Page 871 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 27 February 2013
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Minster Corbell raised a number of good points when talking about how this city is preparing itself to tackle this great challenge. The minister rightly highlighted the groundbreaking development of the FRV Royalla solar farm that will provide enough affordable, emissions-free renewable energy to power around 4,400 Canberra homes.
Over the lunch break I did a bit of reading to prepare for this afternoon. In light of Mr Smyth’s attempt at a history lesson, it is worth discussing what I read. I wonder if Mr Smyth actually wrote this policy document; it is quite a concise little policy document from the 2008 ACT election campaign that Mr Corbell referred to. It was a document from the then Seselja-led Canberra Liberals. Looking at the Canberra Liberal Party of today, it stands as a great example of how a political party can be hijacked by ideology and lose sight of common sense. The paper is called Cleaning up our ACT—pun intended, I imagine—leadership on climate change. Mr Corbell referred to it, and I will read it to be clear. Under the headline “Setting serious targets”, the Canberra Liberals set out their emissions reduction policy. It reads:
A Canberra Liberal government will set a long term target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 60% of 1990 levels by 2050. We will also set an interim target of a reduction to 30% of 1990 levels by the end of 2020.
Well, there is real leadership right there, Mr Assistant Speaker. But the policy paper goes on. Halfway down the same page, we have the Canberra Liberals’ policy on renewable energy and efficiency. It says:
A Canberra Liberal government will also set targets for at least 20% of all electricity used in the ACT to be from renewable sources by 2014, as well as a target for a 20% reduction in the per capita use of energy by 2020.
Considering the huge amount of scientific evidence on the disastrous effects of climate change since that time, and also considering that the government’s policies to achieve considerable greenhouse gas emissions are not all that different from that plan, I question the reasons behind the opposition’s current retrograde thinking on this issue. And I wonder, given the disastrous effects of climate change around this country, why the Liberals’ only solution to this is another garbage bin. Well, that is simply garbage.
I know that Mr Hanson wants to paint a picture about this government’s beliefs and policies, but it looks a bit thin when he runs away from policies such as those taken by the Canberra Liberals to the 2008 election.
In conclusion, the government are committed to action on climate change and we have a plan to achieve our targets. In doing so, we will continue to focus on local job creation, the diversification of our economy and helping vulnerable parts of the community manage our transition to a low carbon economy and a sustainable Canberra.
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