Dr MARJORIE O'NEILL (Coogee) (16:44:15): I acknowledge again the bushfire crisis that we have witnessed in New South Wales and across the country has been unprecedented and devastating. I have joined with my colleagues and all Australians in paying tribute to the thousands of professional and volunteer firefighters across this State and across the country. My office has been contacted by thousands of constituents concerned about the impact that climate change has had on this fire season and calling on me to do more to progress climate action through throughout New South Wales. I have written, or am writing, to each of those constituents affirming my commitment to push this Parliament to take greater action to reduce carbon emissions and transition to renewable power and I again make that commitment to my constituents of the Coogee electorate.

Without a doubt, the nature of bushfires in Australia has changed. Bushfire conditions are clearly now more dangerous than in the past, and the risk to people and property has increased. The catastrophic fire conditions that affected New South Wales and many other parts of the country have undoubtedly been aggravated by a changing climate. Both bushfire risk and severity have been exacerbated by crippling drought, very dry fuel and record-breaking periods of extreme heat, all of which I believe are clearly linked to a warming climate. For well over 20 years, climate scientists have warned that climate change would increase the risk of extreme bushfires in Australia. In 2007 Labor Prime Minister elect Kevin Rudd commissioned the first Garnaut Climate Change Review. This report was delivered to the Federal Government in September 2008. Along with many other warnings, the Garnaut report made clear that if the rate of warming continued at the rate observed, fire seasons will start earlier, and later be more intense. It said this effect increases over time but should be directly observable by 2020.

During the Rudd and Gillard Governments, Labor introduced several key climate policies, including the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a carbon pricing mechanism and the Clean Energy Futures package. Each of those policies was repealed under Tony Abbott's Coalition Government in 2014. We are facing a critical juncture in our efforts to tackle those issues. In this country we are all well aware of the polarisation between belief sets sabotaging any form of progress. We can see this not just within our State Parliament, not just across our country or between countries, but, most critically, between corporate cultures and economies around the world. We can see a contest between shareholder activism and the maintenance of currently profitable but environmentally devastating industries and consumer sentiment by those wanting to make a sustainable change in their consumption. Without the regulatory hand of government, change may take too long and the one variable we do not have enough of is time.

As policy makers and legislators we have a responsibility to take the lead on innovations in renewable forms of energy production as well as the vast opportunities it presents for abundant job opportunities and ensuring a just transition for those who currently work in coal and gas. Our goal must be to transform renewable energy companies from boutique to mainstream energy suppliers. One of the ways governments can do that is by legislating mandatory renewable energy targets for each of their departments. The absence of legal, regulatory and incentive- or investment-based policy change is preventing the development of a critical mass and an ability to scale. As a practical example, when Kevin Rudd was first elected Prime Minister in 2007, renewable energy comprised less than 4 per cent of total electricity supply. The Labor Federal Government then legislated a 20 per cent renewables share of the electricity supply by 2020, and today we are at 19 per cent because the private sector was incentivised to innovate.

What we are so clearly missing in the matrix of a transition to a renewable energy market is finance as well as a program for a just transition for those who are currently working in coal and gas. The framework for transition is there domestically and observable in world-leading renewable energy markets in Europe and China. The technology is there, progressing despite the lack of investment from government. Capital investment is the missing link. Renewable energy is already becoming an attractive investment for some large superannuation and venture capital funds. Our job is to increase the attractiveness of this investment by expediting the decision-making and investment process. Furthermore, we need to look no further than Germany, which has already developed comprehensive, just transition programs developed with a multi-stakeholder perspective bringing together policymakers, industry representatives, unions, residents from coalmining areas, and non-government environment organisations to create a fair process for a just transition and an end date for phasing out coal power.

Again, one thing we know is that we are running out of time. It is therefore our job as legislators and representatives to facilitate and expedite this process, in a just and timely way. To do this, we need a consolidated effort between Federal, State and local governments to make sustainable energy production projects a bankable investment. An investment in the transition to renewables is not only the right thing to do for our environment; by investing in this industry we will be developing sustainable jobs for the future. In my inaugural speech and in many speeches in Parliament since, I have pushed for greater action from this Government to address climate concerns, which I see and hear every day. We need to fight for a first-class plan for this State to move forward, build upon the great opportunities offered in the field of renewable energy and drive the movement of tangible change in the energy sector, both in New South Wales and across the country, and ensure that nobody is left behind during this transition.