Zaneta Mascarenhas: Labor MP uses maiden Parliament speech to issues grim climate warning

A new Labor MP has linked bushfires that destroyed homes in WA’s Great Southern this summer to climate change, as the Albanese Government launches an attempt to enshrine its greenhouse gas reduction target in law.

Zaneta Mascarenhas used her maiden speech in Federal Parliament on Tuesday to warn Australia’s bushfires and floods would increase in “frequency and intensity” due to global warming and labelled the events “unnatural disasters”.

The engineer, who made headlines during the election campaign when it emerged she had volunteered for a climate change organisation that wanted the introduction of a carbon tax, said Australia had taken “a battering” in recent years.

“We have parts of Sydney that have been flooded four times in 18 months. Brisbane has experienced multiple catastrophic floods. We had the 2020 black summer bushfires. In my home State we have seen fires in Baldivis, Wooroloo, the Great Southern and Denmark,” she said.

“With climate change we will see an increase in the frequency and intensity of these events. We can’t call these ‘natural’ disasters anymore. Humankind has had a role to play – they are unnatural disasters.”

Ms Mascarenhas said Australians had stepped up and supported each other amid the loss of property and lives, but “just like an elastic band, there is a breaking point”. The nation, she continued, was at a stage where both climate adaption and mitigation were required.

Born in Kalgoorlie and raised in the nickel mining town of Kambalda, she told how her father lost his job as a fitter and turner when aged 56 as she called for a “just and orderly transition” that created well paid, secure “jobs of the future” in the regions.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will on Wednesday introduce legislation that forces a reduction in emissions by 43 per cent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade and net zero by 2050, as promised at the election.

The Government wants to speed the legislation through the lower house within the next fortnight, but does not expect it to pass the Senate until at least September, where it needs the support of 12 Greens and one crossbencher.

Labor has agreed to some of the Greens’ demands, including that the bill would state that any target was a floor, not a ceiling and that there would be no reduction in the Government’s ambition.

Greens leader Adam Bandt welcomed the changes but remained opposed to new coal and gas projects and wants the Government to adopt a more ambitious target than 43 per cent.

Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer said she was open to crossing the floor to support Labor’s bill. The Opposition has said it would not support legislating targets.

Meanwhile, WA Labor Senator Sue Lines was elected Senate President on Tuesday and Queensland MP Milton Dick became the 32nd Speaker of the House of Representatives.