Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I rise to take note of document No. 1, which is the report from the Climate Change Authority's Sector pathways review. This report considers the emission pathways for six sectors: agriculture and land; the built environment; electricity and energy; industry and waste; transport; and resources. Those are the six sectors that are best positioned to support Australia's transition to net zero emissions, but none of us should ignore what's happening around us, in Australia but also around the world, as this report is handed down.

The report is being handed down as Australia records its hottest ever winter temperatures. Just three weeks ago Yampi Sound, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, broke the previous national winter record when it reached 41.6 degrees. That is not just impacting on climate. It's not just impacting on ecological systems and processes that underpin that complex, beautiful web of life that exists on the planet. It's not just impacting on the health of all the places that we love so much—even some of the places we might not love so much. It's impacting on the health of people around the world. We're already seeing an increased number of deaths from climate related circumstances right around the world, including heat stress.

This report rightfully acknowledges that working to reduce emissions now is far more efficient and effective that waiting and hoping that bigger breakthroughs will do all the work, but we all know, in this place, what we need to do to rein in emissions. We all know that we need to stop approving new coal and gas mines. We all know that we need to stop logging our native forests. We know these things. This is not an issue where lack of knowledge is holding us back. This is an issue where lack of political will is holding us back.

If we had more people in this place who were prepared to stand up and fight the big fossil fuel corporations, who were prepared to fight to defend nature and defend our native forests from the ongoing destruction that is enabled by the complicity of the establishment parties in this place, if we had more people who were willing to fight in this place and demand real climate action, we could actually do the things that need to be done to rein in our emissions and make sure we have a safe and livable planet, not just for humans but for all the myriad species that rely on our climate and our ecological processes.

Do you know the quickest, simplest way to get more people into this place who are prepared to do these things? Vote for the Greens. Put Greens in this place. We are not beholden to the big polluting corporations. We are here to defend nature. We are here to defend the complex, beautiful web of life that exists in our forests. We are here to rein in emissions. We will not be bought out by the political donations—the institutionalised bribery from the big corporations—as the major parties are. Just last week, the establishment parties in this place colluded to vote down Greens legislation to end the logging of native forests in Australia. Why did they do that? They did that because they are captive to the native forest logging industry, in the same way that they are captive to the fossil fuel corporations.

I've been in politics for over two decades and, for the entirety of my political career, I have watched Labor and Liberal get together to ensure the ongoing destruction of our forests. I have watched Labor and Liberal get together to facilitate the ongoing operations and the ongoing profits of big fossil fuel corporations. I know how this story goes. I've read this chapter before.

The time to act is now. Stand up for climate action, defend nature and make sure that we have a livable planet.

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

I too rise to take note of document No. 1, the Climate Change Authority's Sector pathways review 2024. The latest quarterly emissions data, horrifyingly, shows that emissions have risen 2½ per cent from December to March. That's even higher than it was in the final days of the Morrison government. Emissions are not coming down, and it's putting a safe climate out of reach. There were 438.4 million tonnes of emissions released in the year to June 2022—the last quarter of the Morrison government—and they sit at 440.2 million tonnes per annum in a quarterly report released with this CCA pathway review, which shows no real progress. In fact, it's higher. Emissions in electricity are up for the quarter and are worrying because increased energy demand was driven by living in a hotter climate. Modest changes to electricity emissions over the year, driven by renewables, is not enough to decarbonise. The government needs to drive out fossil fuels everywhere.

Under Labor, more coal, oil and gas means more pollution. Labor has approved 23 new coal and gas projects since coming to office—23 new coal and gas projects when we are in a climate crisis and all of the science says that we need to be exiting out of fossil fuels and onto clean renewable energy as quickly as possible. But, no, you take the donations from the fossil fuel sector, and—hey presto!—out come the approvals for 23 new fossil fuel projects. It's no wonder that fugitive emissions from coal are up 0.8 per cent for the quarter. LNG exports have driven the largest sectoral increase in emissions, a tragic 23 per cent increase since 2005, and yet still the Albanese government pushes a future gas strategy beyond 2050. Transport emissions are continuing to rise rapidly, with a 2.6 per cent increase. Labor must do more to drive the uptake of electric vehicles and public transport, including more incentives, rapid-charging infrastructure and targets for the phase-out of new petrol cars.

