Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Climate Change spokesperson
The historic deal reached between 195 nations at the Paris climate summit is great news for the planet, and for Tasmania.
As an island economy with abundant renewable resources and a massive carbon bank in our forests, Tasmania has a chance to shine and deliver sustainable jobs and greater prosperity to its people.
All the world's major economies will be curbing emissions and investing heavily in renewables. The pressure is now on the Hodgman government to get Tasmania's climate policy settings right.
We have an estimated four billion tonnes of carbon in our forests, many of which the Liberals still want to log.
The Liberals need to get with the times. The world is moving rapidly towards a zero emissions future and the carbon stored in our forests is worth far more sequestered than it is clear-felled and burned at taxpayer expense.
In GBE hearings, Tasmanians were told almost half of their power is now being sourced from dirty, brown coal-fired power stations in Victoria. We can do so much better.
The state government needs to extend its open for business mantra to more private renewable investment and attracting big, clean industries to Tasmania.
In the post-Paris era, Tasmania can show the rest of the world how it's done.