IT'S official. The Liberal, National and Labor parties all agree on the science of climate change and all agree to reduce carbon emissions by exactly the same amount by 2020.
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Independent Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott used Question Time this week to seek the parties' positions on climate change from their respective leaders.
"The conversation in the public arena today (Wednesday) does not reflect the reality of the major political parties' policy positions, and that is that Labor and the Liberal-National Party absolutely agree on the science and absolutely agree on a five per cent reduction on carbon pollution by 2020," Mr Oakeshott said.
"While one thing is said in the parliament and another on the ground in some electorates across the country, the integrity of Australia's scientific community has taken, and continues to take, a beating.
"There is bipartisanship on climate change and on the need to respond to the pollution question, and now those positions have been made very clear, I hope the mistrust of Australia's finest climate scientists, among the best in their field in the world, comes to an end.
"The politics of this issue has been allowed to undermine science in a way never before seen in this country and it's time it came to an end."
Mr Oakeshott said it wasn't just science under attack, but experts in other fields as well all for the sake of political one-upmanship.
Which is why Mr Oakeshott has given notice that he will ask the House to express full confidence in the Department of Treasury and Finance; express full confidence in the Treasury Secretary, Dr Martin Parkinson and Finance Secretary David Tune; and express full confidence in the following words by Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson: "I can say on behalf of David Tune, the secretary of the Department of Finance and myself and get this right were PEFO (the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook) to have been released on May 14, it would have contained the numbers that were in the budget."
"We do our nation no favours at all if we allow the men and women who are the experts in their fields to be denigrated and ridiculed for political expediency," Mr Oakeshott said.
"These are the people who are charged with providing governments with the best advice, based on data, research and investigation and yet, for political reasons, often have their reputations tarnished because their objective advice doesn't fit with a certain political message.
"The time for cheap shots against our scientists and our public servants has come to an end and I invite the Labor, Liberal and National parties to show bipartisanship for my Notice of Motion on Treasury and Finance, just as they did today during Question Time on climate change," Mr Oakeshott said.