❓ The Premier responds to a question about the Howard government's energy policy, criticising federal ministers' views on climate change and uranium mining, while praising the federal Labor leader's climate change summit.
AnsweredQoN 130Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
AUSTRALIA’S ENERGY FUTURE
Can the Premier please explain why the Howard government has such a blinkered view of Australia’s energy future? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
Can the Premier please explain why the Howard government has such a blinkered view of Australia’s energy future? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. In the midst of a very interesting and important debate about our energy future, climate change and all the issues that wrap themselves up into that mix of policy questions for the future of Australia, it is commendable that the federal Labor leader has taken a lead on questions of energy for Australia’s future and climate change. It was particularly interesting to attend Australia’s first national climate change summit in Canberra on Saturday, convened by Labor leader Kevin Rudd. It was a very interesting discussion, with a lot of eminent people providing useful information and suggestions about the way forward. I was a bit disturbed, to say the least, by a couple of things that have been said in the context of this debate. One was by federal Minister Ian Macfarlane, trying to turn the clock back on the climate change debate in his references to uranium mining; the second was from another federal minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Sunday morning television, who likened the ALP’s commitment to addressing climate change to religious fanaticism. I thought that was somewhat typical of the hysterical nature of some of the commentary coming from senior Liberal federal ministers at the moment. I found Ian Macfarlane’s position that Kevin Rudd was being hypocritical about uranium mining and the expansion of uranium mining in Australia a little inconsistent with his own views about the policy position we have taken on gas. Mr Macfarlane said - He’s saying that it’s good to expand uranium mining in Australia, he’s saying it’s good to export that uranium to our friends overseas, like the United States, the UK, Japan, China and other countries, but at the same time he will not allow a debate in Australia about using that uranium here to lower our own greenhouse gas emissions. That is exactly the position on domestic gas policy that he criticised me for. He criticised me, the Western Australian government and, by the way, I think the opposition in Western Australia for pursuing a domestic gas policy that he said was against the national interest. He said so publicly in front of a group of foreign international investors in Western Australia in one of the most idiotic performances of any federal minister I have had the displeasure of being subjected to. I found the commentary by Malcolm Turnbull very surprising, given that I sat through the entire discussion on Saturday and found it fascinating. I would not categorise the contributors to the discussion as akin to religious fanatics; quite the contrary. There were representatives of the science community and big and small industries, and of every spectrum of industry around Australia. To name a few of the people who contributed to the discussion, they included Professor Peter Doherty, AC, the Nobel Laureate for physiology and medicine; Dr Graeme Pearman, who I believe is a Western Australian by birth, and is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University; Professor Alan Dupont, senior fellow of the Lowy Institute; and Chris Brown, the managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Other attendees included Professor Warwick McKibbin, who is the director of the Australian National University Centre of Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and is a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia board; Mr Martijn Wilder, a partner of Baker and McKenzie; Ms Lorraine Stephenson, director of Deloitte (Australia) Pty Ltd; Mr Nick Rowlee, director of Kinesis and a former adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Greg Bourne, who I discovered was a graduate of Melville Senior High School, and who is the president of the World Wildlife Fund, a former president of BP Australasia and former special adviser on energy to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charlie Lenegan, managing director of Rio Tinto (Australia) Pty Ltd and board member of the Business Council of Australia; Susan Jeanes, CEO for Renewable Energy Generators of Australia Ltd, and a former federal Liberal member for Kingston; Tony Maheer, secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Dr Adrian Williams, CEO of Geodynamics; Mr Tim Sims, managing director of Pacific Equity Partners Pty Ltd; Mr Peter Holmes á Court, chairman of White Bull Holdings Pty Ltd, executive chairman of South Sydney Rabbitohs and board member of Queensland Rail Ltd; Hon John Thwaites, MP, Deputy Premier of Victoria; Professor Ian Lowe, AO, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; Mr Jonathon Jutsen, director of Energetics and director of Environment Business Australia; Mr Paul Gilding, CEO of Easy Being Green Pty Ltd; and Mr Alan Pears, adjunct professor of environment and planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I would not categorise them as religious fanatics, but they all had something in common: an intention to alert Australia’s politicians to the broad range of issues with which they are confronted as a result of climate change. It is a shame that the federal government has been left in the wake of this national debate, which is being led by these eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates, and the federal leader of the Australian Labor Party. I congratulate him for the position he is taking and the leadership he is showing on this issue.