Labor leader calls for serious response to climate change

Labor Party leader, Bill Shorten, spoke in the Australian Parliament on the need for real action on climate change.

Labor's Bill Shorten - he has called for a
meaningful response to climate change.

In a release about the speech he said: “There is no doubt that our earth is warming and our seas rising – or that humankind is the cause.

“And if we do not act, the consequences will be severe.

“Governments of the world, both progressive and conservative, are making their choice clear.

“Today, 39 national and 23 sub-national jurisdictions have implemented or are on track to implement carbon pricing instruments, including emissions trading schemes.

“But” Mr Shorten said, “The Abbott Government’s staggering display of blustering arrogance and craven incompetence in the Senate has made one thing abundantly clear”.

He said the Australian Labor Party Only was the one political party in Australia with a serious, substantial and credible climate change policy.

Mr Shorten said Labor believed the science and would continue to fight for real action on climate change – for an emissions trading scheme.

“It is the policy we took to the last election, and it is what our amendments moved again in the Parliament today will deliver”.

He said inaction would be a disaster for the Australian economy and our environment, bringing on a disaster that guarantees Tony Abbott will be remembered forever for his environmental vandalism.

Listen to and watch Mr Shorten’s speech.