HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-13 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Motions

COP31

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (11:19): I move:

That this council—

1. Notes that the federal government is currently bidding to host the 2026 United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP31), and has selected Adelaide as its preferred host city;

2. Acknowledges that, if selected as the host of COP31, South Australia’s leadership on renewable energy will be presented on the world stage;

3. Recognises South Australia’s significant progress and achievement in the transition to renewable energy, with around 75 per cent of our energy being generated from renewables and a commitment to achieve 100 per cent net zero carbon emissions by 2050;

4. Reiterates South Australia’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050; and

5. Supports the commitment of successive federal governments to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and to meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

At the outset I indicate, as I have previously mentioned and notice has been sent around, that the government will be seeking to have this motion voted on today at the conclusion of the debate. That is particularly due to the urgency with preparations to select the host city for COP31. As members would be aware, the Australian government is currently bidding to host next year's Conference of the Parties to the climate Paris Agreement, better known as COP31. The commonwealth has selected Adelaide as the Australian host city if the bid is successful.

I am advised that many groups, including the South Australian Business Chamber, have advocated for Adelaide to host COP, pointing out it would boost the economy and further cement South Australia's credentials as a world leader in renewable energy, enhancing Adelaide's and South Australia's global image. Hosting COP would be an enormous undertaking: hosting thousands of attendees while ensuring security standards are maintained and that our visitor economy is able to meet the demand. In addition to the significant economic benefits, hosting COP31 presents us with an opportunity to demonstrate our leadership on decarbonisation to the entire world.

In South Australia we have a lot to be proud of, particularly in decarbonising our electricity grid. South Australia has a target of achieving 100 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2027, a target this government has brought forward from 2030. I am advised we are on track to meet this ambitious target. South Australia is leading the way on renewable energy, from uptake of rooftop solar and home batteries to large-scale projects such as the Goyder Renewables Zone. Across the economy, we are working to meet our target of net zero emissions by 2050. This is an important commitment in line with our obligations under the Paris Agreement and consistent with the position of both the federal Labor government and the federal Liberal governments that have preceded it.

South Australians have long supported action on climate change. They are proud of the progress we have made and have an opportunity to showcase it to the world—and not just with bipartisan support of the Paris Agreement federally, as it has been a longstanding bipartisan endeavour in South Australia. In fact, the opposition have a shadow minister responsible directly for net zero, demonstrating the bipartisan nature of this endeavour in South Australia.

The Malinauskas Labor government is taking climate change seriously. As I have said, we brought forward our state's 100 per cent renewable energy generation target to 2027, three years earlier than originally planned. We are also committed to reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2030 and, as the motion suggests, achieving net zero by 2050.

As we prepare for the possibility of hosting COP31, I urge honourable members to support this very important motion. It says much about who we are and our ambitions for this state. I commend the motion to the council.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (11:22): I move to amend the motion as follows:

Paragraph 2:

Leave out 'leadership on renewable energy' and insert 'chaotic and mismanaged energy transition under the Malinauskas Labor government'

Insert new paragraph 2A as follows:

2A. Notes that under the Malinauskas Labor government South Australian households and small businesses have paid the highest power bills on record, while wasting 3½ years and exposing taxpayers to a half a billion dollar bill on a hydrogen hoax that would not have reduced household power bills;

Paragraph 3:

Leave out 'significant progress and achievement in the transition to' and insert 'transition to net 100 per cent' and

Leave out '75 per cent of our energy' and insert '75 per cent of our electricity'

Insert new paragraphs 4A and 4B as follows:

4A. Calls upon the Malinauskas Labor government to include power price and grid reliability guarantees with any emission reduction targets;

4B. Calls upon the Malinauskas Labor government to exempt the production of food and fibre from any emissions reduction targets;

Insert new paragraph 6 as follows:

6. Condemns the Albanese federal government for their shambolic approach to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and their failed promise to reduce power bills by $275.

I rise to speak on the motion put forward by the Deputy Premier. In doing so, I acknowledge the federal government's current bid for COP31. We acknowledge that if successful, COP31 would draw tens of thousands of delegates, including heads of state and business leaders, from across the globe. It would bring an estimated $500 million in economic benefit to our state, supporting tourism, trade and investment, which is a good thing for South Australia.

But this support for Adelaide's bid to showcase its great hospitality should not be confused with a blank cheque for the Labor government's energy failures or a free pass for its reckless approach to the net zero transition. The key difference between us and Labor is this: the Liberals support a sensible, methodical and balanced transition to energy, while Labor, on the other hand, is pursuing a reckless renewables-only path, one that ignores price, reliability and the social licence of local communities.

