CARBON POLLUTION REDUCTION SCHEME BILL 2009
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 04:03
DARREN CHEESEMAN SPEECH ON CARBON POLLUTION REDUCTION SCHEME BILL 2009Mr Speaker this Bill is so important for my own seat, and for Australia.
It is also important to the rest of the world.
I would like to start out Mr Speaker by thanking the Minister, Penny Wong, for the fantastic job in getting this Bill here.
I don't think there would be too many people in the Labor caucus who would have put up their hand to do this job Mr Speaker.
It has been an epic and incredibly difficult task. But the Minister has done it well.
Mr Speaker I want to make some clear and unequivocal statements so they go on the record for the people of my electorate to judge.
I do not want to be like my Liberal opponent for the seat of Corangamite who is currently hiding on this issue.
What a disgrace that is Mr Speaker, in one of the great issues of our time.
Firstly, I want to say very clearly that I do believe climate change is real.
I believe people and industry have contributed very substantially to that.
I believe we have moral responsibilities that go with that.
I believe Australia, as the country that has one of the highest carbon footprints proportionally in the world, has a moral responsibility to lead.
We have a responsibility to help rectify the damage we have done.
We have a responsibility to our future generations.
We have a responsibility to the impact we are having on other peoples of the world.
We have a responsibility for the impact we are having on our fellow Australians.
And yes, Mr speaker, I do believe the advanced countries of this world, who have done the overwhelming amount of the damage, have a responsibility to lead and set an example to the rest of the world.
Mr Speaker, Corangamite, my seat is the perfect example of the difficulties of putting together this legislation, and of the importance of getting it right.
In Corangamite hundreds of kilometres of ocean bordering the seat.
We have the Great Ocean Road.
The Great Ocean Road is both an engine of tourism industry, and a huge social monument, having been built by 3,000 returned soldiers.
Mr Speaker, modelling I have done shows that sea level rise, driven by climate change, will see the Great Ocean Road breached in place after place.
In my seat we also have incredibly important environmental assets, such as the Otways Ranges, the lakes district and our unique volcanic plains.
These assets are now at far greater risk due to fire, and the lakes are drying our due to climate change.
All the flora and fauna, and people, are now at risk due to climate change.
Mr Speaker, in Corangamite we also have a very big farming community.
Everybody should now be very well aware of the challenge of climate to the farming community.
Less rain, is posing enormous challenges to farmers.
Mr Speaker, I am aware that there are some big challenges as to how we include farming within the CPRS.
As most people now know, farmers are in the top three emitting industries in Australia.
In my view that means it is very important that they are included in an ETS.
It is important because if we don't include them, it just puts so much more pressure on the jobs of people in other industries.
Mr Speaker, I think the Liberal Party and the National Party argument that farming should be excluded from the CPRS is just about playing favourites.
It is just shallow, shabby politics.
Doing this means choosing to put more responsibility on Shell workers and Alcoa workers in my seat.
It will make it harder for Shell and Alcoa workers.
Mr Speaker, I firmly believe all industries should be included in the CPRS, if we are to have a system of integrity that will work to stabilise our climate.
Every person and every industry has a responsibility to contribute.
The key question is really HOW we include agriculture.
And again I think the Minister, Penny Wong, has got it right.
The CPRS includes a well calibrated policy for the farming community.
Putting together an expert panel of farmers, economists and scientists who have some time to look at this question and then to make recommendations makes a hell of a lot of sense to me.
Then there is also time for the implementation.
It's a good policy Mr Speaker. A sensible, balanced policy.
And that is not just for farmers Mr Speaker.
The Minister and the whole of the Rudd Government is aware of our responsibilities regarding the jobs of farmers, the jobs of Alcoa workers, the jobs of Shell workers, and of course the jobs of many people working in the tourism industry who are also affected.
We have recognised in this legislation that there are trade exposed industries.
We have recognised the need for industry transition.
And we are providing the industry assistance that is required, and the time that is required.
Mr Speaker these Bills balance the overriding need to act on climate change, with the need to put in place mechanisms that will allow our industries to adjust.
What we are doing here is historic.
We are showing leadership.
We are providing some certainty.
A world carbon market is inevitably being created.
We are readying our country with some well calibrated legislation for that time.
Mr. Speaker, this Bill has clear aims and clear targets.
The Government commitments on targets are an unconditional commitment to reduce carbon pollution 5 per cent by 2020.
We are also making a commitment to reduce carbon pollution by 15 per cent by 2020, if there is an agreement where major developing economies commit to substantially restrain emissions and advanced economies take on commitments comparable to Australia's.
And there is a quite ambitious target of reducing carbon pollution by 25 per cent by 2020, if the world agrees to a global deal to stabilise levels of CO2 equivalent at 450 parts per million or lower.
Mr Speaker there is no Bills more important than this.
This is about how we turn around the terrible legacy of unfettered industrialisation.
A legacy that now threatens to engulf whole island nations through sea level rise.
A legacy that threatens to decimate biodiversity.
A legacy that is threatening human life, creating fire, storm and flooding events of unprecedented ferocity and scale.
A legacy that will leave future generations with a shell of a world, if we don't act.
M Speaker, on the other side of this chamber we have a bit of a shambles.
And it is a sad thing to watch.
As we know, there are the people who deny climate change is happening.
There are those who want to play favourites.
People who want to pick industries that should be in and out.
The people who want to play cheap politics.
And of course there are those on the other side who do understand that the planet's climate is changing rapidly, and who do understand that we have to act.
I say to these people, it is time to stand up.
These are defining Bills Mr Speaker.
This will be a bill where future generations will look to see how you voted.
This is where politics makes a difference.
Mr Speaker, as I have said, I am very proud of these Bills.
We are now a world away from the shameful Howard years.
This is Australia saying we are up for it.
This is Australia saying we are all in this together.
This is Australia saying we are committed to stabilising our planet's climate.
This is Australia saying to the world we are fair dinkum.
I commend the Bill to the house.
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