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

Four years, thank you. They thought many things were absolutely paramount to this country, but they did not take them to an election. And they had Work Choices. Where did they stand on these issues? Where did they stand on the position of low-polluting coal power generation? Where did they stand on those environmental things? They had words—and we heard the former shadow minister speak a little earlier—but no commitment.

It is all very well to say, ‘We were going to do that.’ They are a bunch of ‘gunnas’—they were ‘gunna’ do that eventually! They were going to do that in their 13th year! That 13th year would have been a hell of a party. Can you imagine the pop of champagne corks going off everywhere! They had 12 years to muse on these things. They had 12 years of trying to get set in their minds what they were going to do when they got to their 13th year. I am sorry, guys—you missed the party.

But it is not all bad news for you; you are still here as bona fide representatives of your electorates in the federal parliament of Australia. You can still play your role in speaking about the future for this country. You can still have a voice—except that your Senate members do not want it. They said, ‘Let’s not exercise our voice. Let’s vote to not have a vote.’ That is democracy at its greatest! I know that the legislation before us is probably not the best legislation to have the argument on, because it only makes minor technical changes to the bill, but I invite the members opposite to think about this: it actually goes to the heart of what this government is determined to do something about—reducing our emissions. This government is determined to make a start, a critical start, in environmental protection.

These are not things that should be taken for granted. They require action. The time for simply musing, talking and debating is rapidly departing. We see the statistics. We see what the world attitude is. We see what the position of the Americans is. They had eight years of a Bush administration, which did not want to deal with this issue at all. Since the Obama administration has come in they have put a line in the sand and said, ‘We are going to do it.’ I certainly wonder what the Liberals would have done in their 13th year, when they would have had to react to Obama. They could not have taken instructions from George Bush anymore—or could they? That really would have been the tail wagging the dog.

It is now our turn to get in on behalf of Australians and make the difference. The CPRS is critical. It is critical that we put a price on carbon. The opposition had a policy for putting a price on carbon which was never implemented. We are now implementing it. They cannot argue this on the basis of: ‘We refuse to argue it. As a matter of fact, we refuse to talk about it in public and we will definitely not vote on it.’

The issue of affordable power is essential in this country. We are an island which is a long way from our trading partners. One of the things that we use to attract industry is our affordable power. Industry wants to be able to use that, and coal will have an essential place in the mix. I shuddered when, not that long ago, in the lead-up to the last election, Senator Brown wanted a mandate to shut down coal exports within three years. Like you, Mr Deputy Speaker, I do not aspire for my kids or my grandkids to have earthen floors and thatched roofs or to reduce our standard of living, which has been underpinned by cheap power in this country. If we are to maintain our position in relation to cheap power we need to ensure that we have the appropriate technologies available which allow us to maintain cheap power production on a more environmentally friendly basis. Therefore, carbon capture and storage provides a critical element in the forward planning and the forward development of the electrical power generation industry, the coal fired power generation industry, in this country.

It is critical. We all know that there are costs associated with that. There is no point putting our heads in the sand and saying, ‘This won’t cost anything. It’ll just happen.’ We understand the position that has been put by the member for O’Connor, but we need to be serious about being a player on the world stage. Bear in mind that, whilst the opposition takes the view: ‘Let’s wait for the Americans’, we are the world’s No.1 exporter of coal. That is our basic bread and butter. We should not sit back and wait for someone else to tell us what to do. Things have changed. It is now time for decisive leadership. (Time expired)

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