Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Waters today relating to the mining industry.

Overnight comments were made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. They were his strongest comments yet calling out the fossil fuel industry and the damage it is doing to our planet and our climate. Of course, Mr Guterres has pleaded with countries like Australia to stop fossil fuel expansion—to keep coal, gas and oil in the ground. He warned that we are hurtling towards disaster with our eyes wide open, wishfully thinking that new technology will somehow solve the problem when, in fact, the problem is coal and gas—fossil fuels.

It comes at the same time as the government's own peak body in charge of the Murray-Darling, our greatest river system, is warning that climate change is going to have a dramatic effect on flows in our river. As a South Australian I am deeply concerned that our mighty Murray is facing such collapse in the future because of the damage of climate change. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority, CSIRO, the UN and the Greens are all on the same page here. We have to stop the climate crisis. We have to leave coal and gas in the ground. If you want to save the River Murray, you have to stop fossil fuels.

Question agreed to.