The Australian Government is continuing the conversation on the setting of Australia’s next greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, with a series of roundtable meetings starting in Sydney today.

Ministers Bishop and Hunt will host the first of four stakeholder meetings as part of the Government’s broad consultations on Australia’s target beyond 2020 – which will be announced mid-year.

Minister Bishop said the Government was committed to taking strong and effective action against climate change and was working hard to deliver an agreement at Paris, in which all countries will participate.

“Paris will be a very important for climate action and we expect countries to reach a global agreement setting out their post-2020 plans,” Minister Bishop said.

“Australia’s target will reflect our fair contribution to the global response to climate change, taking into account our national circumstances and the actions of our trading partners and other major economies.”

Minister Hunt said public understanding and support for Australia’s future emissions reduction commitments was essential.

“These meetings will give us an opportunity to better understand views on what emissions reduction commitments Australia should make beyond 2020,” Minister Hunt said.

“We’ve achieved our first round of international targets to 2012, we’ll meet or beat our 2020 target, and we’ll make a strong contribution to the post-2020 international process and targets.”

The meetings will be attended by senior representatives from business, industry, the environment sector, Indigenous organisations and the research and academic communities.

Both Ministers will host another meeting in Perth on 1 May. Mr Hunt will also host meetings in Melbourne on 6 May and Brisbane on 7 May.

The Government recognises the importance of consulting widely on this issue. The meetings follow on from a public consultation process which closes tomorrow. To date the consultation has received over 430 written submissions.

More information is available online at www.dpmc.gov.au/taskforces/unfccc.