Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

RUQI () (): My question is to Minister Wong, representing the Prime Minister. The recent climate-fuelled floods in Pakistan are having horrific consequences. To date, one-third of Pakistan is underwater, 33 million people are affected, the death toll is more than a thousand people, one million homes have been wiped out and half a million people are living in tents. This is the deadly face of the climate catastrophe. Early estimates show that the damage from the floods is more than $10 billion. The UN has called for $160 million in emergency aid. Australia has so far promised a measly $2 million in aid to Pakistan. Just $2 million. This is nowhere near our fair share. Minister, will the government take responsibility and provide aid to Pakistan that is more commensurate with our wealth and contribution to the climate crisis and equivalent to the scale of the disaster?

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

I thank the senator for her question and I also acknowledge her and her family's personal connection with Pakistan, along with many others in the diaspora, for whom this has been a very difficult time. The senator is right. This is a disaster on a truly massive scale, with 33 million people affected, including through displacement and loss of livelihood. We've seen lives lost, including those of children. On behalf of the Australian government, as I did last week, I extend our sympathies and condolences to the families and communities in Pakistan that have lost loved ones and to the many who have been affected by the devastating floods.

We announced a contribution, as the senator indicated, through the World Food Programme of $2 million to assist the Pakistani government and its people to respond to immediate humanitarian needs, particularly focusing on those who are disproportionately affected, including women, children and the vulnerable.

In relation to the request, I would make a few points. The first is that Australia will consider further support in consultation with international partners following the launch of the UN flash appeal. It is the case that our initial response is on par with many other medium-size donors. To be frank, there are humanitarian demands around the world, including in our near region. Just as we would always like to be able to fund many of the good ideas that were discussed at the jobs summit, so too when it comes to humanitarian aid do I and my ministers in the portfolio always have more worthy requests than we can fund. (Time expired)

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

Senator Faruqi, a first supplementary question?

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The people of Pakistan are paying the price for the insatiable appetite of wealthy colonial countries like Australia to keep digging up coal, gas and oil. This obsession is leading to these deadly consequences. Given the death and disaster this is inflicting on the people in Pakistan and the Global South, who did little to contribute to the climate crisis but are the most vulnerable, will the government now act urgently and commit to no new coal and gas?

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

Firstly, there was much in that question with which I don't necessarily agree. But I do agree with the proposition that those who are most vulnerable in this world are most vulnerable to climate change. Where you already have poverty and where you already have poor levels of infrastructure and poor levels of economic resilience, those communities and those nations are far more vulnerable to climate change and far less able to respond.

I would make the point, as I made when I had the privilege of being Australia's climate minister, that pointing the finger at each other when it comes to resolving the global action on climate change is less productive than finding an agreement about how we start to reduce emissions. The senator is right that the vast majority of emissions already in the atmosphere are as a result of developed countries. I would make the point going forward that— (Time expired)

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

Senator Faruqi: second supplementary?

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We owe it to the people of Pakistan and all others who are on the front line suffering the worst consequences of the climate crisis to do everything we can to tackle it. We need fast action on methane to keep a 1.5 degree centigrade future within reach. Will the government today commit to joining and signing on to the global pledge to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030?

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

The government agrees that we need urgent action. It is a pity that this country has spent nearly a decade fighting the climate wars, which have both come at the cost of jobs and opportunities here in Australia but also meant we have not been part of the solution when it comes to global action on the climate. In that context, I am disappointed to see some commentary from the Greens Party that the climate wars aren't over. What I would say to you is that I think Australians have made it clear they actually want a way forward. They want solutions. Whether it's those opposite or, on occasion, those at this end of the chamber, they seem to be more interested in the political benefits of conflict.

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

Sorry, Senator Faruqi. You weren't in my line of sight. Is it a point of order?

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's all right. I want to go to relevance. More than half the time has expired. I had a very specific question about whether the government would commit to joining the global pledge to cut methane emissions.

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

Senator Faruqi, the minister's entitled to take into account the preamble and the question, and you did have a broad preamble. I do believe that the minister is being relevant.

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

Thank you. There was quite a long preamble, to which I think I am entitled to respond. I think we have made public our consideration of the methane issue that you have raised. But I would make the broader point that what we can do is make sure that we get over the climate wars we've seen over the last 10 years. (Time expired)