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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to coal mine approvals.

Eighteen years ago today on 5 September 2005, Anthony Albanese introduced his Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change (Climate Change Trigger) Bill. At the time, he said:

Climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing the global community and one of the greatest threats to Australia's way of life.

He went on to say:

These are profound risks which demand urgent action. It is important that a suite of measures is adopted by the Australian government to tackle climate change. These measures should include…establishing a climate change trigger in federal environmental legislation.

That was 18 years ago. Now, we have Mr Albanese in the hot seat of Prime Minister—the most powerful office in the land—and it feels as though the Prime Minister has lost his nerve. All the way back in 2005, Anthony Albanese knew what needed to be done to arrest the climate crisis. Coal and gas are cooking the climate and wrecking the environment, but, right now—still now—our environment laws don't do dot. They are broken when it comes to the climate crisis and polluting projects.

In 2023, when we are reaching global boiling, as the world's scientists have warned, when we are staring down the barrel of another hot and damaging bushfire season this summer, when we know that, by 2030, we have to have drastically cut pollution, when we know the world's experts and scientists are saying, 'not one more coal or gas project' unless we want to give up on tackling climate change, our environment laws are still allowing the approval of new coal and new gas. Our environment minister is still approving new coalmines and gas wells.

Just this year alone, the environment minister has approved five new coalmines, when all of the advice to this government and governments right around the world—from the United Nations scientists to the International Energy Agency and everyone in between—is that we can't have any more new fossil fuel projects. But this year the environment minister here in Australia, Tanya Plibersek, has approved five. The most recent was last Friday. That mine, approved last Friday, the Gregory Crinum mine, is going to be able to operate until 2073—50 years. Australia's environment minister, whose job it is to protect the environment, whose job it is to make sure the assessment of these big projects is based on what is good and bad for the environment, has just approved a coalmine that is going to continue for the next 50 years.

Back in 2005, on this very day, when Anthony Albanese introduced his climate trigger bill, he was right. He was right then, and that bill is still right today. We have this discussion right on the eve of this government saying they're going to introduce changes to Australia's environment laws—amendments to the environment regulation in this country. But despite those changes, despite those commitments to fix Australia's environment laws, they are still going to allow the environment minister of the day to approve new coal and gas—to approve projects, giving them the environmental tick of approval even if they make the climate crisis worse. This government has to get its act together on climate and environment regulation. It's 2023; it's time to stop approving new coal and new gas.

Question agreed to.