Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I join the member for Canning in raising some serious concerns, not just for the west of this nation but also for Queensland and Far North Queensland. I am happy to speak on the Net Zero Economy Authority Bill 2024 and the Net Zero Economy Authority (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024.

One thing that is of great concern to me, and will be to many people around the country, is when this bill talks about what happens with all of the workers that have kept the lights on, our coal workers. The bill talks about just moving them somewhere else: 'We'll transition them out of the industry they've worked in maybe their whole lives and put them somewhere different.' I don't think that's good at all, because in a place like Townsville, where I live, where Bravus has a coalmine and the majority of the workforce gets flown in and out to service that mine, when I speak to these coal workers, they love working there. They want to work there. They know one of our largest exports is coal, and they know they're doing good. They keep the lights on in this country and others around the world. Most importantly, they have stability in their job. They can provide for their families, they get good rosters and they get looked after. I think this bill is scary to many people who work in these industries.

The member for Canning raised the ute tax, which is another scary tax that is going to be imposed on people around Australia: those who drive utes or the family car or want to get away in a caravan. We heard before someone yell out, 'It'll be cheaper at the bowser but more expensive at the dealership.' I think it'll be more expensive at the dealership, and that will outweigh any sorts of savings spruiked by the government. We've seen other nations who had taken this up walk back how far they had gone with it. I've heard small businesses in the electorate of Herbert, in Townsville, say this will crush their business. This will kill small business, and I don't think that's good.

The energy industry jobs plan would allow the authority to utilise the industrial relations system to manage the redeployment of workers in closing coal-fired and gas-fired power stations and their dependent employees, coalminers that are reliant on a closing power station. This is scary language that talks about people that work in these industries, that work in gas and coal, being told this is now not important: 'We're closing this down, and we're going to move you somewhere else. We won't tell you if you'll be moved into a place where you want to go, or we won't tell you if your renumeration is going to be equal or less.' I don't think giving the responsibility of someone's livelihood to a bureaucrat in Canberra is a good idea. We love self-determination. We want people to work in industries they choose, we want them to have a career in what they want and we want them to live in this country anywhere they want.

I think this is a massive overreach. This is essentially an IR bill disguised as a bill for the regions and for transition, which we will oppose. We will oppose it because we believe it's bureaucratic waste and duplication; it's a top-down, Canberra-centric approach which will fail to deliver on the unique needs of the regions. New obligations on small, medium and large businesses—the fact is that this is another example of Labor's have haphazard approach on industry policy, which delivers no guarantees for local workers. This is very much a Canberra thought bubble policy that will absolutely hurt the regions. In regional Australia, in places like Townsville, is where we have the workers this will affect. I haven't seen any of the ministers or the energy minister in Townsville talking to the workforce this is going to affect. I haven't seen the minister holding a community town hall—not handpicked people; open it up for the community and allow them to come in and voice their concerns. That's what I would expect from a bill and a policy that'll affect regional Australia.

On top of the significant flaws in these pieces of legislation, as we found out, the government has doubled the authority's budget to nearly $400 million from 2023-24 to 2026-27 alone and further funding to a total of $1.1 billion over the medium term. The federal government cannot afford to waste over a billion dollars on Canberra bureaucrats across the Net Zero Authority, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the Fair Work Commission when it is unable to detail the actions this authority will perform that are not already being done. The component of the Net Zero Economy Authority that relates to the new investment in the net zero transition is a bureaucratic waste which largely mirrors the responsibilities of existing federal and state agencies. We're putting your money, taxpayer money—it's good to see the member for Lilley here at the table—into an agency that is mirrored by other federal and state agencies. That seems like wasteful spending.

The authority explicitly has responsibility for facilitating public and private sector participation and investment in greenhouse gas emissions reduction and net zero transformation initiatives in Australia, including in new industries. This is almost copy and paste from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation role: 'to facilitate increased flows of finance into the clean industry sector and to facilitate the achievement of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets'. Similarly, the role of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency is 'to improve the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies, to increase the supply of renewable energy in Australia, and to facilitate the achievement of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions targets'. The level of duplication in the proposed Net Zero Economy Authority's responsibility to promote new investment in the net zero transition in existing Commonwealth entities is beyond a joke. How many federal agencies tasked with renewable energy financing does the Commonwealth require? This approach, focused on facilitating investment consistent with net zero ambitions, also links into the government's preference for picking winners, rather than genuine investment facilitation and jobs creation.

