel exports.

In addition to benefits for regional communities, transition to clean energy will improve the lives of those in suburban Australia. Rooftop solar is a great Australian success story. Started under the Howard government, we now have some of the cheapest rooftop solar in the world. With the right policy we can do the same for battery, heat pumps and electric vehicles. In the ACT, electrification of households would save households on average $5,000 per year. At a time when cost-of-living pressures are hurting so many in our community, these savings are more important than ever. In order to make this transition we must move away from coal and gas and focus on the renewable technologies of the future. The 47th parliament has the opportunity to get on with this.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was only a few months ago that I stood in this chamber and spoke about the clear message being sent from South Australia about what they wanted to see in a government. I highlighted then they wanted real action on climate change, more jobs and cheaper power. The election result made it very clear just how true that was. In every state and territory Australians were very clear on their desire for change, and many of us believe that a lot of that was driven by the desire for action on climate change. They voted for a government that will respect ambitious reduction targets. They voted for a government that will work alongside community, industry and, importantly, the scientists. Now as a government we have the opportunity for change. We value the importance of this place, and we value and respect the diversity of views that are held within this chamber and the other place. Those views deserve to be heard, they deserve to be considered and ultimately they deserve to be considered in a compromise to get the best outcome for the Australian people.

I understand that the Greens have a particular view about new coal and gas projects, and that is their right, and I acknowledge that that was their publicly stated policy position prior to the election. It's what they campaigned on, and they were very clear with the Australian people.

Our policy differs, and that was also very clear in the lead-up to the election. We've been very clear that any new coal and gas project needs to stack up. The simple reality is that the investment in renewables in this country is booming and that the Labor government has significant plans to boost development in renewable energy, to improve our electricity system and to head towards net zero in 2050. In that scenario, many coal and gas projects just simply don't add up. A company having an idea or a proposal for a new coal or gas project does not necessarily mean it's going to occur. It does not necessarily mean that it will make it through their board approval processes; it does not necessarily mean they are going to get the investment and the finance that they need for that project. If they do manage to get that far, then we do have our environmental standards—noting Senator Waters' concern about the strength of those standards. But there are processes, nonetheless, to ensure that projects have what is seen to be a reasonable pathway. So, subject to a project passing all of those hurdles, we do then have a very clear safeguard mechanism which we will bring in, and that will apply to any new project emitting over 100,000 tonnes. This safeguard mechanism is designed to ensure that we reach our goal—a goal that we are deeply committed to—of net zero by 2050. Providing those emitting facilities with certainty as to their emissions trajectory and providing certainty for anyone wishing to invest in such projects makes it clear about the future for that project. And, under that scenario, many of those projects may not stack up. What we won't be doing is making empty promises for new projects that possibly won't come to fruition, as so often happened over the last dark decade under the previous government. This was our very clear policy that we brought to the election—the very clear policy that the Australian people knew we had when they gave us the honour of being their government.

Prior to coming to this chamber, I had the great pleasure of being the Executive Director of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, which gave me the opportunity to work extensively with the scientific community and with industry on the urgent need for climate action. We spent a very long time banging our heads against the wall with the lack of action from the government of the day. But the scientific community, working alongside the business community, reflecting on the industries of the future, as well as the good of the planet, found: you can make a positive pathway through that. And that is where Labor sees the answer. Over many years, I've had the great opportunity to work with environmental advocates, including some from the agricultural sector, and of hearing from them how vital clear, concise, transparent climate action is for their work. It is vital. There is a pathway here. There is a pathway we intend to take.

The one consistent theme that we have seen, for well over a decade, is that everyone is sick and tired of the uncertainty around climate policy in this country. We became an international laughing-stock under the previous government. We, as the new Labor government, have already made strong inroads to change that. And that is not just about looking good on the international stage. That is about investment in Australia. That is about the opportunity for our businesses to grab the opportunity to amend their business, to work towards lower emissions—to zero emissions—and to reap the benefits of the fact that the international community is looking down and moving down that pathway. Climate change is an opportunity for our businesses to get on board.

