2nd Dec 2020, 10:19 AM – Representatives Motions - Climate Change - Don't let a vote happen

The majority voted in favour of disagreeing with a motion to suspend the usual parliamentary rules - known as standing orders - to allow a vote in respect to climate change take place. This means the desired vote (see motion text below) won't happen.

Motion text

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Melbourne from moving the following motion immediately—That the House:

(1) declares an environment and climate emergency;

(2) recognises that:

(a) as signatories to the Paris Agreement, Australia must ensure a safe and stable climate system, which requires limiting global temperature rises to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius;

(b) the Bureau of Meteorology has advised this Parliament that under current targets, the world is on track for a temperature rise of 3.4 degrees, and that means up to 4.4 degrees of warming in Australia, making much of the country uninhabitable within our children's lifetimes; and

(c) today New Zealand will move to declare a climate emergency joining other countries including England, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Canada and Japan; and

(3) acknowledges that no aspect of Australia's economy, society and environment will be left untouched by a breakdown of the climate system and that the Government and the Parliament must take urgent action before 2030.