Australia faces a choice.

As global markets shift away from carbon-intensive industries, we can stand by and allow Australian jobs and communities to be decimated.

Or we can embrace new industries and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the suburbs and regions all while reducing emissions and improving energy affordability and reliability.

With more than two million Australians unemployed or underemployed, the choice is clear to me and Im delighted to be appointed as the Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

In contrast, this hapless Government has offered 22 energy policies in eight years wrecking business confidence and slashing jobs.

Scott Morrison and his embattled Energy Minister remain isolated on net zero by 2050 from our major trading partners, our leading businesses, and even our Liberal states.

As weve seen again this week, the Coalition remains deeply divided on the science of climate change, let alone the path forward.

For more than two terms, my friend Mark Butler has held the Government to account for this pathetic record with his characteristic intellect and energy.

Mark literally wrote the book on climate policy in Australia and I look forward to his continued counsel in my new role.

I also thank the health sector for working so closely with me since 2019 and, most importantly, for its efforts to tackle COVID-19 and the many other health challenges we face.

I will continue to work with the sector on what the World Health Organisation has described as the defining health threat of the 21st Century climate change.