Page 867 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 27 February 2013
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has already started to have an impact on emissions, and the federal department of climate change have estimated that the reductions in the first six months are commensurate with what they had modelled.
I think it is an encouraging sign to see that the policy is actually delivering what was anticipated, despite the hysterics delivered by the federal Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues. It does seem almost unthinkable that an Abbott-led federal government would unpick and dismantle a piece of legislation that was so long in the making, that was essentially supported by Liberal governments of earlier days and that was effectively supported by 50 per cent of the Liberal Party before the 2007 election.
For at least a decade, business has been calling for certainty on emissions pricing. Should this federal coalition win the next election, we will see a return of uncertainty for the Australian business sector as well as the country being taken backwards when it comes to tackling climate policy. I think that business leaders would be dismayed if the federal opposition actually sought to proceed with that policy. And it will be fascinating to see how it plays out if and when that situation arises.
We should be the first to act to pick up the advantages of being at the forefront rather than vacating the field, and that is both here in the ACT and at the Australian level, at the national level. The advantages of being at the cutting edge of innovation and policy development are tremendous and are much better than lagging behind and using old technology and outdated policy models.
Certainly, we should not be afraid of taking action that has been identified in other countries. Because Australia has been a bit slow to move, we have been able to look at some of the mistakes made in other places, the policy errors that were made. People have learned from those. So there is a great opportunity there for us to do a lot better and to learn from those teething difficulties. At the same time, we should also be prepared to step out in front where we believe we have got the right ideas and the research has shown that a particular policy can have a significant impact.
Certainly Canberra has strong goals in the fight against climate change. We are leading the way now, with our 40 per cent emissions reduction target, and I think that this is something that we can be very proud of. We do need to start getting the runs on the board in terms of seeing real emission reductions, because if we cannot do it here in the ACT, with all the goodwill in the community and the legislation in place, then that is a depressing thought. The minister has cited some of those figures. We are at the beginning of turning the oil tanker around, in a sense. And it is a slow process.
I think this goes to some of Mr Smyth’s observations about the last state of the environment report. Apparently all environmental problems in the ACT started in 2008, when the Greens and the Labor Party signed a parliamentary agreement. None of these things have been building up for years, and all of these things should be turned around in the first instance. I think these things take time to turn around, and members who understand these issues appreciate that some of these things do take a bit of time to turn around.
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