Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Wherever it helps, just to answer the member for O'Connor. There's a famous wind farm in my electorate at Rottnest. I remember former prime minister Tony Abbott coming over and almost suggesting he was going to knock down that wind turbine which helps Rottnest Island and its park have energy self-sufficiency. We have no problem with wind in my community—don't worry about that—and I expect there's no problem in your community either. There is already one there, Member for O'Connor. What there won't be is a fantasy in the form of a small modular reactor.

We haven't had the benefit of the work I've described because the coalition simply failed to care about responding to climate change and failed to put in place the arrangements to guide our transition to a net zero economy and to carry out our role as a renewable energy superpower. We are taking a different approach. We are not going to be derelict in our obligation to show leadership and effective management as an Australian government. The Australian community deserves to have in this place, in the parliament, and as a government an outfit that sees the challenges and doesn't bury its head in the sand and doesn't entertain some of the fantasies that the member for Casey was talking about before.

My God, on this rubbish about having a mature conversation about nuclear, people should wake up. We have talked about nuclear in a mature, sensible, consistent, comprehensive, in-depth, exhaustive way for years and years. The former government says there's this proposition that needs to occur to remove the moratorium on large-scale nuclear. Who created that? Who put that there? That was put there by the Howard government. In 10 years of the previous government they not once considered removing that moratorium. When the current energy spokesperson on the other side chaired the environment and energy committee inquiry into nuclear energy, it concluded that there was no case for removing the moratorium for large-scale nuclear. So this is a fantasy grasping at straws about nuclear energy when every bit of evidence in every inquiry over a long period of time has shown that it is absolutely not in Australia's interest. It just goes to show the poverty of common sense, policy development and leadership on that side. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about the things they are not going to do. We have a government that is squarely taking on the task that faces the global community—tackling climate change and managing the transition to a net zero economy. We are doing that, and this bill is a big step in that direction.

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