Another thing that's concerning is the way it talks about transitioning the workforce into other employment. It talks about coal workers and people who work in the gas industry. What about the small, mum-and-dad business that runs the cleaning on the mine site? That's not mentioned in here. What happens to that business? A small business takes a risk, invests, works hard, gets a good contract and a stable workforce, and then this bill appears—out of Canberra, not out of the regions. They didn't consult with you. Where is the small business to go? What's supposed to happen to them? There are lots of question marks in the cloud over this bill. It's on the minister to answer, and we haven't seen that yet.

It is also likely that, once the authority is established, the federal government will continue to add powers and responsibilities to the authority to support its net zero and climate ambitions. Will the government rule out giving the Net Zero Economy Authority new powers to streamline and/or expedite regulatory approvals or finance for transformational green energy projects? Following the tabling of Labor's 2024-25 budget, the funding for the authority and its related activities is budgeted to be $399.1 million from 2023-24 to 2026-27 alone, with further funding, to a total of $1.1 billion, over the medium term. That is on top of the billions of dollars in additional funding being moved into the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the newly badged Future Made in Australia.

This $13 billion in taxpayer funded subsidies for big business does not address the source of Labor's cost-of-living crisis. Labor's focus should be on dealing with energy costs, high inflation and out-of-control red tape. Instead, Labor continually fails to address the fundamental realities facing most Australian businesses. With insolvencies at record highs and more businesses going offshore, supporting a small number of big businesses is irresponsible and a slap in the face for all businesses desperately seeking answers from this government in order to survive. The level of duplication between the net zero authority and existing Commonwealth institutions demonstrates a complete waste of over $1 billion of federal government funds over the forward estimates.

The proposed energy industry jobs plan is a long-held union wish list item. It was an election commitment carried under Bill Shorten and dubbed the 'Just Transition Authority' and has been adopted in some form in all ALP national platforms since 2018. Australia's current industrial framework features a well-established safety net that applies and has applied for a considerable amount of time to instances of business closures and industry change, especially relating to the closure of coal-fired power stations. Under section 2.10.1 of the AEMC's national electricity rules, coal-fired power stations must provide 3½ years notice before being able to close. Furthermore, a national agency to assist regions is also duplicative of state based mechanisms designed to achieve the same outcome. For example, regional planning initiatives already exist throughout the New South Wales government's Hunter Regional Plan and the Victorian government's Latrobe Valley Authority transitional plan. This new authority would also cut across the work and vision of existing Regional Development Australia committees, which recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a vibrant region.

This bill adds an additional layer of regulation not previously considered by the Fair Work system. This bill does not even require the relevant employee's consent for their information to be passed on from their employer onto the Net Zero Economy Authority and the legally mandated trade union representation on its board. This bill is not for the regions; nor is it a bill to support the net zero transition. This is an industrial relations bill that the Labor government are gifting to the union movement.

The coalition will oppose the Net Zero Economy Authority Bill 2024 and the Net Zero Economy Authority (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024 because it's bureaucratic waste and duplication—a top-down, Canberra-centric approach which is set to fail on delivering unique needs of the regions. There are new obligations on small, medium and large businesses, and the fact is that this is another example of Labor 's haphazard approach on industry policy which delivers no guarantee for local workers. The coalition not support this bill, and I would encourage ministers to come out to the regions. Come out to the people who will be affected by this. Sit down with them. Have a town hall meeting. Go to a coalmine. Go to a coal-fired power station. Sit down with the workers and talk through this because it's clear that that hasn't happened. No-one has come to Townsville. No-one has sat down with the Bravus employees and said, 'This is what the plan is for your future.' They're going to be reading about it tomorrow. They're going to be seeing it tonight. I think it is a shame for a government that ran on transparency not to be transparent with the people that they are going to, effectively, ruin the livelihoods of.

If you look at the small business, the mum-and-dad business that could be running the cleaning operation on the site, you wonder what happens to them. They're not mentioned once in this bill. Those opposite don't talk about where that business will get transitioned to. Do they just lose and have to walk off with no support from this government? I think that's a disgrace, and that's why the coalition won't be supporting this bill.

See this speech in context