Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great privilege to speak on this motion moved by the member for McMahon. We've had some political run-ins in the past when, for instance, he spent a lot of time trying to shove Australian retirees down the financial stairs of the nation, and it's good to know that there has been no change in his demeanour. Before the last election he was the man out there spruiking his wondrous idea about how he would cut down incomes and shove Australian retirees under the poverty line, and now he simply wants to reimpose that ambition on energy prices. He wants to turn around to the nation's pensioners and say, 'I've got a solution for you.' The solution is to make sure they pay more for their electricity, so they can't live in comfort and warmth in winter. That is the foundation of Labor's policy related to climate change. It is not one that is anchored in what they'll do to improve the environment. It is not one that will take the Australian community with it. It is not one, as the minister will attest, that acknowledges, understands, appreciates or even considers and listens to the challenges of people in regional Australia and the impact it will have on them. Labor's solution, like so many of their other solutions, is a tax. I know the member for McMahon can't look at me straight when I talk about this, because he knows his legacy and he's taking his solution to the portfolio that he failed in and imposing it on his new portfolio, because they have no other ideas.

The foundation of every step of the coalition's position related to climate change is what we need to do to get our emissions down while utilising and harnessing the power of technology. That's what you've seen and what we took to the last election. It isn't something we made up willy-nilly in this term of government. It has been consistent and it asks this question: how do we empower Australians, how do we empower businesses and how do we empower the nation to harness the opportunity of technology to drive down emissions?. We've seen the results: 20 per cent off 2005 emissions for Australia so far, and we continued to drive them down. Of course, we're now having a very important conversation about what we need to do to set long-term targets to make sure that all Australians have the opportunity to be part of the conversation. We've seen the translation of our practical plan to invest in the future of renewables, with $35 billion having been invested in renewables so far. I see this every day in my wonderful Goldstein electorate. In 2017 there were 2,700-odd solar PV cells on homes in the Goldstein electorate. There are now nearly 9,000 in the Goldstein electorate.

As the minister said earlier, at every point not only has the coalition government focused on what it can do to empower technology but we have used the legislative instruments available to us to broaden the mandate to increase the opportunity that we see to make sure that people can use the technology and that government agencies can invest in the technology that Australian businesses that Australians need. What we've seen consistently from those opposite is they have blocked every attempt that we have made to do so, whether it is ARENA investing in charging stations or ARENA investing in carbon capture and storage, technology that the IPCC's own modelling says will be necessary to hit long-term targets and that the International Energy Agency has mapped out in its net zero plan. But Labor don't want to have a bar of it because it gets in the way of their one objective, which is the reintroduction of the carbon tax. When I was coming up to the dispatch box I had to check the date because it seems they want to resurrect the carbon tax from the past. It isn't yet Halloween, but we're certainly getting a fair degree of trick or treat. We all remember the promise that was made by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the lead-up to the 2010 election, when she said one thing before the election until she did a sweetheart deal with the Greens and brought in a carbon tax and imposed it on the Australian community.

The fundamental problem is there is no respect for democracy from our political opponents and those who sit on the other side of the chamber. We took a policy to the last election, and it was endorsed by the Australian people. We're seeing this not just from the Labor Party but from the independent member for Warringah, who literally wanted to introduce legislation that would give appointed officials veto power over this parliament and its capacity to decide our legislative agenda and how we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We stand for democracy, we stand for technology and we stand by the Australian people.

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