Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): I rise to note a truly historic moment: the release of Victoria’s Climate Change Strategy, a strategy that firmly establishes Victoria as a global leader on climate action. It is, as Greg Combet noted yesterday, ‘a comprehensive and outstanding piece of work’. Key to the strategy are our strong interim emissions reduction targets, the milestones we will reach on our way to net zero emissions by 2050. Our target to halve emissions by 2030 is ambitious. It puts us on the same playing field as the US under Biden and places our state well ahead of Canada, Japan, Germany, France and New Zealand. We are truly part of the global transition, and the work to achieve our targets has already begun.
Last year Labor committed $1.6 billion to climate action, the largest investment of its kind by any state. We will make homes energy efficient, decarbonise our transport sector, drive energy innovation, boost renewables, reduce industry and agricultural emissions and plant millions of trees. We are moving forward with powerful policies to shape the clean energy future our kids and grandkids deserve. But the truth is this is not just Victoria’s challenge, it is the challenge of every community and every level of government. We need strong leadership from the commonwealth and a coherent national approach to climate change. We cannot afford to wait for the Morrison government to pull its head out of the sand. Australia must commit to net zero emissions by 2050. Climate action is something my community of Northcote are proud to champion. Together we have pushed for ambitious targets and strong climate policies.