One consistent theme, as I've said, is this issue around the uncertainty, the division and the political game-playing. This is an area that has been plagued by political opportunism, policy immaturity and obfuscation, and we welcome the constructive discussions that have been occurring between the government and the crossbench, particularly the Australian Greens. They have come to the table in good faith, they have come to the table with ideas, and we welcome that and thank them for that effort. Unfortunately, the other side of the chamber is quite a different situation. We have seen the Leader of the Opposition refuse to engage in this conversation, to try to continue the divisive, destructive approach to climate change. Thankfully, they were voted out. Hopefully, in this next term, they might learn something about bringing the country together rather than dividing it.

We do not need to divide our country again over climate policy. We have a strong pathway that is very clear, that gives industry and communities certainty and that opens and enhances numerous opportunities in new and emerging sectors, including hydrogen, something I'm very passionate about—and we've seen some excellent opportunities in the upper Spencer Gulf that are exciting for the whole community from a development perspective, from a jobs perspective and also from the perspective of reducing emissions and addressing climate change.

In our bill that has been introduced into the House of Representatives, we honour all of those commitments that we made during the election. It contains the 43 per cent reduction target by 2030. It has the independent Climate Change Authority to provide advice on our progress and to help ensure our commitment to the obligations we have under the Paris Agreement. Our policy has covered accountability, transparency and the contrast between the past government and the current government. We sincerely hope that this bill will pass. We sincerely hope that. Through the level of engagement and consultation that has occurred with all of the relevant stakeholders, including environmentalists, business and industry, this is a policy, this is a bill, that actually addresses critical issues in an agreed, consulted-upon and transparent manner.

We know that we are going to find objections from the Liberal opposition. We know that we're going find objections from the Nationals. We know that that is not what the Australian public want. This is a chance to come together. This is a chance to make a difference for the future of Australia. This is a crisis and we need to address it.

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I heard a great saying when attending the Queensland Mining & Engineering Expo in Mackay earlier this month: if it's not made of steel, it's made in a factory made of steel. Not one federal Labor or Greens politician attended the expo, a fact that was noted with concern and surprise by the sector's heavyweights gathered there, given not only the economic but also the environmental contribution of this industry. Any public display of support by Labor for mining companies would jeopardise their attempts to gain Greens support for our second most important sector, and they have shown their hand.

Labor's reliance on the Greens continues to threaten Australia's coal and gas industries, which are key pillars of our economy that continue to provide affordable and secure electricity, to provide jobs and to provide funds for vital services. It is only prosperous economies that can afford to be good environmental managers. This is why we must protect the economy.

The Australian resources industry is creating jobs, business opportunities and investment, especially in regional Australia. In 2020-21 the resources and energy sector accounted for around 10 per cent of Australia's GDP. The sector's exports made up around two-thirds of Australia's total export earnings. The Greens continue to make up numbers about the sector while ignoring the fact that it is ensuring our energy security. The lesson of the past few months is that energy security equals national security for all Australians.

If you live in a mining sector and you voted for Labor or have a Labor representative, this is what you're getting: dirty deals with people who want to cut the artery to Australia's economic heart and to regional Australia. Our food, our homes, our cars—yes, even the electric ones—devices and clothes all exist thanks to mining or machines made by mining. Even the rapidly-growing rare earths mining sector, a key plank in battery production for renewable energy, needs heavy steel machinery to function. And the most efficient way to make steel is using coal and blast furnaces.

The Greens and their supporters reveal a lack of understanding when they make outlandish claims about coalmining. Coal is an ingredient in silicon solar panels. Wind turbines are made predominantly of steel and concrete, which are made using coal. And on most days coal-fired power makes up 54 per cent of our national energy generation, and gas makes up 20 per cent of our generation. We simply cannot afford to cut new coal and gas developments.

