Climate change is the greatest challenge we face, with consequences that reach across the globe, into each and every home.
And we in Australia have much at stake – with a few degrees rise in temperature the CSIRO warns we face the devastation of the Great Barrier Reef, the extinction of many of our unique Australian plants and animals, the loss of our snow fields, hotter summer days, less rain – and critically, dramatic reductions in the amount of water our rivers need.
This is not just an environmental issue, it’s about health, it’s about the economy, it’s about harnessing the business opportunities to drive climate change solutions.
How we respond to the climate crisis – and how quickly we act will quite literally determine our way of life in Australia in the years and decades ahead.
And no other issue defines our parties more clearly than this one.
A Labor government will show leadership on climate change, leadership this country is crying out for.
We will do what the scientists and economists agree needs to be done to tackle the climate crisis and secure a safe and prosperous future for our kids and grandkids.
Despite a decade of consistent warnings about climate change from the best Australian and international scientists-the Howard government went missing in action.
Under John Howard we’ve had 11 years of scepticism, delay and denial.
This Government won’t set targets, it won’t ratify Kyoto.
But Labor has a proud history of environmental leadership.
It was a Labor Government that led the global negotiations to fix the hole in the ozone layer.
It was a Labor Government that championed the World Heritage listing of the Daintree, the Wet Tropic rainforests and the extension of Tasmania’s world heritage areas.
It was a Labor government that gained the protection of Jervis Bay and Antarctica.
It was a Labor Government that was willing to save the Franklin River.
Virtually all these positive actions, opposed by the Coalition, opposed by Mr Howard.
And of course it was a Labor Government that supported the emergence of the Landcare movement.
As a former president of the Australian Conservation Foundation I am immensely proud of that groundbreaking partnership between the environmentalists and farmers.
As Labor’s Shadow Minister for Climate Change I am greatly encouraged to see scientists, business, environment groups, faith groups and the broader community working together to tackle climate change, all wanting leadership and action on this issue.
That’s why Labor will take the best, most comprehensive set of climate change and other environment policies to the Australian people at this election.
Labor will set a 20% target for renewable energy by 2020 to significantly expand renewables, boosting wind and solar.
We want to give people in all walks of life an opportunity to contribute to climate change solutions, at work and at home.
That’s why Labor will help Australian families take practical action at home – with rebates for solar hot water, solar power, insulation and rainwater tanks. And we’ll provide low interest loans for those who struggle to find the up front cash so they too can benefit from energy and water savings.
And we want to make sure our areas of great natural beauty and economic productivity are protected.
And that’s why Labor has committed $200 million to a rescue package for the Great Barrier Reef, improving water quality and making this great natural wonder less vulnerable to climate change.
We recognise that coal will continue to play an important role in providing energy in Australia in years to come.
So we’re investing $500 million more than the Government to accelerate the development and commercialisation of clean coal technologies.
And we’ll invest $500 million in a Green Car Innovation Fund to help develop and build low emission cars in Australia.
Importantly Labor will show international leadership and immediately ratify the Kyoto Protocol, so we can take our seat at the negotiating table.
We want to work closely with other nations to see all major emitters contribute their fair share to the deep global emission cuts we need by mid century.
We want to be there to fully participate and negotiate the global action necessary to combat climate change.
We have always known that we need urgent action on climate change.
That’s why Kevin Rudd convened the first ever National Climate Change summit in March here in Canberra to hear from the experts.
Yet despite consistent advice and urgent warnings from the scientists successive Howard Government ministers have failed to act.
Just last week the Deputy Prime Minister was at it again, questioning the science of climate change.
The Treasurer has not even commissioned advice about the costs of climate change to the economy, so much for sound economic management.
And now at the eleventh hour Mr Howard says he will implement an emissions trading scheme that just a year ago he said would “result in great damage to [the] country” – but he won’t set a long term target based on science.
At the eleventh hour Mr Howard has set a clean energy target in a move that he earlier said would “lose Australian jobs, Australian investment” – but his target simply bundles state targets together and opens them up to nuclear reactors.
But Mr Howard still won’t join Kyoto even though he now concedes China and India, who’ve both ratified, will not be subject to “precisely the same rules”.
And his Cabinet rejected Mr Turnbull’s eleventh hour proposal to ratify the protocol.
Mr Howard’s only answer to climate change is 25 nuclear reactors, and their radioactive waste dumps built across Australia, as yet we know not where.
Australians have every right to be cynical about the Howard Government’s eleventh hour change of tune.
The Government often trumpets its commitment to invest $3.4 billion on climate change.
But that’s over two decades.
For now the Government has spent only 64 per cent of the money it promised between 1998 and 2006 – that’s one-third of climate change funding not delivered over eight years.
Tellingly the government has actually spent twice as much on political advertising than it has on climate change.
Eleven years of delay, inaction and denial under the Howard government has set Australia back a decade and more.
And all the while an ever warming world with impacts on our farmers, our industries and our way of life and that of our neighbours, is bearing down.
I have huge affection for this country, its landscapes and its people. I want to be able to show my grandkids that I did everything I could to secure a prosperous economy and to protect the amazing environment we share.
Yet during Mr Howard’s term on virtually every indicator of environmental health we have gone backwards.
The choice at this election is stark.
On climate change, the biggest environmental issue of all, we can be driven by the urgency of the science that demands we act now to reduce emissions
and by the economics which says that action is affordable, that the longer we wait the more it will cost.
Or we can be hampered by the scepticism shown by the Howard government.
Kevin Rudd and Labor will provide the leadership Australians are crying out for - on climate change and a host of other issues.
This election is about who will provide new leadership for this great country: including – who will provide decisive, committed leadership on climate change.
When Sir Nicholas Stern spoke here in March he called for leadership on climate change and said “we can tackle this problem and we can continue to grow but it does require urgent action to cut back on our emissions.”
The PM thinks a 4 degree temperature increase might be ‘uncomfortable for some’.
In fact it would mean more intense periods of drought across our nation – the end of the Murray Darling basin as we know it – and the devastation of the Great Barrier Reef.
The Industries Minister, a noted climate change sceptic – considers “An Inconvenient Truth” was simply “an entertainment”.
The Treasurer, our would be Prime Minister failed to mention climate change in 10 consecutive budgets.
And the Environment Minister seems aware of the threat but can’t convince the Cabinet to ratify Kyoto.
Under Mr Howard – as emissions keep rising so too will the cost of inaction. His solution, 25 nuclear reactors – is coming to a city or suburb near you.
Labor has always been committed to climate change action. Labor has a plan – international leadership, a target backed by science, more renewable energy and more jobs that go with it – low interest home loans for green renovations for Australian homes, solar panels on all our schools and water tanks in our surf clubs – but above all – a willingness to act.
Persistent scepticism is the biggest obstacle to genuine action in any field of endeavour – and a government of climate change sceptics cannot deliver climate change solutions.
Labor has a strong conviction on this issue and only Kevin Rudd and Labor will provide the leadership we need on climate to ensure Australia’s safe future.