South Australians are now paying the price for Labor's chaos. Under this government, power prices have soared to record highs. The Essential Services Commission of South Australia's independent report shows household bills have jumped 43 per cent since Labor took office—an extra $776 a year for families. Small businesses have been hit just as hard, with costs up 39 per cent—an additional $1,425 a year. That is the real-world impact of Labor's failed energy policy: families struggling to keep their lights on and small businesses being forced into hardship plans just to pay their power bills. Labor promised to cut electricity prices; instead, they have lost control of power, literally and financially.

Then there is the so-called Hydrogen Jobs Plan, a half a billion dollar disaster that never produced a single watt of power. The Auditor-General has exposed the truth: $285 million spent, $85 million written off, $60 million wasted on wages and administration, and $87 million of idle infrastructure now sitting along the Lincoln Highway as a monument to failure. Now Labor has paid out up to $851,000 to a mystery executive after the project collapsed.

While South Australians pay some of the highest power bills in the nation, Labor is handing out golden handshakes to clean up their own mess. This is not climate leadership; this is economic vandalism. The Liberal Party believes in a credible, achievable pathway when it comes to energy, one that safeguards reliability, affordability and the livelihoods of South Australians. Experts agree that the future of our grid will require a mix of renewables, batteries and gas power generation. Our policy reflects that reality.

We also believe that any renewable project must earn a social licence from the communities in which it operates. South Australia has the space and the natural advantage to develop renewables in our outback regions without compromising prime agricultural land. We can grow our energy future while protecting the people and industries that feed and supply the state. That is what a responsible transition looks like.

Last year, the opposition sought to strengthen Labor's Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill. We proposed sensible amendments, including a power price and grid reliability guarantee for households and small businesses and exemption for food and fibre producers from emissions targets, and Labor opposed both. Today, we seek to amend this motion to include the same, because that is the responsible thing to do, and to include also a few relevant facts that the Deputy Premier seems to have missed.

Unfortunately for Labor, ideology always comes before practicality, so as we look to COP31 and South Australia's place on the global stage we will continue to call for honesty, accountability and balance. We must ensure that the road to net zero is a road that South Australians can afford to walk. Let's celebrate our achievements, but let's also be realistic about the challenges ahead. Hosting COP31 would put South Australia in the international spotlight, and that means our government must be prepared to match words with substance. That means delivering reliable power, affordable energy and credible policies that actually work for households, small business and industry.

The Liberal Party will always support opportunities that strengthen our state's economy and global reputation, but we will not support empty spin or billion-dollar fantasies built on debt and broken promises. We want South Australia to be a global leader in clean energy, not a cautionary tale of what happens when politics overtakes prudence. We urge the government to ensure that COP31, if hosted here, is not merely a stage for self-congratulation but a genuine opportunity for South Australia to showcase responsible, credible and affordable pathways to a low-emissions future.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (11:27): I rise briefly to indicate my support for the motion and to indicate that I will not be supporting the opposition's amendment. I must correct the Deputy Premier on something, though. He seemed to suggest that the Liberals do not have a net zero agenda, but they do have a net zero agenda, net zero policies for the next state election, other than some of the policies they have borrowed from the Greens, of course, like 50¢ public transport fares and axing the spending on government advertising, which I welcome. I hope they continue to draw on some of our other ideas.

This is a really important opportunity, I think, for us to send a message that this parliament is supportive of this important pitch for Adelaide to host COP. I accept the Premier's explanation in terms of urgency, because we know that those discussions are happening right at the moment. I think this is a real opportunity to showcase what South Australia does well—that is, our climate and environmental credentials—and also to reaffirm, of course, our commitment to net zero at a time when this is coming into doubt within the national parliament, certainly within the opposition, which I think is regrettable. I commend the motion and I hope that it is passed in the chamber this morning.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (11:29): I rise to speak in support of this motion and indicate that I will not be supporting the opposition's amendment. The climate crisis is here with us right now. For many in our state and beyond, while the recent algal bloom remains front of mind they know that that is how climate change is affecting us. For many, I think the algal bloom has been and remains absolutely heartbreaking. For others, it has been the moment at which they realise that we do in fact actually need strong global action on climate change and that we need it now.

We are already experiencing the wideranging impacts of climate change in our state, having seen in the last few years and decades, in addition to the current algal bloom, increasing extreme heat, drought, bushfire risk and renewable transition impacts—and all of these hit communities hard. They are happening globally, and they are happening here.