The Greens like to think they're smarter than everyone else. So what's the plan to replace that 70 per cent of baseload power generation? More renewables? We just don't yet have the battery technology to ensure that the lights stay on when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. South Australia is held up as the gold standard for renewables, but multiple times at the start of June that state was drawing more than 80 per cent of its power from gas and diesel as windless days arrived. The South Australians are also installing a battery on Torrens Island the size of Adelaide Oval at a cost of $180 million that will have one entire hour of storage.

Most people support the idea of renewable energy, but we must ensure that the transition is timed to coincide with replacement baseload energy generation coming online. Not only that; we need to build new transmission lines, conservatively costed at $14 billion, from the new sources of power to the grid. AEMO is mapping transmission lines but how many reach the regions where the renewable energy places are situated? It's why copper string is a critical transmission line to connect the minerals province of the north-west in Queensland through to Townsville to not only access the renewable energy projects but also take energy to those mining projects.

The transition needs to be gradual, but the Greens demand that we switch off coal virtually overnight. Meanwhile, other countries are restarting coal-fired power stations or building new ones. Not only does that negate any of the meagre emission savings we make here; those countries need coal, and it should be high-quality Australian coal. By 2025 Germany will have spent more than half a trillion euros on renewables and is still only drawing 34 per cent of its energy needs from renewables. Less than a month ago, due to disruption to Russian gas supplies, the German parliament was forced to pass emergency legislation to restart previously mothballed coal-fired power plants just to keep the lights on. The media reports authorities will also bulldoze a historic church to get at coal reserves underneath—and, just remember, it's still summer there, so what can they expect in the bitterly cold European winter? That's right; it will be coal to the rescue. The German experience proves that energy security equals national security for all Australians. While other countries recognise this, the Greens missed the memo.

In 2021 alone the world added 1.45 million megawatts of new coal-fired power; I got that from the Global Coal Plant Tracker. Eighty per cent of that is in China and India—two countries not bound by international emissions reductions agreements. And we can see in Victoria the emerging issue of energy supply, security and affordability. Coal-fired power makes up 54 per cent of our national energy generation, and gas makes up 20 per cent of our generation. We simply cannot afford to cut new coal and gas developments. Coal prices are at a historic high, and this is due only to one thing: demand, demand that is tipped to grow to record levels this coming financial year. The world needs coal and gas, and customers will get it from elsewhere if they don't get it from Australia.

Australia's resources industry pumped $39 billion in royalties and taxes into Australian and state government coffers in 2020-21 and contributed a record $301 billion to the economy. The mining sector directly employs more than 270,000 people, and the number of workers employed in the sector has doubled over the last 15 years. We simply do not have a replacement for that income stream and employment sector. Employment in the sector grew by 11 per cent in the year to February 2022, creating over 25,000 new jobs. The resources sector provides jobs and opportunities in many rural and regional areas that have been doing it tough. The renewable projects will not bring the same number of well-paid jobs.

In my short time as shadow minister, I've met with dozens of mining executives and seen the extraordinary measures being implemented to protect the environment. In fact, more environmental scientists are employed by mining companies than anywhere else. The Queensland Resources Council states that about a quarter of Queensland mines use renewable energies, two-thirds of the state's resources companies plan to invest in lowering their emissions in the next 12 months, and 40 per cent of them are already actively investing in low-emissions technology. The International Energy Agency World energy outlook projects that total coal, oil and gas demand will grow. The IEA confirms that coal and gas will remain an important part of the world's energy mix for decades into the future, with coal remaining the single largest source of electricity in 2040, which means that gas and coal will continue to play a vital role in Australia's energy mix for the foreseeable future.

The Greens base their demands on a desire to prevent tree-clearing and reduce emissions. This is the same party that demands governments build one million new homes but at the same time opposes any new residential development that requires even minor tree-clearing. They don't seem to protest about the trees cleared for wind and solar projects, showing a selective outrage that destroys credibility. The mining industry would employ more environmental scientists, invest more into environmental surveys and research and operate under some of the world's strictest environmental laws. We should be encouraging these experienced, mature players to ramp up operations, employ more people, on double the average wage, and provide the royalties and taxes that pay for infrastructure.

