Page 3797 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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Australia can and must do better. I am proud of the progress that we are making in the ACT. I think we are setting a benchmark and we are showing it can be done in an affordable way. I thank Ms Berry for bringing this motion forward today. I will be pleased to support it.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra) (5.01), in reply: I will just reflect on a couple of things that Ms Lawder said in her speech and confirm that I did not once in my speech in moving this motion refer to the Canberra Liberals or Ms Lawder as a climate denier. I did say—and I repeat—that I was astounded by the moral poverty of those who argue that the ACT’s ability to impact on global warming is small because of our size and that we should hold off on taking action on climate change. I said that the position denies the fact that global warming is a shared responsibility and requires cooperation and action by everyone in our community, including government, businesses, community groups, households and individuals. We must all understand that, while the impacts of our choices might be small, together we can make a difference to enhance the future wellbeing of our people and our environment.
Ms Lawder is quite correct: of course she has the right not to agree with what the ACT government puts in a motion. She also has the right to put in an amendment outlining some of the ideas that she might have or that the Canberra Liberals have about addressing the very real issue of climate change. But, yet again, all we see from the Canberra Liberals is an attack on the motion and no ideas, no policies, no action. Of course, you have the right to disagree, and we expect that and note that that is a popular thing from the Canberra Liberals. But you also have the right to make some suggestions or tell us what you are going to do. Yet again, this afternoon we have got nothing.
I thank members for their contributions today. I hope that members have a better understanding of the urgency needed to make our city more sustainable. Minister Corbell raises a number of good points when talking about how our government is responding to climate change and how our city is preparing itself to tackle the threats that we face. I also want to acknowledge the leadership that Minister Corbell has shown over many years in championing action on climate change, renewable energy and many other environmental issues.
But, unfortunately, while Minister Corbell and our government show leadership on these issues, we have a federal government and a Prime Minister who are committed to taking us backwards on climate change. This Labor government is committed to responsible and far-sighted action, informed by science, by the increasing research and scientific evidence that there is a very real threat of climate change and that this will transition the ACT towards a carbon neutral territory that can adapt to our ever-changing climate.
As I said, ours is a leadership role not because we are doing more than we should but because we are one of the few who are doing what we must. It is a position that would also attract the renewable sector to our region, as I said before, and foster investment, innovation and creation of new types of business operating towards a lower carbon economy. We will continue to move ahead with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting large-scale renewable energy.
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