MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator GHOSH (Western Australia) (16:01): What has occurred in Nepal is catastrophic, and the scenes that we see on our television sets in the evening are horrific. I express my condolences to the people of Nepal, Tibet and China as well as the families of Australians impacted by this incredibly confronting natural disaster. Thousands of residents, visitors and pilgrims are missing, and there are at least 36 Australians among them.

Our thoughts are with their families. I can't imagine the agony that family and friends feel at the moment with missing loved ones or knowing that loved ones have been seriously injured or killed. Today is a national day of mourning in Nepal, and we join in that mourning for those who've suffered as a consequence of this disaster.

The situation on the ground is incredibly difficult, and the road to recovery is going to be long and challenging. I am very proud of what Australia is doing to assist in that, and I commend all those involved in the efforts, not only from around the world but also from Australia, who are on the ground right now. Almost 50 Australian officers have been deployed to the region to support search and rescue efforts; specialist Australian drone operators are in Nepal now, using rapid mapping and imaging technology to support searches; and the AFP's disaster victim identification specialist unit are also on the ground to assist.

The Australian government has committed $11 million in humanitarian assistance, and a Royal Australian Air Force C-17 has delivered almost 24 tonnes of humanitarian aid to date. I would echo the comments of Senator Scarr in terms of the role Australia has to play in this and the bipartisan and indeed multipartisan efforts needed to support people in our region when they're faced with disasters.

I think that's not only an instrumentally good thing to do as a neighbour but also a moral obligation, and it's one that Australia has always taken very seriously and continues to take seriously today. I also share some of the discomfort raised by Senator Scarr about the bringing on of this motion in this way today. There is no doubt that the causes of this disaster will become more evident, and I think we can all accept as a starting point that climate change is making natural disasters worse and more frequent.

But I think that trying to link these two things in this kind of motion is not really appropriate at this point in time. It really is an attempt to score political points in the midst of a tragedy, and I think that is disgraceful. If you want to have a debate about how climate policy is unfolding in this country and whether the speed of that transition is fast enough or too fast, I think that's an appropriate thing to do.

What I would also say is that I'm proud of the Albanese government's efforts in terms of taking strong action on climate change. There's a commitment to changing the entire Australian energy system. There's a commitment to net zero, and that commitment has been backed up by real policies that are seeing real action now.

Climate change is real, acting is important and this government has taken significant action to bring down emissions. The latest quarterly update of Australia's national greenhouse gas inventory shows a 7.5 million tonne drop in emissions over the year to March 2026. The same report shows coal fired power in the national electricity market is down four per cent, gas is down 17 per cent and renewables are up by 13 per cent.

Compared to 2005, emissions in Australia are down 25 per cent, and the government has committed the country and is moving the country towards a significantly reduced emissions profile as we transition to net zero. We've had a number of these motions in this place, and we've debated it a number of times. This transition is one that is also going to be facilitated by the use of gas as a firming fuel.

There are lots of different ways on lots of different models you can move to a complete transition to net zero and move to a clean energy grid. One of them, the one that the government has begun to implement, is to transition as much of the grid onto renewables as is possible and to have that firmed up by gas generation. That means that gas is still going to have a role as the electricity system moves towards 82 per cent renewables in the short term, because gas generation can be used rapidly, turned on and turned off when required, to support grid reliability.

It's an important part of how we achieve that, not just as grid-firming and back-up but also as system stability, because intermittents are exactly as they say. They're not always certain, and gas turbines provide crucial system support to stabilise grids as more variable renewables are integrated. I think this motion is misguided, but I'm proud of the government on actions both on Nepal and on climate change.

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