Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the motion brought forward by the member for Ryan. I welcome the ability and the opportunity to discuss the importance of having a well-invested and supported hydrogen industry. I'm not sure what the last speech was about, whether it was about hydrogen gas, methane gas or some other form of gas, but we've heard time and time again during this pandemic that Australia needs to invest in manufacturing, that we need to develop new employment opportunities and that our nation requires a long-term economic and energy plan. To these, I state that hydrogen—that is, clean hydrogen—is the answer.

Labor has made this point for some time and embraces hydrogen as a reliable and efficient energy source, so much so that we've had an ambitious hydrogen policy during the last election and the election before, and this is slowly influencing those on the other side. We knew then, as the government is now starting to know, that Australia can be—and should be—a world leader in hydrogen technology, and we have the benefit of providing an industry with economic and job prosperity whilst providing a cleaner energy resource.

Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, sees a hydrogen export industry that in 10 years time could be worth up to $2 billion. I concur with the member for Ryan that it is welcome that the government is investing in hydrogen projects, albeit I believe this could have been done much sooner and at a much higher level and would have resulted in more opportunities for Australian households and businesses to benefit from the transition to a clean energy source.

A report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers describes the emerging hydrogen industry as a bright one and notes that the private sector will require signals of confidence from government that this is a long-term industry worth investing in. This is important as the shift to clean hydrogen energy will not be an organic one that will happen just by and of itself. It will not go ahead without support and encouragement from government, from industry and from the Public Service.

During a time when it appears that energy policy is a partisan and fractured issue within states and, indeed, within the federal parliament, it is welcoming to note that New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria and Tasmania have all launched programs and initiatives that show confidence in clean hydrogen energy as a source of energy for the future. Of note is the plan to roll out hydrogen fuelled bus services in many states.

I don't know about other members, but I am thoroughly sick of the partisan nature of energy policy in this country. It's time for the federal government to show leadership in this regard. The days of bringing lumps of coal into this parliament are gone. Coal seam gas and other forms of methane gas are fuels of the past, not of the future, and we need to look to the future and future technologies to guide us through this difficult time.

I welcome the initiatives shown by the states, and I personally believe that hydrogen has a very important role in our automotive and transport industries. Specifically, fuel cell electric vehicles will be a terrific alternative to the current internal combustion engines powering most vehicles on our roads today and an alternative to electric vehicles. In January, Deloitte released findings that found within 10 years FCVs will be cheaper to run than internal combustion engines and battery electric vehicles. They will be good for vehicles that are required to haul heavy loads, and they will be very feasible for things like buses, for the transport industry, and for heavy cartage.

Whilst we discussed the economic feasibility of these technologies in Australia and their future implementation here, around the world FCVs are not a thing of the future but, rather, a part of the everyday. There are over 2,000 FCVs in China at this time, and. South Korea is developing more, as is the European Union, to bring together countries across the EU to boost the market uptake of hydrogen technologies and hydrogen fuelled vehicles. I welcome the work of the ACT government, Hyundai and other stakeholders, who are on track to open the first public hydrogen refuelling station later this year. I also welcome reports that hydrogen cars will be built not far from my electorate of Macarthur at Port Kembla, in the electorate of Cunningham, and should be on our roads within two years.

I firmly believe that these investments in hydrogen technology and hydrogen fuelled transportation are not to be overlooked and are something that we'll rely on in the future. As we rebuild and restructure our economy during these troubling times, it's time for a bipartisan energy policy.

See this speech in context