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. In the midst of a very interesting and important debate about our energy future, climate change and all the issues that wrap themselves up into that mix of policy questions for the future of Australia, it is commendable that the federal Labor leader has taken a lead on questions of energy for Australia’s future and climate change. It was particularly interesting to attend Australia’s first national climate change summit in Canberra on Saturday, convened by Labor leader Kevin Rudd. It was a very interesting discussion, with a lot of eminent people providing useful information and suggestions about the way forward. I was a bit disturbed, to say the least, by a couple of things that have been said in the context of this debate. One was by federal Minister Ian Macfarlane, trying to turn the clock back on the climate change debate in his references to uranium mining; the second was from another federal minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Sunday morning television, who likened the ALP’s commitment to addressing climate change to religious fanaticism. I thought that was somewhat typical of the hysterical nature of some of the commentary coming from senior Liberal federal ministers at the moment. I found Ian Macfarlane’s position that Kevin Rudd was being hypocritical about uranium mining and the expansion of uranium mining in Australia a little inconsistent with his own views about the policy position we have taken on gas. Mr Macfarlane said - He’s saying that it’s good to expand uranium mining in Australia, he’s saying it’s good to export that uranium to our friends overseas, like the United States, the UK, Japan, China and other countries, but at the same time he will not allow a debate in Australia about using that uranium here to lower our own greenhouse gas emissions. That is exactly the position on domestic gas policy that he criticised me for. He criticised me, the Western Australian government and, by the way, I think the opposition in Western Australia for pursuing a domestic gas policy that he said was against the national interest. He said so publicly in front of a group of foreign international investors in Western Australia in one of the most idiotic performances of any federal minister I have had the displeasure of being subjected to. I found the commentary by Malcolm Turnbull very surprising, given that I sat through the entire discussion on Saturday and found it fascinating. I would not categorise the contributors to the discussion as akin to religious fanatics; quite the contrary. There were representatives of the science community and big and small industries, and of every spectrum of industry around Australia. To name a few of the people who contributed to the discussion, they included Professor Peter Doherty, AC, the Nobel Laureate for physiology and medicine; Dr Graeme Pearman, who I believe is a Western Australian by birth, and is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University; Professor Alan Dupont, senior fellow of the Lowy Institute; and Chris Brown, the managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Other attendees included Professor Warwick McKibbin, who is the director of the Australian National University Centre of Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and is a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia board; Mr Martijn Wilder, a partner of Baker and McKenzie; Ms Lorraine Stephenson, director of Deloitte (Australia) Pty Ltd; Mr Nick Rowlee, director of Kinesis and a former adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Greg Bourne, who I discovered was a graduate of Melville Senior High School, and who is the president of the World Wildlife Fund, a former president of BP Australasia and former special adviser on energy to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charlie Lenegan, managing director of Rio Tinto (Australia) Pty Ltd and board member of the Business Council of Australia; Susan Jeanes, CEO for Renewable Energy Generators of Australia Ltd, and a former federal Liberal member for Kingston; Tony Maheer, secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Dr Adrian Williams, CEO of Geodynamics; Mr Tim Sims, managing director of Pacific Equity Partners Pty Ltd; Mr Peter Holmes á Court, chairman of White Bull Holdings Pty Ltd, executive chairman of South Sydney Rabbitohs and board member of Queensland Rail Ltd; Hon John Thwaites, MP, Deputy Premier of Victoria; Professor Ian Lowe, AO, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; Mr Jonathon Jutsen, director of Energetics and director of Environment Business Australia; Mr Paul Gilding, CEO of Easy Being Green Pty Ltd; and Mr Alan Pears, adjunct professor of environment and planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I would not categorise them as religious fanatics, but they all had something in common: an intention to alert Australia’s politicians to the broad range of issues with which they are confronted as a result of climate change. It is a shame that the federal government has been left in the wake of this national debate, which is being led by these eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates, and the federal leader of the Australian Labor Party. I congratulate him for the position he is taking and the leadership he is showing on this issue.
