Page 2218 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 August 2014
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rating has also remained unchallenged; bond yields were low; and the Australian dollar has been strong. Rather than seeing an economic wrecking ball, it is embarrassing now for the Prime Minister and embarrassing for the coalition. And all of this without factoring in the costs of not taking action on climate change.
I often think it is easy for people who are focused on local issues to write off national and international issues and impacts. But just in case those on the other side of the chamber thought that this was not about them, remember that the costs are also local. Yes, there are real local costs. These will affect the people of the ACT as well as people on low-lying Pacific atolls and in other vulnerable parts of the world.
These are not impacts that we can pretend are going to avoid us. We have already felt the impact of prolonged heatwaves. We saw some examples just this summer of what extended heat periods can look like. It affected our buses. We saw that that had a cost on people’s time and extra maintenance. We had the extra costs of watering our street trees to keep them alive through difficult spells.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Lawder): Order! Mr Hanson, I cannot hear Mr Rattenbury. Please keep your comments down.
MR RATTENBURY: We had to spend extra money to make sure that our trees were maintained. We saw our car parks and bitumen melting, which resulted in additional costs, with TAMS having to go out and do more maintenance on our roads.
They are local practical examples of what extended periods of heat can look like, and these costs will be amplified as we see the scientific models come into place. These costs will hit everyone. They will hit the residents of Canberra. They will hit the Liberal Party and all their conservative bedfellows. These are the realities and these are the true costs of not acting on climate change.
Then there is the sad tragedy of global climate change. There is much more about that than could ever be said in the time available to me today, but the reality is that if we do not act on climate change, there will be significant costs, well beyond the sort of costs that Mr Hanson is talking about today.
At the end of the day, right now, it is a very simple equation. Anyone in public policy is either working on the side of preventing a disastrous outcome for our planet or they are working against it. There is no agnostic anymore. The science is clear. You either are making an effort to do something serious about this or you are not. It is clear which side the Abbott government is on, and history will clearly judge them for that.
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra) (4.41): The Liberal Party has abandoned any pretence of concern about the impacts of global warming. Mr Hanson is spruiking that they have removed Australia’s pricing on carbon pollution. Given that the Liberals will do nothing to slow global warming, there is no point in maintaining any increases that result from regulating carbon pollution. As with so many promises of Mr Abbott, promised savings were grossly inflated and they will definitely be under-delivered.
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