Tuesday, 26 November 2024

Climate change

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (19:03): (1308) My adjournment this evening is to the Premier, and the action I seek is to cease the government’s support for more polluting coal and gas projects in Victoria. In a world racing to reduce pollution, Australia is a stark outlier, and we are getting left further behind.

The rest of the world is accelerating past coal –

says the Climate Council –

Australia can either choose to reap the opportunities of this transition, or be left poorer and less secure.

We are still one of the highest emitting countries per head of population and a massive global supplier of fossil fuels. Only Indonesia sells more coal than Australia globally. At the federal level shockingly Australia’s emissions are now higher under Anthony Albanese than under Scott Morrison. That is right: in a climate crisis and facing another summer of appalling bushfires, we are seeing emissions going up, not down. The Victorian Labor government has approved new gas drilling in Victoria’s beautiful oceans right near the Twelve Apostles. As of June 2024 Beach Energy is now extracting gas in the Port Campbell National Park on Gunditjmara country.

As one of the sunniest and windiest continents on earth, Australia and indeed Victoria is ‘uniquely placed to benefit economically’ from its abundant natural resources, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A phase-out of fossil fuel production is entirely feasible for a country with our resources, skills and diverse economy. Scaling up as a clean-energy superpower could bring more economic growth, jobs and tax revenue than the status quo, especially if we took what we need from the fossil fuel industry to properly fund the transition on its way out. We know that the climate crisis is being driven by the greed of coal and gas corporations – the foreign-owned corporations that dig up most of our coal, extract our gas, pay little tax and employ relatively few people while capturing billions of dollars in state and federal support.

The PRESIDENT: Sorry, Ms Copsey. Could I just check: is that for the Minister for Environment or Minister for Energy and Resources?

Katherine COPSEY: The Premier.