Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Mr JOSH WILSON (Fremantle—Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy and Assistant Minister for Emergency Management) (16:16): The Albanese government is doing the responsible thing that Australians expect from their government, which is to lead a transition with respect to our energy sector, to tackle dangerous climate change and to deliver greater protection for our environment.

The most recent budget continues our work in that area with a number of measures. I'll touch on some of them as I try and respond to the questions that have been asked, and I'll do that in reverse order. The contribution from the member for Wannon just then veered between incoherent and—I don't really know what to say—unhinged perhaps.

He constantly refers to the 'cost gen modelling' or 'cost gen'. No-one's ever heard of that. It is, of course, the GenCost set of energy models and analysis that the government has rightly responded to and respected, because we respect the science and we respect the experts, which is something that the coalition might like to try at some point.

We have done what the coalition could never be bothered doing. We have a national energy strategy, which they couldn't be bothered to do for nine years. We came to government and instantly increased Australia's emission reduction ambition by more than 60 per cent, and we're on track to deliver that.

We're on track to deliver it because we've put in place all of the programs and the policies that will get us to both 82 per cent renewables by 2030 and 43 per cent emission reductions on 2005 levels by that time. That includes, of course, reforming the Safeguard Mechanism and making it work, which is something the coalition couldn't be bothered doing, implementing the Capacity Investment Scheme and Rewiring Australia, introducing the first national EV strategy with vehicle emission settings for the first time and implementing the first national energy performance strategy, with $2.2 billion in associated programs.

All of those things, which are seeing emissions come down, are seeing Australian businesses and households have the benefit of shifting to cleaner, cheaper, more self-sufficient, more self-controlled and more reliable energy. We're never going to back away from that, apologise for that or get dragged into the madness that the member for Wannon was spruiking in relation to his ongoing love affair with incredibly expensive and risky nuclear energy and with various strange, geopolitical uranium arrangements and other things.

That's not what the Australian community expects, and we'll have no part of it. I come now to what the shadow minister for the environment was saying. There was the opportunity here to ask questions about the budget, but there was no question about the budget.

She was playing political games about a very serious natural disaster event in South Australia, with respect to the algal bloom. We know why the algal bloom has occurred. There are a range of factors—increased nutrients, outflows in South Australia and rising sea temperatures—which are a consequence of climate change.

Just before, at the end of question time, it was interesting that the member for Flynn stood up and said that he accepted climate change from time to time. The issue that he had, and that presumably his coalition colleagues share, is whether or not humans are contributing to it—whether or not greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide, methane et cetera have anything to do with it.

That's the open question as far as the member for Flynn is concerned. He said that there were two sides—and there are two sides. On the one hand, there are scientists and people who respect science who can be described as reasonable and adhering to common sense.

There are those people on that side. On the other side, there are people who are, frankly, fruitcakes—people who might want to make a hat out of tin foil or go in for some other kind of behaviour by trying to pretend that all of the overwhelming evidence that climate change is real and is occurring and presents a massive risk to Australia is somehow a figment of other people's imaginations.

That is incredibly dangerous. The fact that the member for Flynn stood up and said that and nobody on the coalition side shook their head or looked at him and said, 'Old mate, sit down; that's not helping,' effectively endorsing what he had to say as if some credence should be given to it, should make people worried about the fitness of the coalition for government.

We have acted with great, concerted and effective effort when it comes to the environment. We now protect more ocean than any other country on earth. The latest budget adds $262 million through the Saving Australia's Bushland program to meet our commitment to protect 30 per cent of Australia's territorial and oceanic domain.

That is the work of a serious government that takes both climate change and environmental protection seriously.