MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator ANANDA-RAJAH (Victoria) (16:08): We are in the teeth of a climate emergency. In Australia, we're all too familiar with fires and floods. In fact, I think these have become dangerously normalised.
What we witnessed in Nepal was something else altogether. This was an apocalyptic event. It was much more than the floods that we're familiar with here in Australia.
I think this was not just a glacial collapse, but it was the liquefaction of a mountain. This is what happens to mountains in a warming world. If this was a wake-up call, it was a wake-up call in the worst possible way, but it was followed soon after by another wake-up call, and that was the UN report.
The UN have clearly stated now that we are on track to breach 1½ degrees, and we are heading towards a world of 2.6 degrees. That is an unliveable planet. But I take heart from one thing and I take heart from history.
Back in 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed, the world was on track to hit four degrees. In fact, we've managed to shave over one degree from that target. We're not going to reach four degrees at all.
In fact, I think it'll be far less than that. So nothing is preordained when it comes to climate progress. In fact, what this emphasises to me is that we need to double down, redouble our efforts, when it comes to climate action.
As a federal government, I will use this urgency motion to talk about our climate action because I think it is fine to stand in solidarity with the people of Nepal and provide emergency assistance, which is what we are doing now. But I think it behoves us to also talk about what we are doing as a federal government on climate action, and I'm very happy to speak about our track record.
In 2022 we were the first government in Commonwealth history to legislate the Climate Change Act, and that was done in collaboration with the Greens political party. What it did was drive a stake into the ground. We ran up our colours on that mast and we said that we mean business.
Australia is open for business but we mean business. We are committed to net zero by 2050. So while Senator Scarr had absolutely heartfelt sentiments towards the Nepalese people, what we really lack from those opposite in the coalition is a commitment to net zero.
In fact, they've walked away from that commitment, and what message does that send to poor countries that do not have the means to actually drive climate action? These are not the people who are responsible for the climate crisis but they are the ones most at risk. From our perspective, we have seen real progress in climate action in this country.
When we first came to government in 2022, we had 33 per cent renewable energy in our main grid. We now have 51 per cent renewable energy. We are also using less gas.
In 2021-22, we used 2.7 terawatts of gas. In 2025-26, we have dropped that down to 1.5 terawatts of gas. So as more renewables enter the grid, our gas usage falls, and this has largely been driven by Aussie households.
They have taken up rooftop solar in droves. Over 500,000 home batteries have been deployed through households throughout this country, and electric vehicle sales are surging. They are booming.
When we first came to government, EV sales were at two per cent. They are now at 50 per cent. If you told me that four years ago, I would have said 'you are crazy' and 'you are joking'.
We have backed this in with an additional $40 million towards building out kerbside infrastructure so that people can charge their cars from poles that also supply light. But this is not all we're doing. We realise that we need to have alternatives to petrol and diesel and that is why we have committed $1.1 billion towards developing low-carbon fuels, things like biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuels and e-fuels that come from the produce, the feedstock, in our regions—sorghum, canola, sugar cane, bio waste like tallow.
Right now we export $4 billion in feedstock like canola to places like Europe, where it is then returned to us as biofuel. We believe that that market will be in the order of $40 billion by 2050 if we can get this going. So you can see how climate policy is also industrial policy in this country.
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