If we followed the Greens' lead, we would sacrifice the thousands of mum-and-dad businesses that mining supports and scores of regional towns. Gas is still in huge demand in Australia and around the world, not just for energy production but also for production of urea, a critical part of agricultural fertilisers, and AdBlue, a component for the agriculture and transport industries. Australia can have a plan to utilise more renewables, but good planning takes time. This fanciful notion from the Greens should not be supported. It is the Green tail wagging the Labor dog.

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not my first speech. They're calling this the climate parliament because it has to be. The future of people and nature across the country, across the globe, depends on the action that this parliament will take. It's the climate parliament because a third of the people in this country voted for someone other than the major parties, many of them electing Greens and Independents. It's the climate parliament because the next three years are going to determine if we can use political power for good, to work together and deliver climate action—and we must do so.

Let's be clear: we are running out of time on this, and failure comes at an impossibly high cost. If we keep pumping carbon into the atmosphere, we will destroy ecosystems and threaten the lives of billions of people. The thing to do now is simple. It's to stop digging up coal and gas. You can't put out the fire while pouring petrol on it. We need to plan for and then deliver the end of coal and gas. Pretending we can continue with business as usual, while the planet is taking it in turns to burn and then drown, is delusional. We know, because every credible climate scientist has told us this, that emissions from burning coal and gas are driving the climate crisis.

We need to plan for a future for coal-dependent communities in places like the Hunter in New South Wales. Pretending we can continue business as usual with these industries as they chaotically shut down while cooking the planet also betrays those coal-dependent communities. It's not fair to them. They deserve a safe and prosperous post-coal future, which will not be delivered by a government with its head in a mine.

We need to stand with First Nations people in this fight for country. It's their country, and that means joining with traditional owners such as the Wonnarua plains people in the beautiful Hunter Valley, who are fighting for country after so much of their land, their culture and their connection has been stolen by multibillion dollar mining corporations. In New South Wales we've seen the Ravensworth homestead, site of appalling frontier conflict, violence and murder of First Nations people, being threatened with the expansion of an open-cut coalmine from the global bottom-feeding corporation that is Glencore—a climate catastrophe and an act of cultural devastation all in one proposal. But Glencore did not account for the powerful First Nations resistance of the Wonnarua plains people. They've fought this proposal. They've rallied and they've lobbied, and they're still fighting. We stand with them and we stand together to fight for our collective future. The decision on protecting their land and their water—their connection to country—now lies with the new Labor environment minister. If land, culture, country and the future mean anything, there is only one decision she can make, and that had better make Glencore bloody unhappy.

This week a record 12 Greens senators in this place and 16 MPs across the parliament are ready to deliver on that clear mandate for change. While the threats are real and the destruction is brutal, the good news is that dealing with climate change is an almost impossibly big opportunity for Australia. While other countries need to end coal and import energy, we can end coal and become a green energy superpower. Australia has the highest wind and solar capacity of any developed nation and a wealth of critical green energy materials. That gives us an extraordinary leg-up in the post-coal world we need to start building. That is why, as Greens, we will keep pushing Labor further and faster to make Australia a world leader in clean energy. This is essential for the planet. It is essential for nature, and it's bloody amazing for Australia.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As an engineer, I respect and consult scientists, because lives have depended on it, and still do. As an engineer educated in atmospheric gases and as a business manager, I was responsible for hundreds of people's lives, based on my knowledge of atmospheric gases. I listened to scientists, I cross-examined scientists and I debate the science. I have never found anyone with logical scientific points based on empirical scientific evidence that shows we have anything to worry about at all.

The basics are these: when you burn a hydrocarbon fuel, you burn molecules containing carbon and hydrogen with oxygen and they form CO2, carbon dioxide, and H2O, water vapour; that's it. Carbon dioxide is essential for all life. But let's go beyond the science and have a look at natural experiment. We've had two natural experiments, global experiments, in the last 14 years. The first was in 2009, when the use of hydrocarbon fuels reduced in the recession that followed the global financial crisis. There was less carbon dioxide produced from the human use of hydrocarbons. What happened to the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? It kept increasing. What happened in 2020, when we had a major recession, almost a depression, around the world as a result of COVID restrictions put in place by governments? We saw the same reduction in hydrocarbon fuel use by humans and the same cut in carbon dioxide output from humans, and yet carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continued to increase.