The figures in this report show that at the current rate there is no prospect of Australia cutting its pollution consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 or two degrees—the goals that were enshrined in the Paris Agreement. And even Labor's weak targets, which blow us out past two degrees, are under threat from stubbornly high gas pollution. Emissions would need to decline an average 14½ million tonnes a year to meet Labor's inadequate 2030 target, with the easiest and steepest cuts occurring right now. Instead, the data shows that emissions reductions have stalled since Labor came into office.

To make these emissions figures worse, the Albanese government is seeking to expand coal and gas past 2050 as part of their Future Gas Strategy and their Future Made in Australia plans. Well, it's a future made for fossil fuels under this government, who said that they were going to take action on the climate crisis. And what have they done? Roll out the red carpet for the fossil fuel megacorporations, who, of course, make generous donations to their political party and to the opposition's political party. Perhaps that's why they've got 23 new approvals for coal and gas projects under this government, who said that they'd be different from the last.

It is getting increasingly difficult to tell the difference between the two big parties in this place, and that is why support for both of your parties is on the wane. People wanted climate action. They acknowledge we're in a climate crisis. They can see the potential and the jobs creation in clean renewable energy. And yet you're on the take from the fossil fuel industry, and the confetti of approvals just continues. Meanwhile, the climate is cooking. We're losing jobs on the Great Barrier Reef. We're seeing agricultural productivity decline. And there are so many missed opportunities.

This report is tragic reading; it catalogues all of the failures and all of the broken promises from this government. This emissions data spells disaster. Emissions are not coming down, and your commitment to coal and gas will see Australia blow any chance of meeting safe climate targets. At this rate, you're not even going to meet your own unscientific climate target, let alone what's actually needed to tackle the climate crisis. Gas is as dirty as coal. Climate pollution from gas is rising. But, instead of cutting it, 23 coal and gas projects have been approved as part of Labor's Future Gas Strategy to run beyond 2050. For shame!

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

I rise to contribute my thoughts in relation to the Climate Change Authority's Sector pathways review 2024 and, like Senator Waters, I am extremely disappointed. All the promises that were made by the Albanese government to take climate change seriously and to act seriously are becoming harder and harder to believe every time this government approves the opening of a new coalmine or gas mine. There have been 23 so far under this government, yet we know that, if we are to arrest dangerous global warming, we have to stop making the problem worse.

The International Energy Agency, the United Nations and every expert around the world—the scientists, the energy experts—are all telling governments like Australia's that you can't keep opening new coalmines and gas mines and you can't keep creating new fossil fuel industry if you want to stop global warming. You can't keep putting petrol on the fire. This is just unthinkable, frankly. We need to be reducing carbon pollution. We need to be reducing emissions, but emissions are higher than they were under the Morrison government. What? This is crazy! This is dangerous. This needs to be reversed.

It's as if the Albanese government is hoping everyone has forgotten the promises that were made at the last election. It's like the Prime Minister is hoping that no-one has noticed that, despite promises that they would do better on climate and the environment, the government is dropping the ball, seemingly dragging its feet and making things worse. It is just unacceptable in 2024, when we are having record temperatures here in Australia and around the world, that this government is approving new coalmines and gas mines and that the environment minister is signing off on new coalmines and gas mines and giving them a big green tick. There's nothing green about new coal and gas. There is nothing environmentally sound about expanding the fossil fuel industry in 2024. There is nothing that supports the idea that a government can just make the situation worse and expand fossil fuels. It is the exact opposite of what science requires.

At the last election, more candidates with a climate and environment policy were voted into this parliament for the first time than ever before—across the crossbench and across the Greens, and there were even some on the Labor Party benches. The government had a mandate—the parliament has a mandate—to do more, not less. Instead of doing more, the Prime Minister today has told the parliament to get out of his way so that he can continue to sign off on the opening of new coalmines and gas mines. He doesn't want any type of climate assessment in environment law. The Prime Minister has told the parliament to get out of his way so he can keep letting the gas industry, the coal industry and other big polluters open up, keep going, keep burning and keep polluting. It's simply unacceptable, and it needs to be called out.

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

I hope the government acts on this advice that we have before us from the Climate Change Authority. Remember two years ago, when we legislated a 43 per cent emissions reduction target, equivalent to a two-degree warming from preindustrial levels, significantly below the ambition of the Paris Agreement? The government kept saying: 'That's the floor. We intend to do a lot better. You watch. We're going to bring in policies and fund initiatives to reduce emissions across other sectoral pathways.' Well, here before us, in the Climate Change Authority report, we have a plan.

