Page 3795 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 22 November 2006
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As I indicated earlier in the week, to present our policy as a Liberal opposition, we are trying to pursue a no-regrets approach. We would be seeking to develop a program in government that will incorporate practical measures to reduce energy wastage and costs. This would include close involvement by government in encouraging and supporting sensible environmental measures. The objective would be to ensure that the community gets behind environmental policy. A penalty approach, which is often the perspective the Greens movement brings to things, is not the way, in my view, to secure public support.
I do not make that statement lightly. I can base it on extensive experience in dealing with these issues from 10 years ago, when I first became involved in these programs. Previous experience I have enjoyed in developing the largest number of greenhouse challenge partnerships for any industry sector in Australia when operators in the tourism and hospitality industry got behind a no regrets program, extending back to that time, is very clear evidence of what can be achieved.
I would encourage the Greens, instead of turning their back on these sorts of measures, to get themselves up to speed, come to understand what has been accomplished, give credit to industry and governments that have worked constructively together and get themselves across the sorts of things that can be done. It is all very well to talk about global activities and all the stuff we hear from the Greens senator on the hill, but I would like to see people who can get their heads around the real ways of achieving these outcomes.
I would appeal to the Green movement in this city to apply some intellectual rigour, rather than simply perch on rhetoric and assume it is their sole province to talk about environmental issues. I am sorry, but the fact of the matter is that the government has obviously decided to take a more active role in these issues. The Liberal opposition is certainly going to be very active in this area. That is something the green movement will have to live with. They will have to get their policy framework up to a level that is more credible than it is at present. Under the no regrets approach we will be looking to develop significant energy savings by delivering reductions in greenhouse gases across an entire industry sector, without adversely impacting on people the way it was achieved in tourism and hospitality.
The view expressed in the media the other day that the achievements of the greenhouse challenge plus program were hatched over 30 years ago simply reflects a profound ignorance of and indifference towards the tangible advances that have been made in recent years. I will detail those in a moment. The Greens seem to be rather naively unaware of what progress is being made through industry and commercial partnerships with the community and government in finding mutually beneficial ways to combat global warming and control greenhouse gas emissions.
It is interesting when you put the rhetoric on one scale and practice on another. As I mentioned the other day in the media, the Greens have, in fact, failed to ask a single question about forestry during the Senate estimates this year. That prompts very serious questions over their seriousness in debating environmental issues for other than media purposes. In 45 Senate question times and two Senate estimates hearings in 2006, the Greens failed to ask Senator Abetz or his department a single question
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