Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Let there be no misunderstanding: this country must achieve net zero carbon emissions as soon as possible, and by that I mean 2035, not 2050. It also means that this country must not invest in any new oil, gas or coal projects, but it does mean we need to fast-track our renewable energy industries, including fast-tracking the development of an Indigenous electric vehicle industry. But none of those ambitions and needs let the government off the hook that, right now, and for the immediate future, we need energy security when it comes to fuels, oils and lubricants. Yes, let's get rid of them as soon as we can. But right now, tomorrow, next month, next year, we must have absolute fuel security when it comes to our carbon based fuels, oils and lubricant. What have we got instead? This country imports 90 per cent of our refined fuel—90 percent coming from overseas—and much of our 68-day stock that we claim to have in our possession is in fact in the United States of America and on ships at sea. In other words, we have bugger all fuel reserves within our borders, on our land. In fact, as of November last year we had only 54 days of jet turbine fuel, 24 days of petroleum and 20 days of diesel.

I make the point again: fuel in America is useless in a crisis and fuel on ships is potentially useless in a crisis, in particular, when we have only four refineries in this country and two are closing. All this is happening at a time of real, genuine international drama. What if there's another war in the Middle East? What if there's a war over Taiwan? What if there's a war in Ukraine? I notice that even today, just a couple of hours ago, Minister Dan Tehan warned that supply chain issues may worsen with a Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is real. What about if there are industrial catastrophes in the oil refineries of Singapore or South Korea? These are all potential scenarios. These are all real threats to the importation of fuel to this country. So why on earth we don't have at least 60 days supply of jet fuel, of petrol, of aviation gasoline, of all the oils and lubricants, beggars belief and is a failure of governance in this country by a series of governments of both colours.

Of course, the best solution to this is absolute self-reliance through renewable energy. That's what we actually need, and we have an abundance of these renewable energy sources that we can be bringing online far more quickly than we are already doing. In fact, Australia is genuinely a renewable energy powerhouse with remarkable resources like our wind, our solar, hydro, the potential for geothermal, wave, tide. There are also the emerging technologies that are on the drawing board and technologies that we can't even fathom just yet, ones that we will discover over the next several years if we get behind these industries.

I suppose one of the key points of this motion by the remarkable member for Kennedy is that we need government to be involved in every way possible by investing in these new industries and new technologies. I think paragraph (7) of the motion is very important, and that is that Australia moves to establish the manufacturing of electric vehicles and their component parts, including battery production—for which we have the minerals—'with a target of 100 per cent of all local, state and federal government vehicles and buses in metropolitan areas being Australian made by 2035'. That's achievable. We have the know-how, we have the money, we have the resources. We just don't have the political will and the incentives to make it happen. That's all we need. If this country is going to achieve net zero—I hope by 2035—and 100 per cent reliance on renewable energy then we need the government to be more involved with regulations, with funding, with incentives. I reckon a great start is a target of 100 per cent local, state and federal government vehicles and buses by 2035. Heavens, all those levels of government rely on federal funding and so we have the levers at our disposal to force them to make it happen.

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