Clean Energy Bill 2011
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Senator SINGH (Tasmania) (18:41): Excuse me for saying so, but a student going through this evening's Hansard in the future might well think that Senator Boswell had come in from another planet to give his 15-minute message, as he called it. I know Senator Boswell is the longest serving senator in this place and I know that therefore he would have a very long history in and understanding of the various climate change policies of previous coalition and Labor governments. What he has said this evening does not demonstrate that understanding—it shows that he does not remember what happened under John Howard's leadership, that he does not take into account the fact that it was under John Howard's leadership, some 12 years ago, that this whole review of an emissions trading scheme for Australia was first discussed.
Senator Boswell made very clear tonight that he does not believe the science, that he does not believe in climate change and that he does not want to do anything about it. That seems to be the view of the coalition in general—except perhaps for one member of the coalition, Malcolm Turnbull. It must be very interesting in the coalition party room to have Malcolm Turnbull and Senator Boswell come together on this issue, because they are worlds apart. One is from another planet, and the other is the only member of the coalition to actually get this issue.
Senator Heffernan: Madam Temporary Chairman, I rise on a point of order.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: I hope this is a proper point of order.
Senator Heffernan: Of course it is. They are no further apart than Rudd and Gillard.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: Senator Singh.
Senator SINGH: It is clear that those senators opposite are ignoring the science on this, and that is why we have from them only one amendment, which relates only to a date change. There are no amendments to do with the actual detail of the bills.
Senator Cormann: How many amendments did you move on the GST? Do you remember that?
Senator SINGH: Senator Cormann interjects—the senator who once believed in climate change. I encourage Senator Cormann to go back and read his first speech. In fact, I encourage the entire Australian public to read Senator Cormann's first speech to see that he once believed in this issue that has so much scientific backing. He comes into this place when we are debating the bills in committee and does nothing about addressing the provisions or the clauses of the bill at all.
Senator Heffernan: We've got some serious work to do.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: Order! Senator Heffernan, that is unparliamentary. Come to order.
Senator Heffernan: But we have got serious work to do.
Senator SINGH: You have not shown any serious work so far. Those members opposite have not shown any serious work in relation to these bills.
Senator Heffernan interjecting—
The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: Senator Singh, sit down for a moment. Senators shall not wander the chamber interjecting. Please desist or I shall have to evict you from the chamber.
Senator SINGH: I think the wandering of Senator Heffernan shows again that they are not on this planet when it comes to the issue of climate change and the bills before us. I want to address the fact that we are in committee. I have some understanding of this. Before my time in this place I was a minister in another place and I know what it is like to be in committee. That is where you actually debate the bills. It is where you debate the clauses within the bills. It is where you propose amendments. You look at the provisions of the bills and you scrutinise and go through those provisions. What have those opposite done so far? Absolutely none of that. You are lazy. You do not understand the bills in front of you because you do not believe in climate change to start with, except for Senator Cormann of course, who has backflipped all over the place—he did believe it then he did not believe it and so on. In fact, you have dumbed down this issue so much that your own leader, Tony Abbott, does not even understand the element of carbon. How did he refer to carbon dioxide? Invisible, odourless, weightless and tasteless. That shows you the degree to which the coalition understands the issue—
Opposition senators interjecting—
Senator Wong: Madam Temporary Chair, a point of order: I accept, as you know, a certain robustness in debate—
Senator Back: Let's have some accuracy though.
Senator Wong: If accuracy were required, many people here would be silent. I would ask you, Madam Temporary Chair, to keep some semblance of order while the senator is on her feet.
Senator Ian Macdonald: On the point of order: the speaker, the former minister who knows how these things work, has clearly explained to you, Madam Temporary Chair, how this debate should be proceeding now—that is, there should be questions of the minister and answers. Can you draw this speaker to order, tell her that she is supposed to be asking questions and ask her to sit down if she cannot. She has told you how you should be ruling.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: Senator Macdonald, there is no point of order. Senator Singh, you may continue, but before you do I remind the chamber to maintain this as an orderly debate.
Senator SINGH: We have been in committee now for nearly three hours and the opposition have asked one question in that time, maybe two if we are lucky. For Senator Macdonald to make a point of order, when it is up to the opposition to ask the questions in this committee time—
Opposition senators interjecting—
Senator SINGH: You have had three hours so far. You have asked one or maybe two questions. Senator Birmingham has not even moved his amendment. He has one tiny little amendment to change a date and he still has not even moved it. Maybe he wants to string it out because it is the only thing they have going over there.
