Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to talk a bit about the budget that's just been passed as I'm speaking on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022, obviously. So here's the thing: when you scratch just a little bit under the surface of this budget, when you go beyond the hype and the headlines, it really is another short-sighted coalition budget that really does nothing for average Australians. Under this budget, real wages still go backwards. Under this budget, the highest income earners in Australia will enjoy a permanent tax cut while Australians on modest incomes only get a temporary, one-off cut. Under this budget the government have spent big to cover their political tracks, to cover their political problems, but they don't have the vision or the courage to invest in our economy, our environment or our universities. They've spent the big bucks. We're talking about $100 billion and around a trillion dollars of debt by 2024. For what? To pay for their political mistakes? It's another marketing exercise that tries to rebrand the mismanagement and the missed opportunities that define this government—another political fix. It's another budget with no vision, no plan—none of the economic reform that this country needs. People in my electorate of Wills see through this. They want a better Australia and a better world for future generations. But not the government; they just want to keep their own jobs. It's purely political.

The Prime Minister says that net zero emissions won't be achieved in cafes and wine bars—despite his own electorate office being on top of one. We know that Australia must invest in renewable energy to tackle climate change and create thousands of new jobs, the jobs of the future. Everyone seems to know this. Ask a business leader, an economist or a scientist. Ask anyone except for the members of this government, who somehow don't see that answer. The budget had nothing for Australia around taking real action on climate change. There was nothing about when Australia might reach net zero emissions. There was no new funding for renewable energy. It no longer needs government investment, according to the government. And, while neglecting renewable energy and infrastructure, the government continues to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on projects that are not commercially viable, making decisions driven by ideology and politics, not energy needs. The government really are the bunyip aristocracy. They're planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the Kurri Kurri gas plant, a project that even their own experts don't support. The government's hand-picked chair of the Energy Security Board says that the Kurri Kurri project doesn't stack up because it's 'expensive power'—that's a quote! And the proponents admit that that plant would be used only two per cent of the time and create only 10 full-time jobs. Six hundred million dollars is being spent for that. If that's not political, I don't know what is. It's a bad deal. There's $30 million for a company owned by the iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest. I'm not sure why Andrew Forrest, a billionaire, needs public money. It simply doesn't make sense.

While the world acts on climate change and transitions to renewable energy, this government drags its feet. When you compare this budget to the investment that other countries are making, you see we really do risk being left behind. What a missed opportunity, Mr Deputy Speaker. It's quite baffling that, after a disaster-ridden 12 months of increasingly severe bushfires and floods and the COVID crisis—after all the things we've experienced—creating an urgent need to invest in economic reform that will create new, secure jobs here in Australia, jobs in renewables, the government have done none of it. They're not interested.

We've seen the election of President Joe Biden in the United States and his ambitious pro-climate commitments, including US$2.25 trillion in infrastructure funding that focuses on renewable energy. The government had the opportunity to invest in Australia's future in this budget—to do things differently as we rebuild postpandemic. But what did they do? They stuck with the status quo. They did not have the vision or the courage to make those investments, to grow the economic pie, to increase the tax base into the future. We know that investment in higher education and in renewable energy infrastructure are the types of investments—not spending, investments—that have a return in jobs and economic growth. But what they did was spend to save their political hides. What they did was spend in areas where they thought they had a political problem. No vision, no courage.

We're left with our state governments taking the lead. The ACT and Victoria have pledged investments more akin to what you'd see from leading countries in this space, as a proportion of their GDP. Victoria last year pledged $1.6 billion to clean energy investment. And, as of 2020, the ACT is already running on 100 per cent renewable energy, with further plans to create city-wide networks of renewable energy batteries and a $100 million investment. South Australia and Tasmania—I'm not being partisan here—are thinking beyond 100 per cent renewables, recognising the opportunity to export. Projects like sonnen's battery assembly plant in South Australia and the Kidston solar and pumped hydro project in Queensland show that it is possible. All you need is political foresight, the right investment, the courage and the vision to make it happen.

Our states shouldn't have to be doing the heavy lifting on this. The federal government really needs to lift its game. Imagine what we could do if the federal government of Australia stood up, took charge, took responsibility and didn't try to mitigate all its political risk by handing everything over to the states and territories, outsourcing anything that's too difficult to avoid paying any kind of price that might hurt them politically. That's not leadership. That's not courage. There's no vision. There's a lack of any semblance of showing leadership for Australia.

