Page 4661 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 19 October 2010
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skills and find sustainable and fulfilling jobs that make a positive contribution to our community.
The ACTU, as I mentioned earlier in the MPI, recently released a report entitled Green gold rush: how ambitious environmental policy can make Australia a leader in the global race for green jobs. That details a way forward for the Australian economy to take advantage of the transition that all economies will have to make.
Here at the Canberra Institute of Technology, the CIT, there is now a range of courses available both in new industries and in the traditional trades that have adapted to the water and energy constraints that we must recognise and live within. There can be no doubt that our long-term economic prosperity depends on us acting quickly on climate change and transitioning to a low emission economy. Diversifying our economic activity and participating in developing markets will be vital to our long-term economic sustainability.
When talking about a path to economic prosperity, it must also be noted that climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable people in our community. This is true in Canberra; it is true the world over. Perhaps the saddest part of the scenario we are faced with is that those who are least responsible for the problem will suffer the most from the consequences. It is vital that in our response to the challenge we are aware of this and we ensure that there are safeguards and safety nets in place to protect those who are vulnerable in our community, who may well be disproportionately impacted by climate change.
This week really is a momentous time in the history of the ACT. We were the first Australian jurisdiction to recognise human rights in legislation, and this week we are the first Australian jurisdiction to make the commitment to meaningful action on the most pervasive and important challenge our society faces and to properly acknowledge our responsibility to change and begin to find mechanisms to achieve that change.
This is, of course, the easy bit. Implementing measures that progress the change will be far more difficult. It is important to acknowledge that. There will be a transition period that will involve difficult decisions and at times disruption and readjustment. Members of this parliament and every future ACT parliament will now have a statutory mechanism for government accountability for action on climate change.
This is one of the most important bills that has or will be passed by the Assembly. I hope that everyone in the community recognises what it means, what it has taken to get here and the direction that we are now headed in.
I would like to acknowledge the role that the climate change committee made in this process as well. The climate change committee conducted the greenhouse gas reduction inquiry to see what sort of targets should be in place. I would like to acknowledge fellow members in that inquiry. There was Mr Zed Seselja; we had Mary Porter early on, and then Mr Hargreaves. And I thank Hanna Jaireth particularly for her support as our secretary on that inquiry.
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