The business community, which I thought those opposite cared about, want certainty when it comes to transforming the Australian economy into a clean energy economy. That is what these bills do. That is what the clean energy package addresses. It provides that certainty to business. It provides certainty so that they can move and transform their businesses into that clean energy space, as so many other parts of the world are doing and have done, as so many other businesses in other parts of the world are doing and have done. The coalition would have us believe that, despite all the work Senator Wong has taken you through this time and previously in this place to do with the detail in the package, we are not moving Australia into a clean energy future, that in fact it is all just a big tax on individuals rather than a tax on 500 polluters. The fact that they continue to mislead the public shows that they have no care for the economics. They have no care for the fact that business are transferring to a clean energy economy. They have no care for the economics and no care for the social factors in relation to this bill.
Senator Heffernan: Madam Temporary Chair, on a point of order: I ask her to withdraw that. Go back to my maiden speech. You are not going to accuse me of not caring, because I care as much as any person in—
The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: Senator Heffernan, that is not a point of order. Please sit down.
Senator Heffernan interjecting—
The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN: Senator Heffernan, there is no point of order. You no longer have the call. Senator Singh, continue.
Senator SINGH: If it pleases Senator Heffernan, I will withdraw my statement that he does not care. I will take a moment sometime in my term in this place to read your first speech, Senator Heffernan, to see how much you do care. I will change my words. What the coalition have done thus far is focus on the politics, focus on the political point-scoring parts of a really important reform for Australia, a really important reform that makes us part of a world that is transforming into a clean energy economy. Rather than focus on the detail—and there is a lot of detail when it comes to a huge reform such as this—and rather than moving amendments or asking questions about the clauses in the bills, they have instead focused on the politics. They have focused on the things that will get them headlines. They are dumbing this down and the way that they do that is, for example, by making out that individuals will be paying a carbon tax, which is simply not true. The coalition know this. They have all the detail in this package of bills. They know that the big polluters will pay. The package of bills is introducing a carbon price mechanism to around 500 big polluters, not to individual households.
Senator Cormann: Your own modelling shows that people will pay. Who are they? Who are the big polluters?
Senator SINGH: This dumbing down and the misleading information that the coalition continue to carry on with is sheer laziness and sheer political point-scoring. It shows that there is little care about this issue of climate change. The fact is that there is so much overwhelming science out there, which has been in place for some time now, asking us to act on this issue and telling us that, if we do not act, the cost for the economy will be even greater, Senator Cormann. But, despite that, you continue to ignore all that scientific evidence and continue to oppose. You prefer to play with politics than to play with real policy, real issues and things that are actually going to move this country forward and make a difference to the lives of many people.
I understand, to draw on the science, that some of the effects, such as sea level change, will come into being out of our lifetimes. But it is our duty and it is up to us to ensure that we lead the way for the next generation, for our kids and for their kids, that we leave this planet a better place, that we treat it better than we have been treating it up until now. Why? Because we know that we are damaging it if we do not do so, and we have a chance to turn that around. This is a chance to turn that around, to do what is right for our families, for our people and for our environment.
We are only here for a certain amount of time. We are only here in the Senate for a short amount of time, but we are privileged with a task, and that task is to ensure that we change things for the better for our people and for our environment. This is the time to do that. It is not the time to play politics, to get up and make another 15-minute speech about she said, he said and who said what. What is that going to do for anyone? How is that going to change anyone living in Australia in the future? It is not going to do anything for our environment, for our people, for our businesses. We on this side of the Senate, the Labor Party, take the issue of climate change seriously, and that is why we have acted. That is why we have put this package of bills through the House and before the Senate: to ensure that we move things and turn things around.
Having said that, 12 years ago, when you were in power, when you were in government, it seemed like you were going to do the same thing. But you conveniently forget that now because it does not suit you. It does not suit your politics.
Senator Back interjecting—
Senator SINGH: The rest of the world is acting. China, India, the EU and states of the United States are acting. It is incorrect to say that the rest of the world is not acting. They are acting. They are acting in a number of ways, and why? Because they know that certain parts of the world are not even going to be there in the future. Islands like Kiribati and Tuvalu are not even going to exist. What goes when they go? Not just the people who lived on them but their culture, their history. We, like all the other nations in the world, have the opportunity to do something about this, to turn it around. That is why those on this side of the chamber take this issue very seriously. This is not about buck-passing or politics, which is all that seems to come from those on the other side. There is a sense of laziness, of lying to the Australian people, of spreading misinformation, of just playing politics.
There is a lot of evidence from around the world that we do need to act on climate change. That is what we are doing. We are proud to be doing it. We are not proud to be doing it just because we are a Labor Party; we are proud to be doing it for our kids, for our families, for the rest of this nation. We want to ensure that whilst we are in government we do as much as we can to ensure that we turn around something that we have so much science on. We know that we have been impacting on our environment now for so long. The science is clear. The time to act is now. There is a clear consensus amongst the climate scientists that climate change is real, and that is why we are acting to reduce carbon pollution—because of the serious effects of climate change that we as humans have caused in part and will continue to cause unless we do something about reducing our carbon pollution in this country.