I thank the member for the question. In the midst of a very interesting and important debate about our energy future, climate change and all the issues that wrap themselves up into that mix of policy questions for the future of Australia, it is commendable that the federal Labor leader has taken a lead on questions of energy for Australia’s future and climate change. It was particularly interesting to attend Australia’s first national climate change summit in Canberra on Saturday, convened by Labor leader Kevin Rudd. It was a very interesting discussion, with a lot of eminent people providing useful information and suggestions about the way forward. I was a bit disturbed, to say the least, by a couple of things that have been said in the context of this debate. One was by federal Minister Ian Macfarlane, trying to turn the clock back on the climate change debate in his references to uranium mining; the second was from another federal minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Sunday morning television, who likened the ALP’s commitment to addressing climate change to religious fanaticism. I thought that was somewhat typical of the hysterical nature of some of the commentary coming from senior Liberal federal ministers at the moment. I found Ian Macfarlane’s position that Kevin Rudd was being hypocritical about uranium mining and the expansion of uranium mining in Australia a little inconsistent with his own views about the policy position we have taken on gas. Mr Macfarlane said - He’s saying that it’s good to expand uranium mining in Australia, he’s saying it’s good to export that uranium to our friends overseas, like the United States, the UK, Japan, China and other countries, but at the same time he will not allow a debate in Australia about using that uranium here to lower our own greenhouse gas emissions. That is exactly the position on domestic gas policy that he criticised me for. He criticised me, the Western Australian government and, by the way, I think the opposition in Western Australia for pursuing a domestic gas policy that he said was against the national interest. He said so publicly in front of a group of foreign international investors in Western Australia in one of the most idiotic performances of any federal minister I have had the displeasure of being subjected to. I found the commentary by Malcolm Turnbull very surprising, given that I sat through the entire discussion on Saturday and found it fascinating. I would not categorise the contributors to the discussion as akin to religious fanatics; quite the contrary. There were representatives of the science community and big and small industries, and of every spectrum of industry around Australia. To name a few of the people who contributed to the discussion, they included Professor Peter Doherty, AC, the Nobel Laureate for physiology and medicine; Dr Graeme Pearman, who I believe is a Western Australian by birth, and is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University; Professor Alan Dupont, senior fellow of the Lowy Institute; and Chris Brown, the managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Other attendees included Professor Warwick McKibbin, who is the director of the Australian National University Centre of Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and is a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia board; Mr Martijn Wilder, a partner of Baker and McKenzie; Ms Lorraine Stephenson, director of Deloitte (Australia) Pty Ltd; Mr Nick Rowlee, director of Kinesis and a former adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Greg Bourne, who I discovered was a graduate of Melville Senior High School, and who is the president of the World Wildlife Fund, a former president of BP Australasia and former special adviser on energy to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charlie Lenegan, managing director of Rio Tinto (Australia) Pty Ltd and board member of the Business Council of Australia; Susan Jeanes, CEO for Renewable Energy Generators of Australia Ltd, and a former federal Liberal member for Kingston; Tony Maheer, secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Dr Adrian Williams, CEO of Geodynamics; Mr Tim Sims, managing director of Pacific Equity Partners Pty Ltd; Mr Peter Holmes á Court, chairman of White Bull Holdings Pty Ltd, executive chairman of South Sydney Rabbitohs and board member of Queensland Rail Ltd; Hon John Thwaites, MP, Deputy Premier of Victoria; Professor Ian Lowe, AO, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; Mr Jonathon Jutsen, director of Energetics and director of Environment Business Australia; Mr Paul Gilding, CEO of Easy Being Green Pty Ltd; and Mr Alan Pears, adjunct professor of environment and planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I would not categorise them as religious fanatics, but they all had something in common: an intention to alert Australia’s politicians to the broad range of issues with which they are confronted as a result of climate change. It is a shame that the federal government has been left in the wake of this national debate, which is being led by these eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates, and the federal leader of the Australian Labor Party. I congratulate him for the position he is taking and the leadership he is showing on this issue.