I wanted to highlight one of those pathways in particular, which is the circular economy. This is an issue that all Australians care about. It might be at home—what they put in their bin that goes kerbside. No-one wants to see a mountain of waste. Everybody wants to see more recycling. Everybody wants to see taken out of our waste stream problematic, single-use plastics that are made from petroleum. Everybody wants to see big producers of plastic pollution, big retailers of plastic pollution, like Coles and Woolies, and food manufacturers that use plastic take responsibility for the products that they sell and put out into the marketplace.

Have you noticed over the decades how the industry has really cleverly put it back onto consumers to 'do the right thing', 'put it in the bin' and go through kerbside recycling? Guess what? That's not working. Every day we get more and more waste—more and more waste going to landfill and more and more litter leaking into our rivers, our streams and our oceans. We've got plastic all through our food chain. We've got plastic all through our human bodies, including in our brains, according to the latest research. It should be—pardon the pun—a no-brainer to act on plastic pollution. And here we have the Climate Change Authority saying to us, 'Here is a pathway to build a circular economy.' But you know what? That's going to take a bit of courage. That's going to take a bit of leadership.

We have a Senate inquiry before us right now that's looking at where the government is at with building a circular economy. They've talked a big game since they came to government, saying that they were going to step in and regulate the packaging industry. Let's be honest; packaging is a big, big source of our problem. Did you know that plastic production just on its own is 45 per cent of the petrochemical sector around the world, which is projected to account for a third of the growth in oil demand by 2025? That's the demand for oil and gas exploration at one end, leading through to the production of plastic, with our rampant consumption of this kind of packaging. So we're supporting more oil and gas exploration, it's worse for the climate, it's increasing emissions, and we know what we can do about it—that is, actually tell these companies, 'You can't sell anything that can't be recycled, reused, composted or refused.'

Seriously, why are we letting these companies get away with producing so much rubbish that is just so damaging to our environment but also, as we're discussing here today, is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions? It's no wonder multinational oil and gas corporations are eyeing a rapid expansion in the production of plastics to generate the demand for fossil fuels in a decarbonised world. They will get away with it if we don't do something about it, and here before us is some advice for that sectoral pathway in the waste and recycling industry—what we need to do. So I'd ask senators to read the report.

It's our job to put pressure on the government to make sure we lift our ambitions in this place. A 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2035 is not ambitious. It was sold to us at the time by the government as being a start, and I have yet to see the action in other sectors to reduce emissions. We know the most recent data on emissions is that they are continuing to rise here in Australia. Meanwhile, the planet continues to warm, and we don't take the action that is necessary. Is that because we refuse to stand up to big corporations? Yes, it is. On this particular issue with waste, Australians want to see action. No matter what their political colour, no matter where they live, they want us to do the right thing and build a circular economy.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of document No. 1, the Climate Change Authority's Sector pathways review 2024. The report considers the emissions pathways for six sectors, including electricity and energy, and what is required for Australia's transition to net zero emissions. As this review states, every sector of the economy must play its part in the transition to net zero emissions.

As part of the transition to net zero, we must not forget the workers and the communities that have powered the country. We owe coal workers a debt of thanks for powering our country. We don't need to choose between taking urgent climate action and supporting coal communities. We can do both. Where I live in Central Queensland, coal and gas workers tell me that they know their jobs are on the way out and that they're sick of governments pretending it isn't happening. They want honesty and they want a plan. There is so much opportunity in the coal regions, but we really need to get on with it.

Unions, workers and communities have been campaigning for this for a long time, and it's long overdue to have a plan in place for these workers, who are going to be hit hard. The Greens went to the last election as the only party pushing for a statutory authority to support coal and gas workers. The Liberals kept their head in the sand, and the Labor Party were too timid to include it in their Powering Australia plan. During discussions with the government on the climate change bill, the Greens pushed for an independent statutory authority to look after coal and gas communities as the world transitions. The Net Zero Economy Authority Bill, which passed this place recently, explicitly relates to employees of coal- and gas-fired power stations and coalmines. However, the legislation does not make mention of gas and oil extraction, reflecting the federal government's broader reluctance to constrain an active policy support for the expansion of Australian LNG exports.

There is a trend with this government of announcing a piecemeal, underwhelming legislative or policy effort with regard to climate change or the environment and immediately following it up with plans for further expansion of the gas industry. Labor's Future Gas Strategy locks us into gas past 2050. It shows that they are a party fundamentally unserious about reducing emissions, fundamentally unserious about acting on climate change and fundamentally comfortable with condemning Australia to even more bushfires, droughts, floods and killer heatwaves.

