Page 4029 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 2010
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JACS bills are an important tool in ensuring that legislation remains effective and in line with original policy intentions. They are an efficient mechanism for enabling the government to be responsive and to ensure that its laws reflect the changes and needs of the community it serves. The bill I present today introduces amendments to the statute book of a relatively minor and uncontroversial nature, providing this Assembly with an opportunity to ensure that the territory’s laws remain clear and consistent and continue to operate effectively.
I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Dunne) adjourned to the next sitting.
Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Bill 2010
Mr Corbell, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (11.41): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Today I present the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Bill 2010. This bill sets out targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. It also establishes in statutory form the long-term target of carbon neutrality for Canberra by 2060.
I am presenting this bill today because the community are looking to government for leadership on the issue of climate change. They are looking for governments to recognise the clear and unambiguous scientific evidence that climate change is occurring, and that it is human activity which is causing it. They are looking for governments which will make policy and take action informed by that scientific evidence.
The targets in this bill reflect the scientific evidence. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has clearly stated that to avoid dangerous climate change, global temperatures should not increase by more than two degrees. To achieve this, the concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere should not exceed 450 parts per million, and to achieve that, reduction of emissions in developed countries should be the equivalent of 40 per cent of 1990 levels by the year 2020. For this reason, the ACT government has adopted an emissions reduction target of 40 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050.
Achieving these targets will require the government, business and the broader community to work together, to take responsibility for our common future. They are ambitious targets, but I stress that they are also achievable targets.
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