Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Net Zero Economy Authority is a critical initiative that stands at the forefront of our nation's journey towards a lower carbon future. The Net Zero Economy Authority forms part of our government's bigger, bolder, more prosperous vision for Australia's future. It's a vision that sees our country with more secure and fulfilling jobs in industries that will transform our economy, our energy production and our exports. It's a vision of leadership in the transition as we support the decarbonisation of the major nations in our region with our exports of green energy.

All of this presents massive opportunities for Australia. As Assistant Minister Gorman stated on the introduction of the bill, 'The opportunities will not seize themselves,' and so we here are charged with doing what we can to ensure that Australia seizes the opportunities that are open to us.

I've had a few conversations with people recently where I've had to stress that the transition—being the green energy transition or the transition to net zero—doesn't happen all of a sudden. It's not about bringing our existing economic activity to a halt without having something ready to replace it with. The very word 'transition' denotes some sort of orderly, stepped process.

We've had an orderly process so far, legislatively speaking. We legislated the net zero and 43 per cent by 2030 targets and we adopted the 82 per cent renewables by 2030 target. We embarked upon targeted policies that are intended, both by carrot and stick, to ensure that those targets are met—the safeguard mechanism, the National Reconstruction Fund, the Rewiring the Nation project, the Hydrogen Headstart program, the Powering the Regions Fund—as well as pulling the levers to ensure over time that the requisite workers are available and trained with the skills they need, as many will be through our massive targeted fee-free TAFE policy.

The core mission of the Net Zero Economy Authority is to facilitate the transition of workers from emissions intensive sectors to new sustainable job opportunities. This is not merely a matter of economic adjustment; it is about ensuring that those who have powered our industries for decades are not left behind as we embrace cleaner technologies and methods.

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