2015-11-26
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — I find it absolutely astounding that any government at any level anywhere on Earth finds it possible to move forward with a policy of doing nothing on climate change. On Monday we will see a summit of world leaders, and federal environment minister Greg Hunt will be going there saying he does not need to do anything, because he is taking credit for actions that were taken in the past to reduce our emissions.
Here in Victoria we have a party that has had four years in opposition and 12 months with the resources of government to think about what it is going to do on climate change, and it still has not managed to come up with a plan. It has cut back on the payments to solar customers and announced an inquiry into it. It has endorsed Tony Abbott's cuts to renewable energy targets and announced an inquiry into it. It has extended onshore gas drilling licences as well as coal exploration licences here in Victoria and announced an inquiry into them. It has continued the process of coal allocation and grants to so-called clean coal technologies, but it is not really sure whether that is going to pay off so it has announced an inquiry into it. The ending of logging of native forests, some of the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth, would be a major way to fight climate change if the government does what all Victorians want and ends it, but currently it has an inquiry into it. Of course Victoria has no climate change target that could even be compared to Greg Hunt's.
To access full speeches and debates please visit http://hansard.parliament.vic.gov.au/isysadvsearch.html where you can search Victorian Hansard publications from 1991 onwards.