So, what would we do? Unlike the Liberal Party and the Nats, the coalition, we do live in the real world. We want to see Australia take urgent action for Australians and for the world. When we're faced with a global challenge, we don't shy away and say, 'Oh, it's all too hard.' We say, 'Let's be leaders; let's show global leadership.' And Labor is not afraid to step up and lead, because we have a plan. We will make Australia a renewable energy superpower. We've said it, but we're going to back up that rhetoric, that statement, with real policies, substantive policies. If we are elected, our Rewiring the Nation plan will invest $20 billion to rebuild and modernise the grid for the renewable age—important work to update and upgrade our infrastructure to make it workable for renewable energy. This will create thousands of new construction jobs, many in our regions, where it's needed. It will revitalise traditional industries like steel and aluminium and will allow growth in new sectors like hydrogen and battery production.

On top of this, our Power to the People plan will install 400 community batteries across the country to power up to 100,000 households, taking full advantage of the cheap solar energy and solar power that is so abundant in our country. Many Australians who live in apartments cannot install solar panels, and that's been a problem. The Power to the People policy allows these households to draw from excess electricity stored in those community batteries. It makes sense. It's a $200 million investment to cut power bills, cut emissions and reduce pressure on the electricity grid.

A Labor government will also introduce an electric car discount to make electric cars cheaper so that more families who want to can afford them and so that we can also reduce emissions. I know, Deputy Speaker Zimmerman, you've done much good work in this policy space and understand that this is a very important path on policy.

For those looking to do an apprenticeship, a Labor government will invest $100 million to support 10,000 new energy apprenticeships to tailor skills training to the specific needs of new energy industries. Labor will also invest $10 million in the New Energy Skills Program.

This is the future of Australia, the future that we should be investing in. We can reach net zero emissions. We can do it by investing massively in renewable energy and infrastructure, and we can do it by being honest with workers about how our economy is shifting and by creating jobs for them, with substantive investment in the economy and in renewable energy infrastructure. We can use this policy base to give us the moral standing to push the other big emitters, the global big emitters, to reduce their global emissions. That is an important task, but I'm not seeing much leadership. Let's forget about the domestic lack of leadership; there's in the much happening on the international stage either. And it's such a shame because it was Australians that invented solar panels. We've got the know-how, the initiative, the innovation. Talking about leadership on the international stage, it was Labor governments that led international agreements to protect Antarctica and the ozone. We can do that kind of work again as a responsible middle power, as a nation that has in its DNA that kind of global leadership which actually improves the lives of our citizens and our neighbours and makes for a better world. We've done that before. We just need leadership and courage, which are in such short supply with this government.

We still have an opportunity—but I'm not holding my breath—at the end of the year, at COP26, to show some of that leadership. Climate conferences come and go with barely a whisper from this government. But this year, as John Kerry said, COP26 is the world's 'last best chance' to avoid the climate crisis. It is critical that we take action. It is critical that we actually show leadership. It is critical that we engage at the very least in what our international partners, neighbours, allies and friends around the world negotiate and agree upon. We've got to be part of that because the science tells us that if we do not reduce emissions we will be really struggling to keep that average global temperature down to the limits that we agreed to at the Paris conference. If you believe the science, if you accept and acknowledge the reality that there is a problem and it's existential, then it's incumbent upon us and our government to actually show some leadership when it comes to international negotiation. We need to come to the table with some ambition beyond just engaging.

If we do miss this chance, if we don't act, it might be too late—too late for our neighbours, particularly in the Pacific, like Tuvalu, Kiribati and all the island neighbours that we have. We're not just acting for us; we're acting for our neighbours as well. We do have an obligation to the international community and our neighbours. Australians already know the impact on their lives and our nation's future. So we need to see some of this courage, some of this leadership, some of this vision from this government when it comes to these big issues. Don't just play the politics down to the wire to look after your jobs. Show leadership. It might not be popular, it might not be a in a focus group for the Prime Minister, but maybe he could actually lead the argument and people will follow. That's true leadership; not outsourcing it to others. I hope that we see some of this play out over the coming months because we do need to act.

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