I found the commentary by Malcolm Turnbull very surprising, given that I sat through the entire discussion on Saturday and found it fascinating. I would not categorise the contributors to the discussion as akin to religious fanatics; quite the contrary. There were representatives of the science community and big and small industries, and of every spectrum of industry around Australia. To name a few of the people who contributed to the discussion, they included Professor Peter Doherty, AC, the Nobel Laureate for physiology and medicine; Dr Graeme Pearman, who I believe is a Western Australian by birth, and is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University; Professor Alan Dupont, senior fellow of the Lowy Institute; and Chris Brown, the managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Other attendees included Professor Warwick McKibbin, who is the director of the Australian National University Centre of Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and is a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia board; Mr Martijn Wilder, a partner of Baker and McKenzie; Ms Lorraine Stephenson, director of Deloitte (Australia) Pty Ltd; Mr Nick Rowlee, director of Kinesis and a former adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Greg Bourne, who I discovered was a graduate of Melville Senior High School, and who is the president of the World Wildlife Fund, a former president of BP Australasia and former special adviser on energy to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charlie Lenegan, managing director of Rio Tinto (Australia) Pty Ltd and board member of the Business Council of Australia; Susan Jeanes, CEO for Renewable Energy Generators of Australia Ltd, and a former federal Liberal member for Kingston; Tony Maheer, secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Dr Adrian Williams, CEO of Geodynamics; Mr Tim Sims, managing director of Pacific Equity Partners Pty Ltd; Mr Peter Holmes á Court, chairman of White Bull Holdings Pty Ltd, executive chairman of South Sydney Rabbitohs and board member of Queensland Rail Ltd; Hon John Thwaites, MP, Deputy Premier of Victoria; Professor Ian Lowe, AO, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; Mr Jonathon Jutsen, director of Energetics and director of Environment Business Australia; Mr Paul Gilding, CEO of Easy Being Green Pty Ltd; and Mr Alan Pears, adjunct professor of environment and planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I would not categorise them as religious fanatics, but they all had something in common: an intention to alert Australia’s politicians to the broad range of issues with which they are confronted as a result of climate change. It is a shame that the federal government has been left in the wake of this national debate, which is being led by these eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates, and the federal leader of the Australian Labor Party. I congratulate him for the position he is taking and the leadership he is showing on this issue.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. In the midst of a very interesting and important debate about our energy future, climate change and all the issues that wrap themselves up into that mix of policy questions for the future of Australia, it is commendable that the federal Labor leader has taken a lead on questions of energy for Australia’s future and climate change. It was particularly interesting to attend Australia’s first national climate change summit in Canberra on Saturday, convened by Labor leader Kevin Rudd. It was a very interesting discussion, with a lot of eminent people providing useful information and suggestions about the way forward. I was a bit disturbed, to say the least, by a couple of things that have been said in the context of this debate. One was by federal Minister Ian Macfarlane, trying to turn the clock back on the climate change debate in his references to uranium mining; the second was from another federal minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Sunday morning television, who likened the ALP’s commitment to addressing climate change to religious fanaticism. I thought that was somewhat typical of the hysterical nature of some of the commentary coming from senior Liberal federal ministers at the moment. I found Ian Macfarlane’s position that Kevin Rudd was being hypocritical about uranium mining and the expansion of uranium mining in Australia a little inconsistent with his own views about the policy position we have taken on gas. Mr Macfarlane said - He’s saying that it’s good to expand uranium mining in Australia, he’s saying it’s good to export that uranium to our friends overseas, like the United States, the UK, Japan, China and other countries, but at the same time he will not allow a debate in Australia about using that uranium here to lower our own greenhouse gas emissions. That is exactly the position on domestic gas policy that he criticised me for. He criticised me, the Western Australian government and, by the way, I think the opposition in Western Australia for pursuing a domestic gas policy that he said was against the national interest. He said so publicly in front of a group of foreign international investors in Western Australia in one of the most idiotic performances of any federal minister I have had the displeasure of being subjected to. I found the commentary by Malcolm Turnbull very surprising, given that I sat through the entire discussion on Saturday and found it fascinating. I would not categorise the contributors to the discussion as akin to religious fanatics; quite the