Last night in Paris the world came to an historic agreement based on two decades of work.

For the first time, nearly every country in the world has committed to lowering carbon pollution to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

This agreement marks a turning point in tackling pollution and shows a level of ambition we have not previously seen.

Importantly, it builds a new platform for future global action and sends a clear signal to governments, businesses, investors, workers and communities that the transition to clean energy will continue to gather pace.

Labor welcomes the commitment to holding increases in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and the further commitment to pursue efforts to limit increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The objectives of the agreement are crystal clear and Australia now needs to match policies to these objectives.

Australia has enormous opportunities to harness the billions of dollars in investment to boost jobs and grow our economy while cutting pollution.

We have some of the world’s best renewable energy resources, the best scientific research and know-how, and a skilled workforce but we need policies to capture this opportunity.

The Abbott-Turnbull Direct Action policy that pays polluters is completely inadequate and puts Australia on a trajectory to fail.

Now is the time for Malcolm Turnbull to step up and dump his party's continuing support for Tony Abbott's Direct Action fraud.

He must show leadership and honesty on climate change and stare down the National Party and the far right of his Liberal Party.

It's a sad state of affairs that despite the change of Prime Minister, only Labor has a serious and economically responsible plan to tackle climate change.

Australia needs real action on climate change, not just words.
That is why Labor has proposed a long term target of net zero pollution by 2050 and it is why we will consult on 2030 pollution reduction target based on the Climate Change Authority’s recommendation of 45 per cent on 2005 levels.

Labor has a plan to transition our economy to clean energy and reduce our pollution through:

• ensuring that by 2030, 50 per cent of our electricity will come from renewables,

• an internationally linked ETS,

• an Electricity Modernisation Plan to support workers and communities,

• improving our national energy productivity through better building standards and vehicle emissions standards, and

• proposing a series of land sector measures.

Only Labor has policies that will grasp these opportunities.


SUNDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2015


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