Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I want to speak in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia and in this grievance debate on the Rudd Labor government’s policies in relation to climate change, energy and the environment. I especially want to focus on the government’s retrograde policy on solar energy. Solar energy is, of course, part of the energy mix that the world must explore and promote to make our world greener and cleaner. I have said before in this parliament that energy affordability, diversity, reliability and security is one of the greatest 21st century policy and political challenges facing leaders, governments and other business stakeholders. After all, 30 per cent of the world’s 6.5 billion people still do not have access to electricity and only one in six people have access to a quantity and quality of energy comparable to what is enjoyed in the developed world.

One billion people use over half the world’s energy whilst the poorest billion people use only four per cent of the world’s energy. This is inequity at its worst. This is untenable in the 21st century. For this reason, in my view, delivering energy to the people of the developing world and, indeed, the underdeveloped world will be crucial for international stability and security. Why? It is because reliable and affordable energy is an absolute precondition for economic prosperity and wealth if you already have such prosperity and wealth, it is an absolute precondition for economic growth and advancement if you are a developing economy and you want to increase the living standards of your people and it is an absolute precondition for giving people simple hope and making life even possible for someone who lives in the poorest of the poor places on our planet.

In previous speeches in this place I have remarked on how fundamental it is for those in positions of leadership and influence to ensure that all kinds of energy options are considered and explored as part of a solution to the great economic and energy challenges of our time and in the decades ahead. These include coal, oil, tidal energy and wind power—and, yes, they do include nuclear power. Anyone who thinks this country will not go down the path of nuclear power when we have 40 per cent of the world’s uranium deposits, and especially when we all know that civil nuclear energy is a zero-emission energy source, is going to be terribly disappointed. This was stated recently in Brisbane by the CEO of Macarthur Coal, Ms Nicole Hollows—a significant corporate figure in Queensland. As Ms Hollows stated:

Nuclear really is the elephant in the room.

With respect to coal, we must do all we can to invest in clean coal technology, and whichever government of whichever colour invests in clean coal technology will have my full support. In Queensland, some 400 to 500 years worth of coal deposits are at our disposal. Clean coal technology will fundamentally change the way the world looks at this fossil fuel. The revenue is simply too great for us to leave fossil fuel in the ground, yet we cannot continue to pollute the environment with brown or black coal. This is why I have faith in the brilliant scientists and engineers who are working on clean coal technology.

The whole question of climate change and global warming is clearly one of the most significant of our time. Prime Minister Rudd says it is the greatest moral challenge of our times. First of all, let me say that I am not a scientist. People like me who have no expert basis in such areas should not pretend to be experts. But what we can and must do is listen to the experts and try to be as widely read and informed as we can. In this respect, as someone who comes to this debate without formal academic or scientific training, I accept the evidence that suggests global warming needs to be tackled in our world to secure our environment for the generations to come.

Whether global warming is the direct and specific fault of human activity or human industry is probably more contentious in our community. To me this is not the most important point; the most important point must be what we all can and should do about global warming. The more fundamental point is especially what price we can and should pay to tackle climate change.

The Rudd government has framed climate change as the biggest moral challenge of our age. Time after time the Prime Minister has warned all of us that our place in history will be assessed on how we solve this problem, that we will be morally bankrupt if we sit idly by and watch the world around us self-destruct, that we will be morally culpable if we do nothing. Yet what does the Rudd Labor government do to tackle this huge moral issue of our times? It tells the people of Australia that they are not entitled to do their bit to save the world, as we all need to do according to Mr Rudd. It tells the people of Ryan, the electorate that I represent in the western suburbs of Brisbane, that they cannot be part of the solution to the greatest moral crisis of our times according to Mr Rudd. This Ruddspeak is just sheer nonsense.

