Thursday, 3 April 2025

 Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:26): My question is for the Minister for Climate Action. Every few weeks we read of or hear about another climate-related disaster. We have had fires in the Los Angeles winter, there is an area in Queensland twice the size of Victoria under water at the moment, we remember the recent floods in Spain that piled cars high up at the end of streets and now there is a drought in western Victoria. But the most recent greenhouse emissions data from Victoria has only been published up to 2022. When will the government release data for 2023 and 2024?

 Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (14:27): I thank the member for his question. The federal government publish climate emissions inventories and they periodically release the figures by state and across the country, and as soon as they are released, we will be glad to provide them. But can I just say, we do not wait for those reports to come out. We do not wait for reports; we keep doing the work to take us to the emissions reduction targets that we have set Victoria on a course to achieve. We are absolutely within the ranges that we have set for ourselves and our state, and we continue to do the hard work to ensure that we continue to decarbonise. We are decarbonising at the fastest rate in the country, of any of the jurisdictions, and we will continue the hard work to achieve just that.

 Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:28): The fossil fuel companies know exactly how much coal and petrol and diesel and gas they sell, and that is the vast bulk of our emissions and should be available in much shorter timeframes. The federal emissions data is available online up to March 2024. Does the minister know and can she tell us: did emissions go up or down in 2023 and 2024?

 Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (14:28): I thank the member for the supplementary question. I think they know the answer to it, but what I will say is that emissions calculations can go up and down depending on the measure that is in place. We know that emissions from land use within a particular period of time can go up and down quite significantly, which is of course reflected in the figures that are released. No-one can do anything about that, not even the magical pixies at the bottom of the garden that are the Greens party – no-one, no matter what promises they make. What I can say is that our government are absolutely within the range of our next target of achieving a reduction in emissions of between 28 and 33 per cent by 2025, and we achieved a reduction of 31.3 per cent in 2022. Our state is decarbonising at the fastest rate in the country, and we will continue to do the hard work.