ALBANESE: Labour welcomes the reaffirmation this evening from Malcolm Turnbull that the Opposition remains committed to the deal that was negotiated in good faith between the Government and the Opposition to ensure the Australian Parliament takes strong action on climate change.

This morning we meet as the House of Representatives and the Senate Leadership from both the major political parties and we welcome Malcolm Turnbull’s reaffirmation that there will be a determination by the Senate as agreed this morning by 3.45pm tomorrow afternoon.

Climate is too important to play politics with. It’s more important than any individual. It’s the issue for our generation, for us and for our kids. We need to take action on climate change now on the national level prior to the globe taking action at the Copenhagen conference.

I’ll take a couple of questions.

JOURNALIST: Inaudible

ALBANESE: We have a commitment with the Opposition that this will be voted on by the Senate by 3.45pm tomorrow afternoon.

We will return as the House of Representatives to receive messages from the Senate in accordance with the agreement that exists between the Government and the Coalition.

JOURNALIST: You will not move to guillotine the debate?

ALBANESE: We will not be moving any residual resolutions to guillotine tonight. What we will be doing is sticking to the agreement that has been reached. We welcome the reaffirmation by Malcolm Turnbull that the Coalition remains committed to those agreements because climate change is the issue for our generation and we need to take action now.

JOURNALIST: Will you guillotine tomorrow at 3.45 if the bill is not agreed to?

ALBANESE: The agreement is that there will be a vote by the senate tomorrow afternoon by 3.45pm and that was just reaffirmed by Malcolm Turnbull. We sat down this morning, the leaders of the Labour party and the Coalition in the House and Representatives and the Senate. We have entered into good faith negotiations both on the policy substance and on the process to ensure that people could have their say.

It is quite clear that after 12 years of inaction the Australian public wants action. And it’s important that that action occur this week and that we adopt the position agreed to by the Government and the Opposition.

JOURNALIST: Are you prepared to guillotine the debate tomorrow if an agreement is not reached?

ALBANESE: We have an agreement between the Opposition and the Government. Malcolm Turnbull has reconfirmed that commitment this evening. We welcome that and we believe the Australian public deserves an answer to whether the Australian Government will move forward on climate change.

JOURNALIST: Is the Liberals falling apart on this?

ALBANESE: This actually isn’t about an individual. And the Liberal Party leadership is a matter for the Liberal Party.

Climate change is much more important than any individual. Climate change is the challenge for our generation. It is imperative that we accept the responsibility we have to take action on climate change.

ENDS