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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-12-04 Daily Xml
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Climate Change

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:50): The reality of climate change has been accepted by the overwhelming majority of Australians now, but as scientists increasingly warn that the time to take meaningful action is becoming short, the position of the Morrison Liberal government only gets worse. The image of the now Prime Minister holding a lump of coal on the floor of the House of Representatives is one that defines Scott Morrison's government. It is a symbol of their refusal to listen to the overwhelming body of scientific evidence and their determination to ignore the community's clear wishes.

Over the months since the federal election, a concerning trend has emerged. No longer is the federal government simply refusing to take action on climate change or merely insisting that everything is okay, the Prime Minister is now actively targeting those institutions, organisations and individuals who are calling for more to be done. The problem is not just intransigence, it is hostility to people who want to see action on climate change. It is not just an issue of ignoring people's wishes, it is an active involvement in shutting people down.

The first sign of this came in October. In a foreign policy speech, the Prime Minister issued warnings about countries being challenged by a new variant of globalism that seeks to elevate global institutions above the authority of nation-states to direct national policies. He spoke of insiders and outsiders, threatening social cohesion and provoking discontent and distrust. This is chilling language coming from a Prime Minister who is supposed to be uniting a country.

To many observers, Mr Morrison's intentions were clear: if global institutions like the United Nations criticise Australia's actions or lack of them on issues like climate change, he would attack those organisations. Never mind that such global institutions have been calling on Australia to recognise and act on the science, it seems that all that matters in Scott Morrison's mind is his fixed ideology, no matter what the evidence shows.

He continued his attacks some weeks later, criticising those global institutions which dared ask Australia to do more to reduce carbon emissions. Some of the most concerning comments made by the Prime Minister came at a speech to the Queensland Resources Council. He announced that his government will look into ways to ban forms of protest, including boycotts of businesses with the aim of reducing their involvement in mining practices.

Let's be clear: this ban seems to be targeted at everyday Australians who simply want to use their buying power to encourage business practices which protect the environment. That is, a Liberal government wants to stop the free use of Australian citizens using their own money to purchase what they want from whom they want.

This proposal was of course immediately denounced by the environment movement, the Human Rights Law Centre, and anyone with half a brain. But the government appears to have gone quiet on these plans in the weeks following the Prime Minister's deeply concerning speech. Perhaps they have realised the internal inconsistency of a Liberal Party attacking free-market actors—i.e. citizens of Australia—acting freely in a market economy.

This just serves to highlight the knots that the Liberal Party and the Liberal government are tying themselves into. They fall back to their usual practice of refusing to acknowledge the emergency around climate change. They deny that more needs to be done. They insist that everything is well and they attack those who express a different point of view. They want to crack down now on the civil liberties of Australian citizens who want to challenge this proposition.

I would like to direct the Prime Minister, and any of his thinking counterparts, to comments that were made by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In 2014, he wrote:

Throughout my life I have believed the only just response to injustice is what Mahatma Gandhi termed 'passive resistance'. During the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, using boycotts, divestment and sanctions, and supported by our friends overseas, we were not only able to apply economic pressure on the unjust state, but also serious moral pressure.

It makes no sense to invest in companies that undermine our future. To serve as custodians of creation is not an empty title; it requires that we act, and with all the urgency this dire situation demands.

The Prime Minister may not be happy with the United Nations, perhaps he would be wise to consider those remarks of such a respected Nobel Laureate, Mr Desmond Tutu.

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