Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales) (17:44): Scientists, businesses, parliamentarians and the Australian community have been calling for the government to take action on climate change. But over seven long years they have refused to listen, stubbornly indifferent to the consequences of inaction. Now the Australian government's failures have caught the attention of international leaders, who are calling on Mr Morrison to take action on climate change and to commit to strong emissions targets. Not that long ago five international leaders, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron, wrote a letter to Mr Morrison demanding that Australia make a bold new commitment at the Climate Ambition Summit. It couldn't be a clearer message. The world is looking to Australia for leadership, and this government fails the test. Australia has already lost 10 years to baseless fear campaigns against climate action. We can't afford to lose another 10 years. When Labor was last in government emissions came down by more than 15 per cent. Under the Liberals and the Nationals we see no such progress. Eleven years ago, almost to the day, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens voted down Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Eleven years later, as a direct consequence of that shameful act, Australia is still waiting and is still missing an effective climate change policy that will see a reduction in our emissions. Senator Rice: A point of order: the senator is misleading the chamber. There is no connection at all between the Greens' rightful voting down of the 'continued polluting regardless scheme' and our current emissions. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator McGrath ): Senator Rice, that is a debating point. An honourable senator: They're touchy! Senator McALLISTER: Indeed, the Greens political party are touchy about this question, because it was a great mistake. It's a mistake for which they have refused to apologise, a mistake they cannot even acknowledge. The consequence of that is they continue to be completely unable to participate in constructing broad based support for climate action. Labor will not be supporting the Greens urgency motion today, because, yet again, it is characterised by misleading information. I'm sure that the Greens will see that as no impediment to posting online a whole lot of information misrepresenting Labor's position on climate action, polluting the political debate with misinformation. But let's be really clear: Labor is the only party with a track record of legislating for climate action and is the only party with the capacity to build a broad based consensus to transition us to a carbon neutral future. Right now, under this government, nothing is happening, and that is by design. That will not change until we change the government. According to recent research from the University of Melbourne, the cost to Australia of not delivering on the goals of the Paris Agreement, a goal that requires net zero emissions by 2050, is a staggering $2.7 trillion. (Quorum formed) Before the Greens called a quorum in this debate—a step that they've taken on multiple occasions for purposes that they're yet to explain—I was making the point that the costs of inaction are very significant for the Australian economy. At a time when we are looking for sources of growth, new sources of economic activity and new jobs, it is incredible that the government cannot see the opportunity that is staring them in the face. This is a goal that the CSIRO says will deliver higher wages, higher incomes and lower power costs. It's a goal that the University of Melbourne says will deliver 20 times greater benefits to the economy than any costs. The Business Council says getting to net zero by 2050 will mean $22 billion of new investment per year. All major Australian companies and the National Farmers Federation and the Australian Industry Group are committed to net zero emissions by 2050. Seventy-three countries, including the UK, Canada, France and Germany, have already adopted it as their goal. All states and territories in Australia have already promised to be carbon neutral by 2050, and the Australian and international communities are united in this commitment. But it's the Morrison government that refuses to accept the target and denies the science. It misleads and lies to the community and refuses to take action. These failures have a real-life impact. Our government should go to the Climate Ambition Summit with a plan for climate, energy and economic reform.