contrary. There were representatives of the science community and big and small industries, and of every spectrum of industry around Australia. To name a few of the people who contributed to the discussion, they included Professor Peter Doherty, AC, the Nobel Laureate for physiology and medicine; Dr Graeme Pearman, who I believe is a Western Australian by birth, and is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University; Professor Alan Dupont, senior fellow of the Lowy Institute; and Chris Brown, the managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Other attendees included Professor Warwick McKibbin, who is the director of the Australian National University Centre of Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and is a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia board; Mr Martijn Wilder, a partner of Baker and McKenzie; Ms Lorraine Stephenson, director of Deloitte (Australia) Pty Ltd; Mr Nick Rowlee, director of Kinesis and a former adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Greg Bourne, who I discovered was a graduate of Melville Senior High School, and who is the president of the World Wildlife Fund, a former president of BP Australasia and former special adviser on energy to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charlie Lenegan, managing director of Rio Tinto (Australia) Pty Ltd and board member of the Business Council of Australia; Susan Jeanes, CEO for Renewable Energy Generators of Australia Ltd, and a former federal Liberal member for Kingston; Tony Maheer, secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Dr Adrian Williams, CEO of Geodynamics; Mr Tim Sims, managing director of Pacific Equity Partners Pty Ltd; Mr Peter Holmes á Court, chairman of White Bull Holdings Pty Ltd, executive chairman of South Sydney Rabbitohs and board member of Queensland Rail Ltd; Hon John Thwaites, MP, Deputy Premier of Victoria; Professor Ian Lowe, AO, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; Mr Jonathon Jutsen, director of Energetics and director of Environment Business Australia; Mr Paul Gilding, CEO of Easy Being Green Pty Ltd; and Mr Alan Pears, adjunct professor of environment and planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I would not categorise them as religious fanatics, but they all had something in common: an intention to alert Australia’s politicians to the broad range of issues with which they are confronted as a result of climate change. It is a shame that the federal government has been left in the wake of this national debate, which is being led by these eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates, and the federal leader of the Australian Labor Party. I congratulate him for the position he is taking and the leadership he is showing on this issue.
I thank the member for the question. In the midst of a very interesting and important debate about our energy future, climate change and all the issues that wrap themselves up into that mix of policy questions for the future of Australia, it is commendable that the federal Labor leader has taken a lead on questions of energy for Australia’s future and climate change. It was particularly interesting to attend Australia’s first national climate change summit in Canberra on Saturday, convened by Labor leader Kevin Rudd. It was a very interesting discussion, with a lot of eminent people providing useful information and suggestions about the way forward. I was a bit disturbed, to say the least, by a couple of things that have been said in the context of this debate. One was by federal Minister Ian Macfarlane, trying to turn the clock back on the climate change debate in his references to uranium mining; the second was from another federal minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Sunday morning television, who likened the ALP’s commitment to addressing climate change to religious fanaticism. I thought that was somewhat typical of the hysterical nature of some of the commentary coming from senior Liberal federal ministers at the moment. I found Ian Macfarlane’s position that Kevin Rudd was being hypocritical about uranium mining and the expansion of uranium mining in Australia a little inconsistent with his own views about the policy position we have taken on gas. Mr Macfarlane said - He’s saying that it’s good to expand uranium mining in Australia, he’s saying it’s good to export that uranium to our friends overseas, like the United States, the UK, Japan, China and other countries, but at the same time he will not allow a debate in Australia about using that uranium here to lower our own greenhouse gas emissions. That is exactly the position on domestic gas policy that he criticised me for. He criticised me, the Western Australian government and, by the way, I think the opposition in Western Australia for pursuing a domestic gas policy that he said was against the national interest. He said so publicly in front of a group of foreign international investors in Western Australia in one of the most idiotic performances of any federal minister I have had the displeasure of being subjected to. I found the commentary by Malcolm Turnbull very surprising, given that I sat through the entire discussion on Saturday and found it fascinating. I would not categorise the contributors to the discussion as akin to religious fanatics; quite the contrary. There were representatives of the science community and big and small industries, and of every spectrum of industry around Australia. To name a few of the people who contributed to the discussion, they included Professor Peter Doherty, AC, the Nobel Laureate for