David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to give some very interesting comments about the delegation's visit to India. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who facilitated the trip, including the delegation secretary who travelled with us; my good colleague the member for Fairfax, who produced a stellar report for us; the member for Fremantle; and the member for Warringah. It was a real eye-opener to look at the energy capabilities of India, what they have achieved over the last 50 to 60 years as well as what they're doing now to expand their energy system. I would like to particularly comment on their nuclear energy program.

I'll give some background on why this delegation went to India. India is one of our major trading partners and we've got so much to learn from them. The committee was involved in an inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia. With that background, India fitted the bill because they have an extensive and long history of being involved in nuclear energy for both medical isotopes and energy production since the 1950s. The very famous Mr Bhabha led the Indian nuclear power program. They have a very extensive range of nuclear power plants—first-, second- and third-generation nuclear power plants. They have built their own endogenous designed nuclear power plants. They have a whole workforce involved in design, building and maintenance. There are something like 25,000 people involved in their nuclear power system, which is run totally by the government.

During our travels there, we were hosted by the high commission and the mission. I'd like to formally thank them for their hospitality and their assistance in making the delegation's trip so fascinating. We visited the national parliament as well. The member for Warringah explained some of the other things we did. I would also like to thank the Honourable RK Singh, the Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, and another minister, the Honourable Prakash Javadekar, and the Honourable Jitendra Singh. We also met with the Department of Atomic Energy officials and the officials and board members of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. The final nuclear part of our inquiry and travels in the delegation was a visit to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, which was absolutely fascinating.

There are some prescient things that I would like to put on the record. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India makes a profit every year for the Indian nation and delivers billions of dollars into the government coffers to supply services to them. They have the full nuclear cycle. We know that they're a nuclear power as well, but we focused on the nuclear energy and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. They are a huge nuclear power. They are constructing, I think, four or five plants and have approval for about eight more. The member for Warringah focused on their rapid expansion into renewable energy, and that is similarly amazing. Since Mr Modi took control of the country, they have put electricity through 120,000 villages. They have expanded their solar and wind capabilities as well and they are expanding their baseload energy sources out of coal and gas. As I mentioned in another speech in this same place, they love the black coal that Australia sends them, because it's very energy dense. The only thing that's more energy dense would be nuclear. It's really important that we realise that they have been doing it safely for many years, unlike other nations that have had mishaps, like Chernobyl, and the one that we all know about that was triggered by the tsunami, at Fukushima.

The take-home message is that they have the full nuclear cycle. In their waste management by recycling the spent nuclear fuel rods, they get a lot of medical isotopes and the recycled energy source is put back into the reactors. They're investigating thorium reactors, which can be added to other nuclear fuel sources. They are really cutting-edge. Most people don't look at India as a nuclear powerhouse, but they are, and they have done it very successfully since the 1950s. At the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, we saw their small research reactor. It's slightly bigger than we have at Lucas Heights. They gave us extensive briefings on that and I found it absolutely fascinating. We also visited some of their other centres and schools of nuclear material and related entities at the site. It's absolutely massive. As I said, around the country, they're building more and it will be a major part of their energy mix. The most important thing is how they are reducing their greenhouse gases as a proportion of their energy mix. Everyone knows that gas is a transition to clean energy, because it reduces the greenhouse gases and all the particulate matter by about 20 per cent. If you build a modern, high-efficiency, low-emission coal-fired power station with dense black coal, you can reduce your footprint by 43 per cent. It's basic arithmetic. That's double the benefit we are getting by going to gas. People focus on the source of the fuel rather than the technology that turns the energy from the raw product into electricity. It is an important thing for Australia to realise that India has been doing it—43 other countries have been doing it—and that we can learn a whole lot more from India.

It was a great honour to be sent on a delegation. It's been one of the highlights of my time as a parliamentarian. If anyone gets the chance to go visit India, it is a fascinating country. My wife and I spent a very pleasant 2½ weeks there several years ago, so it wasn't my first time in India.

The other thing that they are doing is getting right into recycling, like Australia. That was one of the other things that we looked at. We visited quite a few of the research and not-for-profit institutes that are looking into waste management, and we met the relevant ministers and executives in that space. The member for Warringah mentioned the meeting with the Smart Cities Council and the pollution control board at Maharashtra.

It was a fascinating trip. It was a good, beneficial fact-finding mission. All of this will contribute to the knowledge and the deliberations of our nation, as we are using technology, not taxes, to improve our energy system.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 11:32

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