Australia's industrial history is littered with moments in time when communities faced rapid and unprecedented changes, a moment of deindustrialisation or of boom and bust. Many of these moments demonstrate how poorly the transition has gone for workers and the communities that they live in. There is immense opportunity for the government to engage in community building. Governments don't make communities, but assistance schemes can provide the basis for stability, longevity and ultimately self-determination and freedom.

It's hard to overstate the importance of getting this right for communities like mine in Gladstone. Industry transition in the face of global and national trends toward a net zero economy has incredibly visceral local impacts—impacts on neighbours; on families; on children; and on the supporting community of people and professions that make up our cities and towns, essential workers like teachers, nurses and aged-care workers. The shape and feel of our communities are affected. The global trade winds that blow into town and bring with them jobs and localised employment just as quickly drift away and take the promised prosperity with them. This has been the history of industrialisation, and for so long we have struggled to find a better way, not because we didn't have ideas of how to do better. Communities and workers have called for just and fair transitions for decades. No, they have been callous actions by governments and industry that have left workers behind and decimated communities. This is the fear that communities like mine face. It's why we must get organised and fight for a fair and just transition—because no coal worker should suffer the anxiety and financial insecurity that comes from losing their job suddenly.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the Climate Change Authority's Sector pathways review 2024 and add my support to the comments of the colleagues who have gone before me. This review considered the pathways for six sectors—agriculture and land, built environment, electricity and energy, industry and waste, and transport and resources—to decarbonise. The review found that there are many pathways to achieve emissions reduction, with existing, mature technologies such as solar and wind for electricity generation and batteries for energy storage getting Australia much of the way to net zero. Opportunities also exist with the rapid development of emerging low-emissions technologies such as hydrogen and engineered carbon removals.

While this review is encouraging, I do not have hope that the Labor government will act on its findings. Since Labor have been in government, we have seen them continue to approve new coal and gas mines. We have seen them attempt to water down proposed environmental legislation and dodge any responsibility for this climate crisis. We are in the midst of a climate emergency. Without an urgent reduction in our carbon emissions, we risk catastrophe. To do nothing is to risk everything. You only need to be reminded of that when bushfire survivors for climate action come through your office and tell you about losing everything, from their homes and their livelihoods to their friends.

Earlier this year, the Labor government released its Future Gas Strategy, where it talked up the crucial role of gas through to and beyond 2050. What kind of a sick joke is this? And then, on forests, the report highlights the importance of protecting forests as vital carbon sinks. Australia's native forests are unique and beautiful and home to some of our most iconic wildlife. They are unceded country for traditional owners, with precious totems and songlines woven through them. Despite that, Labor and Liberal governments have permitted and overseen decades of native forest logging that destroys our environment and releases over 11 million tonnes of carbon each year. Any path to decarbonisation must include an end to native forest logging.

I want to touch on an issue close to my heart in this discussion around decarbonisation, which is the Pacific islands. I recently had the opportunity to join a climate focused parliamentary delegation, with Save the Children, to Vanuatu. The delegation travelled through the country. We met with families, communities and village chiefs to learn about some of the positive impacts of Australia's financial aid, but, more importantly, the climate catastrophe and the impact it has on their ability to sustain their livelihoods and continue to stay on the land where they have lived for generations and generations. They spoke about the immense grief they're experiencing in already having to move away from areas and in losing the language, culture and traditions that their ancestors have passed on to them for generations. We visited a hospital where water is now lapping at the doorstep because of rising sea levels. What the government describes as our Pacific family is astounded that, in the face of this climate ruin and of them being designated climate refugees from their own countries, our government is approving new coal and gas projects and fuelling the fire, the floods, the storm surges and the sea level rise.

Today I ask: when will the Labor government learn that new coal and gas projects are a pathway to environmental collapse? When will the Labor government learn that doing deals with the coalition to weaken our national environmental laws is exactly the opposite of what is needed to avoid mass extinction? When will it learn that, unless it starts to show leadership on climate and biodiversity protection to rule out new coal and gas projects, protect our forests and create a pathway to a hundred per cent clean and renewable energy, it is doomed to career towards electoral oblivion.

The time for climate action is now. The time for climate leadership is now. No more weasel words, no more faux outrage from backbenchers fighting for their political lives—it is time for true, meaningful climate action: an end to coal and gas, an end to native forest logging and giving us a bit of hope that future generations can live and raise families on a safe planet.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for this debate has expired. Senator Rennick and Senator Steele-John, you can make your contributions to that document later on in the week.

Debate adjourned.