SENATOR JENNY MCALLISTER
SHADOW CABINET SECRETARY
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE LABOR LEADER IN THE SENATE
SENATOR FOR NEW SOUTH WALES

 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2019
 
SUBJECTS: Labor's climate emergency declaration motion.

JENNY McALLISTER, LABOR SENATOR FOR NSW: Good morning. Yesterday, along with Senator Pratt I lodged a Motion for debate in the Senate, declaring that Australia has a climate emergency and the Government must act. Now, that motion reflects the motion lodged by my colleague Mark Butler over in the House of Representative and it reflects our very serious concern about the Government’s complete failure to deal in any serious way with the great challenge of climate change.
 
Now, Scott Morrison essentially treats climate change as a joke. It was Scott Morrison who famously brought a lump of coal into the Parliament and it was Scott Morrison in his role as Prime Minister who went to the UN and against all of the material evidence, asserted and insisted that Australia will meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement.  No serious analysis accepts that this is true. Australia is not on track to meet our agreements under the Paris commitment. Australia’s emissions are in fact rising and there is no sign of them going down. And the problem of course is that we do not have time, we require urgent action on climate change and this is the emergency that we speak of.
 
Climate action is urgent because the scientists are telling us that the consequences of inaction are so severe. We have a climate emergency because the actions of the globe at the point in time will not be enough to meet the Paris targets. They will not be enough to contain global warming to under two degrees and the consequences for Australians are significant. The consequences are more drought, more bushfire, more intense storms and greater costs for our economy. The scientists are warning us about it, the economic regulators are warning us about it and the community is demanding action. In the face of that all we get are bland jibes from the Prime Minister, and dismissal of the very global institutions that are intended to protect us and protect the community.
 
It’s not good enough. We have a climate emergency and Labor is determined to hold the Government to account on this question.
 
ENDS
 
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