Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-05 Daily Xml

Contents

Climate Change

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:52): Supplementary: given, as the minister has said, the current target of a 5 per cent reduction in emissions is clearly inadequate, what emissions reduction target does the minister believe Australia should commit to after 2020?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:52): I thank the honourable member for that excellent supplementary question. It gives me an opportunity to talk about the government's submission to the federal government in terms of what future emissions reduction targets should be.

It is no secret now, because I advised the council of ministers yesterday that the South Australian government has advised the federal government that we believe they should accept the recommendations of their own advisory body—the Climate Change Authority—and their recommendation was to have emissions reduction targets brought forward to 19 per cent by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2025, and somewhere in the range of between 40 and 60 per cent by 2050. The South Australian government supports those recommendations from the federal government's own advisory body.