Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Bill 2012 and cognate bills because this legislation before the House tonight epitomises why Australians have lost faith in this government. Since its election to government at the end of 2007 the federal Labor government has presided over one program debacle after another as they have recklessly mismanaged billions upon billions of taxpayers' dollars. We have seen billions wasted and lives lost over the Home Insulation Program. We have seen billions wasted on school halls as infrastructure was priced at up to three times the commercial rate and it was thrust on to schools whether it met their needs or not. We have seen the government commit $50 billion to the National Broadband Network without a cost-benefit analysis, only after their first attempt at a $4.7 billion broadband plan failed to secure a tenderer. Indeed there are a number of similarities between the content of these bills and the legislation relating to the National Broadband Network, but I will return to those matters later in my contribution. But the bottom line is that this legislation has all the hallmarks of what is wrong and dysfunctional with this out-of-touch government.

One would have thought after all of these funding debacles the government would have taken a step back and questioned the way they draft policies and the way they implement programs. But not this government. If you believe the BER program was pink batts on steroids, and if you believe the National Broadband Network is the BER on steroids, then I am sad to say that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation bills are the NBN on steroids when it comes to losing money. The reality is that by tabling these clean energy bills the government has shown it is intent on arrogantly pursuing poor public policy that will leave the long-suffering Australian taxpayer with a multi-billion-dollar debt.

It is also clear that the government is willing to trash democracy and not give the Australian people a chance to vote on a major public policy issue that Labor did not take to the election. The Prime Minister told the Australian people, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead'. Yet on 1 July the world's biggest carbon tax will be introduced and a $10 billion free-for-all will be created without the Australian people having the ability to cast their judgment on it through an election.

It is extremely amazing that the alarm bells are not ringing loud within the government, based on their atrocious record of financial recklessness and mismanagement. It is also negligent for any of the Independents who sit on the crossbenches to embrace the merits of these bills when the legislation has been drafted in a way that repeats all the mistakes that this government has made over the past 4½ years. Under this legislation the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will be established with the power to invest in renewable technologies, low emission technologies and energy efficient projects. It will have the power to enter into investment agreements itself or make investments through subsidiaries. And how much funding is to be set aside for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation? Two billion dollars. Yes, $2 billion will be set aside every year for five years. That is a total of $10 billion. While the government spouts that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will have to deliver a return on this $10 billion investment, the reality is quite different. In fact, Treasury have officially confirmed to a parliamentary committee that they expect to lose up 7½ per cent of their capital each year. That equates to $150 million per year or up to $750 million in loans and investments over five years being written off, literally thrown out the window. It is beyond belief that this government—in agreement with the Independents and the Greens—could try to push through legislation where the Treasury believes up to $750 million of taxpayers' money could be literally written off. Imagine what this $750 million in waste and mismanagement could be spent on. It could be invested in infrastructure. It could upgrade the Pacific Highway. It could improve health services. It could be used to assist people with disabilities.

There is plenty of evidence, both in Australia and abroad, that government funding for large-scale renewable energy projects is no guarantee of success. For example, in December 2009 the government announced with much fanfare the Solar Flagships Program. In June 2011 the Prime Minister and the Minister for Resources and Energy announced the Moree Solar Farm and Solar Dawn projects, which would receive a total of $770 million in funding for solar flagships. The Moree Solar Farm was to receive $306 million to build a 150 megawatt photovoltaic power plant near Moree. The Solar Dawn consortium received $464 million for a planned 250 megawatt solar thermal gas hybrid power plant near Chinchilla. And what happened to these two projects? Well, it is not a good look. Earlier this year the Moree Solar Farm advised the government that it had failed to secure a power purchase agreement with an electricity retailer—a necessary step for gaining a source of revenue. This forced the energy minister to re-open bidding for the $306 million in government funds. Today the project remains in limbo. The other so-called flagship project—Solar Dawn—although the sun seems to have set before we could have a 'solar dawn'—also struggled to make the numbers add up. The project has received a six-month extension to try to secure industry support and justify the investment.

This highlights two key points. Firstly, it is extremely difficult for renewable energy projects to secure a commercial return. Secondly, because of the high degree of risk associated with these projects, the government is placing $10 billion of taxpayers' money at great risk. But this should come as no surprise. It seems that every time the government tries to subsidise clean energy or carbon emission reduction technology the taxpayer gets burnt, and in a big way. Take the collapse of ZeroGen in Queensland, which was meant to deliver clean coal power. After an investment of $106 million from the Queensland government and $46 million from the Australian government, ZeroGen collapsed in a heap and taxpayers' money went up in smoke. It went up in CO2 probably.

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