This is extraordinary. Here we are in 2025, and the coalition wants to kill Australia's commitment to net zero. It's not just short sighted; it is ludicrous. Have they learnt absolutely nothing? Did they forget the last election? Australians voted loud and clear for action on climate change. They voted for a government that takes the science seriously, a government that plans for the future, not one that wants to drag us back to the dark old days of climate wars. Let's be very clear; Australians want action. Every poll shows it, every community conversation confirms it and the last federal election proved it. But here we are today, with the coalition still not sure where they stand. Talking out both sides of their mouths on net zero, this motion before us comes from the member for New England and is his attempt to repeal net zero. Meanwhile, we've got the Leader of the Opposition and a whole bunch of other people, including members from the other place, saying they support net zero. I read in the Age this morning Senator Hume saying that they support it. Which is it?

We can't pretend to back climate change in the cities while trashing it in the regions. We've seen polling, again, just over the weekend, that the majority of Liberal voters—who turned their backs on this party at the last election—want the coalition to back in Australia's 2050 net zero commitments. The polling also found that half of the former coalition supporters don't believe the Liberals or Nationals any longer align with their personal values and what they want to see on climate change and energy.

This motion is nothing more than climate denialism. It is reckless. It is dangerous. It betrays the very Australians who want their kids and their grandkids to inherit a safe, livable planet. People in my electorate of Newcastle and, indeed, right across the country know the cost of inaction. They've lived through the bushfires, the floods and the record-breaking heat waves. They understand that climate change is not some distant threat; it is here now, and it is hurting us. What's the coalition's answer? They pretend climate change is not happening. They're ripping up commitments, walking away from jobs and leaving our economy stranded in the past.

Newcastle has always led the way. This city, my home town of Newcastle, was built on coal. We have a carbon intensive economy. We have powered the nation for generations. But do you know what? The world is shifting. There is a dramatic shift to renewables, and we want to be part of powering the future. That's why it is so detrimental that those who oppose renewable projects offer nothing but fear and misinformation. They talk about what they're against but never what they are for. They've got no plans for jobs in towns like mine, no plan for investment and no plan for the future. Novocastrians deserve better than scare campaigns from those opposite; they deserve honesty, ambition and vision. That's exactly what Labor is delivering—billions in clean energy investment and a plan to ensure workers and communities like mine share in the benefits of this major economic transformation that we cannot pretend is not coming.

In Newcastle, we've already seen from the Labor government a massive $100 million commitment to establish a clean energy precinct at the Port of Newcastle. We've got another $425 million for a hydrogen hub at Orica, $60 million into the Hunter Net Zero Manufacturing Centre of Excellence at Tighes Hill TAFE and $21 million for a new Future Industries Facility at the University of Newcastle. But what do those opposite offer? They'd rip all of that up plus lead us into more delay, more denial and more division. Yet every serious investor, every major trading partner and every responsible business leader knows the future is in clean energy.

This motion is a joke, but the consequences are deadly serious. It betrays Australians, it betrays kids and it betrays every worker who is counting on this country to have a plan about their future. Most importantly, it betrays regions like mine. Only Labor has a plan for clean energy, good jobs and a fairer, more sustainable Australia.