As you might be aware, Australia is on track to meet and beat our Kyoto targets.
By 2020, we will have cut greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent on 2000 levels. That’s equivalent to a reduction of 13 per cent on 2005 levels.
On a per capita basis, this is a better performance than the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe.
Through the Government’s Direct Action policy, we’re taking sensible action here at home to improve the local environment and reduce emissions.
Already, through our Direct Action plan, 47 million tonnes of emission reductions have been purchased.
We’re on our way to planting 20 million trees by 2020 and we’ve rolled out more than 350 Green Army projects around the country.
The Government is currently considering Australia’s emissions reduction target for the post-2020 period.
Under this Government, Australia will continue to make a strong and responsible contribution to the global effort to address climate change, but we’ll do this without sacrificing jobs or prosperity.
That’s why the Government will never resort to harmful policies like a carbon tax or an ETS.
A carbon tax, or an ETS, is really just a tax on everyone’s electricity bill.
The Labor Party wants to bring the carbon tax back and force everyone to pay more.
This Government will not.