Those who understand the science understand that it is fundamental: humans cannot and do not affect the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; it's controlled by nature entirely. I've cross-examined the CSIRO three times now in the last few years. Under my cross-examination, which is the first of its kind in this country and the only one of its kind in the world, the CSIRO admitted that they have never stated that carbon dioxide from human activity is dangerous—never stated it. This is all rubbish that's being talked about. Secondly, they admitted that today's temperatures are not unprecedented. Thirdly, they never quantified, in three meetings, any specific impact of carbon dioxide from human activity. Never! That is the fundamental basis for policy. What's more, they showed their sloppiness because they withdrew discredited papers which they initially cited to me at their choice as evidence of the unprecedented rate of temperature change and then failed to provide the empirical scientific evidence. They withdrew the two papers they put to me on temperatures, the two papers they put to me on carbon dioxide.

There is no danger. Temperatures are not unprecedented. We need to come back to the science, not the so-called experts the Greens talk about, not the pixies at the bottom of the garden. We need to come back to the science, the empirical scientific evidence, and base policies on that.

Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After the most progressive election result of our time, with more Greens in the Senate and in the House of Representatives than ever before, we are determined to demand that the climate crisis is something that is addressed, on behalf of our communities. Every single one of us in this parliament is here with one question over our heads, and that is: will we act in this critical moment?

Now, there's a good saying that many in our community hold to, and that is that actions speak louder than words. In relation to the climate crisis, no act can be more impactful than the decision to keep fossil fuels in the ground. One particular project which seeks to do the very opposite of this, which is of incredible concern to so many community members in Western Australia, is Woodside's Scarborough gas development. This disastrous plan is shaping up to become part of Australia's most dangerous fossil fuel project. If it goes ahead, this mega gas plant off the north-west coast of WA will single-handedly increase national emissions by over 10 per cent.

I need you all here to understand how significant that is. This project will release as much pollution as around 20,000 aeroplane flights around the circumference of the earth every single day for the next 25 years. This project irreversibly threatens First Nations cultural heritage, including the 45,000-year-old World Heritage Murujuga rock art. It puts marine life at risk. It puts life itself at risk. At a time when the rest of the world is scrambling to reduce emissions to tackle climate change, every year the Albanese opposition and now government has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from Woodside and other mega fossil fuel corporations looking to have their death plants approved.

The science here is irrefutable. The mining and burning of coal, oil and gas is fuelling the climate crisis. Yet, despite being on the literally sweltering frontline of the climate crisis, Western Australia continues to enjoy the dubious honour of being the worst performing state on climate action in the country. Just last month, the WA environmental protection agency recommended ministerial approval for the 30-year extension of another cataclysmic Woodside project, the North West Shelf Project. That alone will lock in an additional 43 billion tonnes of carbon pollution and single-handedly blow Australia's carbon emissions budget. I have little doubt that the McGowan government will roll out the red carpet for this project. In fact, last year McGowan indicated he would intervene to keep the project going, even if a push by conservation groups to block Scarborough gas in the WA Supreme Court was successful.

Sadly, when I spoke about this six months ago, we were in the same position. Our community is fighting tirelessly against these projects every single day. Just last week, they flooded the EPA with a record-breaking number of appeals against the North West Gas Shelf expansion. Unlike the government, they know we must stop every new gas and coal project so that reaching net zero is absolutely achievable in this country. The earlier we begin this inevitable transition, the smoother it will be. We can harness our abundant renewable resources to generate cheap and reliable energy while creating literally hundreds of thousands of jobs. We can take care of fossil-fuel workers in this transition. This is the work that the community sent the Greens to this parliament to do. This the work which we shall now get under way. (Time expired)