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

I really don't know what it is we're hearing in this chamber today. We have got a mixture of the odd couple, or maybe there are multiples of them. Normally we'd have in the back the member for Isaacs shouting down the member for Paterson for the speech she just provided. The member for Macnamara would be in here condemning her commitment to the minerals industry and the creation of energy and jobs. The member for Brand, the member for Paterson and the member for Shortland would be spruiking coal in front of the chamber. There is complete confusion on the part of the Labor Party, which reflects their fundamental lack of understanding of the minerals sector, mining and how they contribute to the Australian economy.

Don't go anywhere, Member for Shortland. We know you're going somewhere. You're off to Glasgow as part of the odd couple with the member for Isaacs. This is going to be one of the most entertaining examples. The member for Isaacs runs around mocking other members of the Labor Party for daring to consider that we have to have jobs in the mining sector. You are going to go together and patch together a coherent narrative about how the Labor Party has a solution to the challenges of climate change. I wish you well. The member for Shortland has a long history of being abusive to people he disagrees with or who disagree with his view on climate change. I know that's going to be a challenge. I am sure you will find solace and comfort in Glasgow by going with him. Hopefully you'll be able to come back a new man.

Let's face it, members on the other side of this chamber simply want to distract from some fundamental realities. They don't have a solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while making sure we back Australian industries and jobs. We saw this at the last election. They took a policy position on their 2030 target. What is their 2030 target today? I'm listening. I'm waiting to hear an answer, and there is none. There's silence. They go for the long haul but they won't go for the short-term target on which they can be measured and backed, because they have no plan. Everything the Labor Party stands for is based on intentions, not outcomes. That compares to this side of the chamber. We're focused on what we need to do to build the industries of the future to maintain jobs and opportunities for Australians. We also understand that we have to support and back our primary industries. This side of the chamber has always understood that, if you don't have wealth-creating primary industries, you will not create the wealth of the nation to support the manufacturing sector and of course the services sector across the nation. It does not matter where you are in this nation. You are dependent on the wealth that is created from primary industries to back you, your job and your livelihood.

We understand—and we've seen this under the current minister and the Prime Minister—the importance and opportunity of the critical minerals sector. So many technologies to decarbonise globally—whether it's EVs, solar PV cells or new innovative technologies—are dependent on critical minerals like lithium, nickel and copper and rare-earth elements. We are going to make sure that we have the necessary ingredients. We are going to back Aussie jobs to achieve their extraction. That is part of the story of building the next generation of Australian jobs.

That will never be enough for Labor. The old saying is: if you hold a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In Labor it doesn't matter what they're holding—everything should be solved with a tax. This is the party that spectacularly turned around support from the mining sector for a restructuring of the mining tax. They managed to turn not just the mining industry against them, who initially put forward the idea, but the whole nation against them, and that led to the loss of government. This is the party that went to an election and said, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' When they did a seedy deal with the Greens to form government that went away straightaway.

It was hilarious to hear the member for Paterson talk about her love for coal and how Labor want to embrace CCS when only a few weeks ago they came into this chamber and tried to make sure there was no investment in reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions through CCS. Every time, they talk big. Every time, they make their case. But it's always policy that is based on intent and not outcomes. On this side of the chamber we're for outcomes and Aussie jobs. (Time expired)

See this speech in context