2020-02-10
Adam Bandt MP has today used his first question to the Prime Minister as Leader of the Australian Greens to highlight the government’s inaction on the climate crisis.
The question is the first ever asked of a sitting Prime Minister by a Greens Leader in Question Time. Mr Bandt said the Prime Minister’s response was yet more obfuscation and denial from Morrison.
“The Prime Minister is keen to talk about anything other than the actual cause of the climate crisis that’s led to this summer’s disastrous heatwaves, bushfires, and flooding,” Mr Bandt MP said.
“Taking action on global heating starts with telling the truth. The truth is that we’re in a climate crisis caused by the digging up and burning of coal, oil and gas. Until the Prime Minister acknowledges that, he's not taking climate action.
FULL QUESTION:
ADAM BANDT MP:
Australia is in record drought, catastrophic megafires have burnt our country, our capital cities have ranked amongst the world’s most polluted and now we’re facing a flood disaster. Do you now accept we’re facing a coal-fuelled climate emergency?
SCOTT MORRISON MP:
As I advised the House last week, the Royal Commission that the government will be moving forward on, once I receive feedback from the states and the territories, on the terms of reference for that royal commission, and at that time, I will then forward a copy of that to the Opposition before announcing what we intend to do with that Royal Commission.
It starts from the premise that we’re dealing with longer, hotter, drier summers and we have always, and I have always acknowledged the link between the climate change and these broader weather climatic events. That has not been in dispute by our government.
It’s not in dispute by our government. Those on the opposite [side]... they laugh and giggle and smirk, because they’re seeking to put forward a false conflict in this place.
Our government is taking action to reduce emissions and they have fallen by 12. 8%.
Mr Speaker, our government has put in place policies that has led to one of the highest levels of renewable investments this country has ever seen. Now they can deny the facts if they like, but they are the facts. What I’ve also said in response to this dreadful black summer that we have been experiencing is that taking action on climate change isn’t just about taking action on emissions.
It’s about taking action on climate resilience. It’s about taking action on climate adaptation. It’s about taking action on hazard reduction, which is a form of climate resilience. It’s about building dams like, Mr Speaker, the billions of dollars we’re investing in those projects through the national water grid. Building dams is climate action now. Hazard reduction is climate action now. I note the leader of the Greens doesn’t agree with that. He’s entitled not to agree with that. But the science suggests it is. And our government will act on that.
You may want to ... select and choose those bits you want to listen to, make climate change about being anti-capitalism, but that’s not what we think. We think that capitalism and technology is the way you ensure a brighter future for this world and for this country, and that’s what our policies will be driven by.
-ENDS-