The COP process is the world's highest forum for climate negotiations, and it takes place under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. COP brings together almost 200 nations, but it is not always the level playing field that it should be. As someone who has long championed environment, climate, social justice and First Nations rights, it will come as no surprise that I emphasise that Adelaide hosting COP31 is about far more than just economic benefits and infrastructure.

With Australia's pitch to host COP31 being very much one that is framed about co-hosting with Pacific Island nations, this offers our state of South Australia and South Australians an extraordinary opportunity to step up from being a local leader in Australia on climate action to becoming a global exemplar of both climate action and climate justice.

With more than 30,000 delegates, global media, investors and an opportunity to showcase South Australia's transition to a net zero economy, this is a great chance to not only show the world how to but to also remind the rest of the world why we must have strong action on climate. Global climate justice at its core aims to ensure that capacity to respond to climate change is just across communities, just across countries and just across generations.

I will give a small plug for my climate equity bill that sits on the Notice Paper and remind the government that I am taking that to a vote in the next sitting week. That would be another excellent step that this government could take to show great leadership on the climate and demonstrate our approach to intergenerational equity and care for the generations to come in leaving them and providing them with a safe climate.

Whilst economic benefits and infrastructure are important, at the core the opportunity to host COP31 is very much about climate equity, ensuring that smaller and more vulnerable nations, particularly of course low-lying nations, such as our near neighbours in the Pacific, are heard and that we deliver meaningful action, not just media announcements or photo ops.

Hosting COP in South Australia gives us a platform, but it also gives us a responsibility to bring the voices of Pacific nations and of First Nations communities around the world and of future generations into the conversations in a meaningful way. We need action, not just words. We need action and not appeasement.

Australia and South Australia must not fail to drive the deep structural reforms needed: ending fossil fuel subsidies, stopping new coal and gas projects and urgently scaling up renewables. We know that 845 of the life-threatening heatwave days that people around the world were exposed to annually between 2020 and 2024 would not have occurred without climate change. There has been a 63 per cent increase in heat-related deaths since the 1990s, and in 2021 these reached over half a million—half a million in just that short period of time.

Just last year, more than 60 per cent of the global land mass was affected by extreme drought, just shy of 300 per cent above the 1950s average. So if a bushfire does not kill you, there is a good chance you will die from the impacts of particulate matter that results from it. In March 2025, the 100 largest oil and gas companies had in place production pipelines that mean they are on track to exceed their share of production, consistent with 1.5º of global warming, by 189 per cent in 2040. Meanwhile, our emissions keep on rising.

How old will our children or grandchildren be in 2040 when gas and oil production hits the 189 per cent that it is on track to do? Frighteningly, in Australia, we conveniently forget that the 1.5º of global warming that we talk about is an average. Here, of course, warming is occurring far more quickly than the global average. What is the world that we leave for future generations should be a question front of mind in all of our decision-making.

It will be a question front of mind for those who are voting for the first time in the 2026 state election. Those people will be in their early 40s by the time 2050 rolls around, and young Australians are, of course, the most vulnerable in our population when it comes to the mental health impacts of climate change. It is about time we turned this ship around and threw everything we have at lowering emissions. We owe it to the future as well as current generations of young people.

It is for these people, and for that reason, I intend to bring my climate equity bill to the vote in the next sitting week. Future generations need to be at the forefront of our decision-making processes in this place. I support this motion today as another means of doing that, and also look forward to general stronger action on these issues, in particular when I bring that climate equity bill to a vote in late November. I commend the motion and I will be opposing the amendment.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (11:36): I thank honourable members for their contributions to this important motion and look forward to the support of the whole chamber, hopefully. I did not quite get what the opposition said they were doing. It is a standard bill, but it appears this enjoys the unanimous support of the whole chamber.

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I indicate we will be voting against the opposition amendment, but I look forward to the strong and unanimous support of the entire chamber for this bill, even if the amendment should fail.

The council divided on the amendment:

Ayes 6

Noes 11

Majority 5

AYES

Centofanti, N.J. (teller) Girolamo, H.M. Hood, B.R.
Hood, D.G.E. Lensink, J.M.A. Pangallo, F.

NOES

Bonaros, C. Bourke, E.S. Franks, T.A.
Hanson, J.E. Hunter, I.K. Lee, J.S.
Maher, K.J. (teller) Ngo, T.T. Scriven, C.M.
Simms, R.A. Wortley, R.P.

PAIRS

Henderson, L.A. El Dannawi, M.
Game, S.L. Martin, R.B.


Amendment thus negatived; motion carried.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT