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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-13 Daily Xml
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INTERNATIONAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. M. Parnell:

1. That this council notes—

(a) the release this week of the final part of the Fourth Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change; and

(b) that a 2° Celsius (median value) increase in global average surface temperatures above pre-industrial levels is accepted by the European Union as the limit beyond which there will be sufficient adverse impacts on the earth's biogeophysical systems, animals and plants to constitute 'dangerous' climate change;

2. And agrees that the imperative of constraining global temperature increase to no more than 2° above pre-industrial levels should underpin government policy responses to global warming.

(Continued from 21 November 2007. Page 1488.)

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (17:29): I rise to support the motion of the Hon. Mark Parnell. I know the honourable member has a real and abiding interest in these issues, and I welcome his usually excellent contributions to debates in this place about the threat of climate change.

As he has said, there is no greater challenge to this state and this country than the dangers of climate change. Governments around the world now agree that not only is climate change a threat to our environment, it is also a threat to our national and global security.

It is heartening that now, at both state and national level, we are taking serious and responsible steps to meet the challenge. Under Prime Minister Rudd and Senator Penny Wong (Minister for Climate Change and Water), Australia is moving towards becoming a world leader in addressing climate change and implementing strategies to reduce our carbon output.

Since the release of the UN report, we have seen the federal government ratify the Kyoto Protocol as its very first official act. The Prime Minister and Senator Wong played a key role in getting meaningful agreements at the UN's climate change conference in December last year. What this report and the subsequent agreements in Bali show us is that, in the words of the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, there are real and affordable ways to deal with climate change.

Both the state and federal governments now recognise not only the enormity of the task but also its vital importance to the future of the planet. What we are seeing is an acceptance of the science of climate change and an end to the days when the climate change deniers listened only to the messages they wanted to hear.

Beyond ratifying Kyoto, the federal government's program to address this challenge includes: implementing a protocol and a commitment to playing a pivotal role in the development of a new global climate change agreement to take us beyond 2012; establishing a national emissions trading market by 2010; investing in low carbon technologies, such as clean coal and renewable energy technologies; setting a 20 per cent national target for renewable energy by 2020 to significantly expand the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind; and implementing a $200 million Great Barrier Reef rescue plan to help secure the reef from the serious threat posed by climate change and declining water quality.

Last year also saw the state government, under Premier Mike Rann's leadership, take historic and tough decisions to deal with the threat of climate change. In June last year, South Australia became just the third jurisdiction in the world to set real targets for emission cuts, aiming to cut the output of greenhouse gases by 60 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050. The Rann government also set an interim target of a cut to emissions to 1990 emission levels by 2020. At the same time, the Rann government mandated that 20 per cent of the power produced in the state come from renewable sources by 2014. South Australia already produces 48 per cent of the nation's wind power and 47 per cent of its solar power and is the site of 97 per cent of geothermal energy exploration.

We can no longer afford to ignore the threat of climate change, and we have, at last, a consensus at state and federal level about the imperative for long-term planning and cooperation to achieve lasting results. It is my firm belief that the state and federal governments now have the will and the requisite leadership to work in a real partnership to tackle the challenges of climate change, and I am happy to support the motion.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J. Gazzola.

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