22/06/2021 

The LNP are out of touch with ordinary Australians

Ms WELLS (Lilley) (19:25): I rise tonight to make a contribution in the grievance debate. Too many ordinary Australians are struggling to get ahead each week, living pay cycle to pay cycle, and it feels like this government just doesn't care. Instead of fixing the rising cost of living and attending to wages, they're telling my constituents that spending 6.5 million on advertising and self-promotion. He's spent $1.6 million marketing and advertising the Brisbane metro project, which hasn't even been started yet. Marketing and spin-it's all about the announcements; it's not about the follow-through. And the problem is: you can't spin reality. You can't spin what it feels like on the ground in our suburbs. Northsiders know that, a lot of the time, their day-to-day lives just don't match up with the outlook that this government is portraying from Canberra.

While the rest of the world makes huge strides towards combating climate change, the best that this government can offer is a man who has famously live-streamed himself ranting in a paddock about how climate change is attributable to a higher power. A hundred and twenty countries, 70 per cent of our trading partners and every state and territory in the country have signed up to net zero emissions by 2050. The Business Council of Australia, the National Farmers' Federation, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association have all signed up to net zero emissions by 2050; our biggest banks have; our biggest airlines have; our biggest resource companies have; and our largest exporters all support the net zero target, because they understand that Australia can become a clean energy superpower, leading to stronger economic growth and more jobs, while remaining a global resources and trading powerhouse.

But where is the Morrison government on this? They're busy arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, making it look like they take climate change seriously, while our regional areas burn and while reefs in our coastal waters are bleached. This government appears to be fundamentally anti science. They disregard all expert evidence, even when it comes from their own departments. They've scrounged up 22 different energy policies in eight years, wrecking business confidence, slashing jobs and causing energy prices to skyrocket.

Australians are sick of huge electricity bills, sick of policy chaos and sick of the Morrison government putting Australian jobs, exports and the economy in jeopardy, all for short-term political gain. Only the Australian Labor Party has committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and backed it up with a plan that will create new jobs, not cut them. Labor knows that acting on climate change and protecting our environment isn't just an economic imperative; it's a moral one as well. I thank the House.