Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. He has seen throughout his career the power of technology to solve hard problems, and he knows that central to our plan to get to net zero by 2050 is a technology-led approach—technologies like hydrogen, ultralow-cost solar, carbon capture and storage, regenerating our soils, low-emissions steel and aluminium, and low-cost energy storage capacity. All of these are central to the plan, and our approach is already working, with emissions down 20.8 per cent at the same time as we've seen a 45 per cent increase in our economy and an increase of more than 200 per cent in our goods exports. We will meet and beat our 2030 target. We've reduced emissions faster than every other major commodity-exporting country in the world.

We've seen how solar can bring down emissions in recent years. Ninety per cent of the world's solar has been installed in the last ten years. That's because of 50 years of cost reductions averaging 12 per cent a year. We're on our way to ultra-low-cost solar. At that rate, by the 2030s, we will reach a point where solar will be at $15 a megawatt hour. And 90 per cent of those PV cells around the world have Australian intellectual property embedded in them. That is the approach we're taking in our plan.

There is an alternative. It is a carbon tax. But there's another part to that alternative, which is legislating a net zero target: a blank cheque. A number of other countries have done this, including the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, activists have launched illegal action against a 27 billion pound program to upgrade roads and fill potholes. Those taking action say that hitting carbon tax targets requires making driving less attractive too. They go on. The Transport Action Network, which is dragging the UK government through the courts, has a strategy for thousands of miles of speed cameras, not 50 major road schemes.

It's not just happening in the UK. Germany has legislated a net zero target, and in Germany the Constitutional Court is forcing the government to make deeper and harsher cuts. In France, the top administrative court, where they have a legislated net zero target, is threatening to fine the French government if they don't take all necessary actions. Those opposite want to hand the power of bringing down emissions to the courts. (Time expired)

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