physiology and medicine; Dr Graeme Pearman, who I believe is a Western Australian by birth, and is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University; Professor Alan Dupont, senior fellow of the Lowy Institute; and Chris Brown, the managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Other attendees included Professor Warwick McKibbin, who is the director of the Australian National University Centre of Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and is a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia board; Mr Martijn Wilder, a partner of Baker and McKenzie; Ms Lorraine Stephenson, director of Deloitte (Australia) Pty Ltd; Mr Nick Rowlee, director of Kinesis and a former adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Greg Bourne, who I discovered was a graduate of Melville Senior High School, and who is the president of the World Wildlife Fund, a former president of BP Australasia and former special adviser on energy to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charlie Lenegan, managing director of Rio Tinto (Australia) Pty Ltd and board member of the Business Council of Australia; Susan Jeanes, CEO for Renewable Energy Generators of Australia Ltd, and a former federal Liberal member for Kingston; Tony Maheer, secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Dr Adrian Williams, CEO of Geodynamics; Mr Tim Sims, managing director of Pacific Equity Partners Pty Ltd; Mr Peter Holmes á Court, chairman of White Bull Holdings Pty Ltd, executive chairman of South Sydney Rabbitohs and board member of Queensland Rail Ltd; Hon John Thwaites, MP, Deputy Premier of Victoria; Professor Ian Lowe, AO, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; Mr Jonathon Jutsen, director of Energetics and director of Environment Business Australia; Mr Paul Gilding, CEO of Easy Being Green Pty Ltd; and Mr Alan Pears, adjunct professor of environment and planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I would not categorise them as religious fanatics, but they all had something in common: an intention to alert Australia’s politicians to the broad range of issues with which they are confronted as a result of climate change. It is a shame that the federal government has been left in the wake of this national debate, which is being led by these eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates, and the federal leader of the Australian Labor Party. I congratulate him for the position he is taking and the leadership he is showing on this issue.
I found the commentary by Malcolm Turnbull very surprising, given that I sat through the entire discussion on Saturday and found it fascinating. I would not categorise the contributors to the discussion as akin to religious fanatics; quite the contrary. There were representatives of the science community and big and small industries, and of every spectrum of industry around Australia. To name a few of the people who contributed to the discussion, they included Professor Peter Doherty, AC, the Nobel Laureate for physiology and medicine; Dr Graeme Pearman, who I believe is a Western Australian by birth, and is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University; Professor Alan Dupont, senior fellow of the Lowy Institute; and Chris Brown, the managing director of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Other attendees included Professor Warwick McKibbin, who is the director of the Australian National University Centre of Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and is a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia board; Mr Martijn Wilder, a partner of Baker and McKenzie; Ms Lorraine Stephenson, director of Deloitte (Australia) Pty Ltd; Mr Nick Rowlee, director of Kinesis and a former adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Greg Bourne, who I discovered was a graduate of Melville Senior High School, and who is the president of the World Wildlife Fund, a former president of BP Australasia and former special adviser on energy to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charlie Lenegan, managing director of Rio Tinto (Australia) Pty Ltd and board member of the Business Council of Australia; Susan Jeanes, CEO for Renewable Energy Generators of Australia Ltd, and a former federal Liberal member for Kingston; Tony Maheer, secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Dr Adrian Williams, CEO of Geodynamics; Mr Tim Sims, managing director of Pacific Equity Partners Pty Ltd; Mr Peter Holmes á Court, chairman of White Bull Holdings Pty Ltd, executive chairman of South Sydney Rabbitohs and board member of Queensland Rail Ltd; Hon John Thwaites, MP, Deputy Premier of Victoria; Professor Ian Lowe, AO, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; Mr Jonathon Jutsen, director of Energetics and director of Environment Business Australia; Mr Paul Gilding, CEO of Easy Being Green Pty Ltd; and Mr Alan Pears, adjunct professor of environment and planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I would not categorise them as religious fanatics, but they all had something in common: an intention to alert Australia’s politicians to the broad range of issues with which they are confronted as a result of climate change. It is a shame that the federal government has been left in the wake of this national debate, which is being led by these eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates, and the federal leader of the Australian Labor Party. I congratulate him for the position he is taking and the leadership he is showing on this issue.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.