Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What you have to worry about, mate, is whether or not they are going to put a nuclear power plant in your electorate. That is what I would be worried about in terms of energy efficiency. China’s latest five-year plan includes a commitment to achieving economic growth by ‘optimising structure, improving efficiency and decreasing energy consumption’.

Included in the latest five-year plan are targets for the next five years of a 10 per cent fall in total pollutants, a 20 per cent fall in total energy consumption per unit of GDP and a 30 per cent reduction in total water use. China has committed to generating, excluding hydro power, 10 per cent of its energy with renewable technology by 2010 and 15 per cent by 2020. China plans to reduce the percentage of its power which is produced by coal from 78 per cent to 40 per cent by 2030. China currently invests $9.3 billion in renewable energy, more than double the United States’ renewable investment. In 2004, China introduced auto emissions standards equal to Euro II standards. Currently, the United States cannot export cars to China as they do not meet Chinese emission standards. In 2008, China will introduce tighter auto emission standards equivalent to Euro III standards. China has reduced taxes on bicycles and introduced a fuel tax which penalises four-wheel drives and the least fuel efficient cars.

Brazil is a world leader on ethanol production, requiring 100 per cent of gasoline to be blended with ethanol. Indonesia has set a biofuels target of 10 per cent by 2010. Of course, business strategies in these countries did not change overnight. Their governments introduced policies to phase in emissions targets and low-carbon technologies, creating massive opportunities for local labour markets and export growth.

The disappointing element of this is that Australia could be part of this, but is not. What do we need to do in Australia? Australia needs a systematic response rather than a bandaid response simply because Textor and Crosby are polling and saying it is an issue for the government. We need to not be isolated and playing catch-up. We need the government to be very serious about dealing with this particular issue. If you look at renewables, the Victorian renewable energy target of 10 per cent by 2016 made the Solar Systems project viable. That project was funded by the government.

John Howard has rejected expanding the national renewable energy target beyond two per cent but is relaxed about putting a nuclear power plant in the electorate of the member for Flinders. Australia is the only country where renewable energy projects are being closed and we have seen job losses as a consequence of that. John Howard criticises Kyoto but sent Ian Campbell to China to open a $300 million renewable energy project that was funded by the clean development mechanism of the Kyoto protocol. What I see in this bill is a lost opportunity for Australians. Mark my words: when Australians come to vote, they are no fools. They know that this change in their climate has to be addressed by a government that does not just respond to polling but responds to the genuine needs of the Australian community. Let us see if they are serious because this bill certainly proves that they are not.

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