Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question and her interest in this matter. Australia accounts for about 1½ per cent of global emissions, yet we have the potential to have a significant impact on reducing global emissions through the development of innovative technologies that can be adapted globally. Our premier scientific and research organisation, the CSIRO, already has a strong track record of influencing international innovation. The Australian government has increased base funding for the CSIRO by some 45 per cent over the last 10 years to a record high of over $600 million this year. The CSIRO now ranks in the top one per cent of scientific institutions around the world in 13 of 22 research fields, including environment and ecology.

In 2006-07 alone, the CSIRO is investing around $60 million on climate change research. This year, $30 million will be spent on energy research through one of our flagship research programs, Energy Transformed. That is targeting a wide range of technologies, including solar, wind, clean coal and hydrogen. The flagship program is also working on variable energy from wind and solar, and it has developed the Ultra battery, which is a long-life super battery. Some of the major breakthroughs by the CSIRO to date include using solar energy to transform natural gas to hydrogen, which could be used for future energy needs, and developing the world’s most efficient method of extracting hydrogen from water.

The Australian government supports the CSIRO in these efforts. In fact, this year we funded the CSIRO’s $5.3 million National Solar Energy Centre, which is using solar energy to convert fossil fuels to gas. Members will be interested to know that CSIRO’s manufacturing and infrastructure technology division is at the forefront of fuel cell research. This is an environmentally friendly technology that converts fossil fuel or hydrogen to electricity. I think members should also note that the CSIRO’s expenditure on renewable energy has increased by almost 400 per cent since 2003 to over $15 million in 2006-07.

But, of course, the Leader of the Opposition has the answer. He has now pledged to save the planet. He is going to solve the problem of climate change single-handedly. At his doorstop this morning, he said:

I am absolutely fair dinkum about dealing with the consequences of climate change. When we’re elected to office, we will fix this.

I would be very interested to know how the Leader of the Opposition intends to reduce emissions in China or India. While this government is supporting groundbreaking research into climate change, we are ensuring our economy remains strong, we are ensuring that there are low levels of unemployment and we are also working sensibly to reduce emissions.

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