Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Prior to coming to this place, I actually spent a lot of time representing people in the renewable and sustainable energy industries. I know how hard it has been for people in those industries to commercialise their technology. I know how hard it is to attract investment dollars into research and development. People work very hard in those industries and they do rely on government encouragement to be able to develop their technologies for the common good. It is in respect of that that I note the government’s position in relation to the 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions based on 2000 levels by the year 2050. That will, as it is achieved, result in substantial energy efficiency in developing cleaner energy technologies in association with the development of an energy trading mechanism. My question to the minister is: what support has the government given the renewable energy sector in the 2008-09 budget, in particular as to funding arrangements for various technologies including geothermal and solar based technologies?

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