The people of Ryan are excellent environmental citizens. I have known this since I was elected to the Parliament of Australia, representing the Ryan electorate, in 2001. Everyone in the western suburbs of Brisbane wants to be active and engaged in this important area of environmental conservation and protection. We all want to install solar panels. I certainly have one. Yet here we have a Labor government punishing the people of Ryan by saying to them that they cannot have access to the $8,000 solar panel rebate if they earn more than a combined household income of $100,000. That is right: the government’s first budget in May introduced the $100,000 household means test for eligibility for the former Howard government solar panel rebate. If mum and dad earn just over $50,000 each, the family home in Taringa, Chapel Hill, Indooroopilly, Kenmore, Pullenvale or Moggill in the Ryan electorate will not have access to a solar panel installed on its rooftop unless mum and dad are able to pay the full cost of installation. These costs are significant.

One of the reasons I am so passionate about solar energy in particular and renewable energy generally is the example set by someone whose life story is a compelling one. His name is Dr Shi Zhengrong; he is a Chinese Australian. More recently in the inquiry into the Save our Solar (Solar Rebate Protection) Bill, Dr Shi Zhengrong’s representatives and company Suntech Power made a submission on the means test which the Rudd Labor government has introduced. Suntech Power, as I am sure most people will know, and certainly the environmentally minded people of the western suburbs of Brisbane know, is one of the leading corporate players in the solar industry. Suntech Power stated the following in its submission:

Solar panel rebate recipients are the pioneers in our renewable energy sector. Be they low, middle or high-income households or businesses, recipients of the rebate are first-time investors that are making a substantial contribution to Australia’s green energy future. In this respect program participants are helping transform the market for solar energy, thereby helping to make solar energy systems more affordable for all Australians. Given the current overall cost of a solar power system, it is not surprising that a high proportion of families and businesses on higher incomes have opted to install a solar power system and apply for the rebate.

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The solar panel rebate was not designed as an income assistance, or social security measure. The purpose of the rebate was to off-set the start-up costs of installing a solar power system, thereby encouraging Australian homeowners to invest in solar technology. Suntech Power Australia believe that, given the fledgling status of Australia’s solar market, income should not be a factor in determining eligibility. The more clean energy megawatts that Australia installs, the better it is for the ... community.

Last year I announced, in the western suburbs of Brisbane in the Ryan electorate, the launch of the Ryan Solar Suburbs Vision. This was a bold and exciting environmental and energy policy vision specifically for the Ryan electorate. The Ryan Solar Suburbs Vision sought to achieve solar energy coverage of 25 per cent or one in four households in the Ryan federal electorate by 2010, a vision that will enable local residents not only to make a positive impact on the environment but also to save on their power bills. With the announcement of the solar rebate policy in the Rudd Labor government’s budget, the vision that I foresaw in Ryan is now clearly much more difficult to achieve. The only excuse that the Rudd government can provide us with is that the coalition’s scheme was too popular and that the current Rudd government’s Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Mr Garrett, complained that the program had been overheated.

As far as I am concerned, and as the people of Ryan will know, this is just absurd. Clearly, one of the consequences of the Rudd government’s budget is the impact on small businesses that are in the solar business. Already solar companies are laying off staff as homeowners rush to cancel their plans to install solar panels. Businesses are reporting that three-quarters of all contracts have been cancelled since the budget was brought down in May and there is little or no sign of new ones being signed.

In the recent May budget the Rudd government set a target of 134,000 jobs to be lost over the coming year. This deliberate targeting of job losses is amazing to the people of Ryan, particularly in the era of our mining boom and since only 12 months ago we had the lowest levels of unemployment in more than 33 years. Unfortunately, jobs from the solar industry are the first to go. In fact, unfortunately, with the election of the Rudd government last November it appears that the strong Australian economy of the Howard-Costello era is starting to wobble. People are losing their jobs, consumer and business confidence are at record lows and very few small and medium-sized businesses are planning long term or employing more people. The family budget in Ryan is certainly under great strain.

As the federal member for Ryan, I am going to ensure that the people of Ryan are well aware that the Rudd Labor government is not solar friendly. Does anyone really believe that the Labor government, after its track record in the May budget, is going to be the best government for the people of Ryan? This is not a government that is renewable energy friendly, this is not a budget that is solar energy friendly, and I think that the people of Ryan will certainly become aware of the exact credentials of the Rudd government.

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