QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Climate Change
Mr DANBY (2.06 p.m.)—My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, I refer you to a Newspoll published today which shows that 79 per cent of Australians think Australia should ratify Kyoto, 86 per cent of Australians think the government should be doing more to tackle climate change and 92 per cent of Australians think the government should significantly increase investment in renewable energy. Does the Prime Minister agree with his parliamentary secretary who dismissed 92 per cent of Australians as just cafe latte drinkers, and does this explain your 10 years of inaction and climate change scepticism?
Mr HOWARD—I think it is the job of political leaders in this country to read opinion polls but to do what they think is right for Australia. It is as simple as that. It may surprise many of those who sit behind me to know that the Leader of the Opposition has only become—how shall I put it?—an eleventh hour convert to the cause of ratifying Kyoto. Some years ago he was not quite as excited about it. In tireless research on this subject, it is amazing what you come across. Maybe there was a time when the Leader of the Opposition was influenced by these words from a person who came from his own native state of Western Australia. This is what this person had to say, writing in November 2001:
For Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol is to commit to a policy of decarbonisation of our industrial and export base. It is to inflict upon its people unemployment, profound economic dislocation and decline. For a nation to inflict upon itself such economic and political damage is almost unprecedented.
Those were the words of a highly successful finance minister in the Hawke and Keating government by the name of Senator Peter Walsh. I’ll tell you what: he was a lot more successful than any of you who sit opposite. He was a senior minister in a government. Let me simply say to the member for Melbourne Ports, who is a member I have some considerable respect for—through you, Mr Speaker—
Mr Tanner interjecting—
The SPEAKER—The member for Melbourne will come to order!
Ms Macklin—You’re so out of touch!
Mr HOWARD—Oh yes, very out of touch.
Opposition members interjecting—
The SPEAKER—The opposition have asked the Prime Minister a serious question. He is answering the question. He will be heard.
Mr HOWARD—Mr Speaker, let me say, through you, to the member for Melbourne Ports: yes, I have read that online poll—I think the member for Melbourne Ports understands the import of that adjective. I have read that online poll. Let me tell him and let me tell the Australian people: we listen to their views on this issue. We are aware of the need to take practical measures to address greenhouse gas emissions, but I say to them: we are not going to take measures that destroy the great comparative advantage that this country has, we are not going to be panicked into knee-jerk responses that will hobble great productive Australian industries with enormous costs that are not borne by their competitors overseas and we are not going to ratify a protocol which, in the words of a highly successful Labor minister, would do damage of an economic kind on an unprecedented scale to the great wealth-producing industries of this country.
Mr Wilkie interjecting—
The SPEAKER—The member for Swan is warned!
PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS
Michael Danby’s response to the Prime Minister’s attempts to discredit Newspoll on the environment.
Mr DANBY (Melbourne Ports) (3.22 p.m.)—Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
The SPEAKER—Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?
Mr DANBY—Yes.
The SPEAKER—Please proceed.
Mr DANBY—During question time, the Prime Minister responded to my question about the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage denigrating Australians concerned with global warming as latte drinkers. The Prime Minister claimed that the Newspoll I cited was an online poll and sought to minimise its credibility. In fact, the Newspoll I cited, a climate change study, was conducted nationally amongst 1,200 respondents by fully trained and personally brief interviewers and was postweighted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics by data on age, highest level of schooling, sex and area. I seek leave to table the Newspoll.
The SPEAKER—Leave granted.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: ADDITIONAL ANSWERS
Prime Minister’s concession that Newspoll showing 92% of Australian’s
concerned with climate change was the authoritative Newspoll.
Mr HOWARD (Bennelong—Prime Minister) (4.59 p.m.)—Mr Speaker, I seek the indulgence of the chair to add to an answer.
Interjection
The SPEAKER—The minister may proceed.
Continue
Mr HOWARD—During question time today the member for Melbourne Ports asked me about a Newspoll published today. As I now discover on checking, I erroneously referred to that as an online poll; it was not. There was another poll which was online and it was in the press today. I confused the two of them, and I apologise to the House for that error.
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There was a favourable election report on the Melbourne Ports Victory in the Melbourne Weekly. Click here
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Clive James, one of Australia's most celebrated expatriates penned the following poem in the Australian Literary Review. September 7 2007
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