Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Queensland's high energy prices are a huge issue in my electorate of Fisher, as they are in many other electorates around the country and, in particular, in the state of Queensland. The Sunshine Coast is known for its tourism and hospitality industries, but we also already have an established and growing base of high-tech and traditional manufacturing businesses on the Sunshine Coast. These include organisations and businesses like HeliMods and Eniquest, Australian Off Road, Ocean Craft and even a company called My Teddy.

Growing industry is critical to our region's future. It's critical to its economic success, which is why I've been working so hard to develop the Fisher defence industry initiative. This manufacturing on the coast will not grow and provide us with the jobs of the future unless we have reliable, secure and affordable power. Even our traditional industries of tourism and hospitality need affordable power to keep the lights on and the ovens running. Profit margins in these businesses are often low and income is seasonal. Many hospitality businesses are doing it tough. Queensland's astronomical energy prices are driving some business proprietors over the edge.

We must not and will not pursue any emission reduction policy at the expense of security, reliability or affordability of the electricity supplied to Australian households and businesses. As we honour our international agreements, we must also put Australian jobs and consumers first. Australia's emissions per capita and per unit of GDP are currently at their lowest levels in 27 years. Australia is on track to beat its 2020 target of five per cent below 2000 levels by 224 million tonnes. This is better than the 755 million tonnes by which Labor was estimated in 2012 to fall short.

Renewable energy is a part of the problem. However, renewable energy and the latest generation of clean coal technology must work together to deliver secure and affordable power while meeting our emission reduction commitments. The Australian power generation technology report, published in November 2005, concluded that new efficient coal generation is one of the lowest-cost options for maintaining secure and reliable baseload power in Australia. If Australia's current fleet of coal-fired power stations were replaced with ultrasupercritical coal-fired power plant technology available today, total coal-fired emissions would be 21 to 27 per cent lower than what they are now. If replaced by the next generation of ultrasupercritical coal-fired power, advanced ultrasupercritical generation emissions would likely be reduced by up to 34 per cent.

If integrated with carbon capture and storage technology, coal-fired power generation, including high-efficiency, low-emission plants, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 90 per cent. While the development of carbon capture and storage technology was slow to begin with, its development time frames are now comparable with renewables. As occurred with renewables, the cost of CCS is also expected to fall as more research and development and deployment are rolled out. The government is already investing to help that process along. This includes projects such as the Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project and CarbonNet in Victoria.

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