GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
695. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Climate Action:
I
refer to the National Greenhouse Accounts established in Australia's
reporting requirements under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that in 2017, when Labor was elected, Western Australia's
emissions were 81.3 million tonnes CO2 equivalent,
and can she confirm that the latest published figures are 91.8 million tonnes CO2 equivalent?
(2) Can she explain the 12.9 per
cent increase and what she expects the emissions to be next year?
Ms A.
SANDERSON replied:
(1)–(2) What is clear, member for Cottesloe, Leader of the
Liberal Party, is that the federal government has provided zero leadership in
this country on emissions reduction. That is what is absolutely clear. We get
another question from the member's world of alternative facts. It is
clear that the federal government is not providing leadership on this issue. Western
Australia has some of the only mechanisms to actually manage greenhouse gases
through the Environmental Protection Act. We are one of the only jurisdictions
that actually has the mechanism to put in place greenhouse gas abatement plans,
and that is exactly what we have been doing as a government. There is no
national consistency. There is no national approach. We have seen big players like Rio Tinto and Woodside Energy say, ''We
want the federal government to step in. We want a carbon price. We want to level the playing field.'' Western
Australia has the bulk of heavy industry in this country, and that industry is
powering the entire nation. It is paying the price for the bad decisions that
New South Wales has made around managing COVID. Western Australian industry is
propping up the nation nationally.
We need national assistance and
national leadership on our emissions. There is no question that every state
needs to reduce its emissions. I do not question that at all. We must get down
to net zero by 2050 and we must have a credible pathway there. What we have
seen from the federal government on this issue is smoke and mirrors, quite
frankly. There are far more constructive things that members of the Liberal and
National Parties in Western Australia can be doing on this issue, and that is
talking to their colleagues and making sure that Western Australian industry is
properly represented and properly considered in the political deals that they are cutting behind closed doors. Those deals
are not based on science or international agreements. They are simply
trading positions and ensuring that they look after each other coming up to the
next election. That is all that is happening here.
I welcome a meaningful contribution
from the opposition on this—a meaningful contribution that will work
with industry and work with the government to make sure that we are bringing
our emissions down.