Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Oh, right. Apparently, it's not for the Leader of the Opposition to say either, because he hasn't said it yet! So they've got a nuclear fantasy of energy in 15 or 20 years time—the most expensive new form of energy—and they won't tell us any of the details of that. They won't release the costings. Instead, as I said this morning, we are in a transformation of the Australian economy that can bring cheaper power, the jobs that come with it and the household bill relief that comes with it, and it's happening now, not in 20 years time.

Our plan includes investing in renewable hydrogen, critical minerals processing, green metals, green energy technologies and low-carbon liquid fuels. The example that SunCable gave today was those energy-hungry big data centres that are being built around the world right now, particularly as AI expands. That's exactly the sort of project you would like to see this kind of renewable energy able to power, on an industrial scale, in the Northern Territory.

In this year's federal budget we allocated around $8 billion to scale up green hydrogen that will be used to create green steel and replace gas in other manufacturing processes. We've invested a further $7 billion for critical minerals, the minerals that are used to make electric vehicles and batteries and that go into wind turbines. We've put another $1 billion into solar manufacturing and $500 million into making batteries. Australia can be a supplier of these new technologies. We've got all the raw materials and we've got more than our share of the smarts. Instead of investing here in Australia, we've been waving goodbye to these opportunities for too long. No longer. We have a plan for Australia to benefit from this transition, for the demand for these products, to cleaner, greener energy.

We've already seen, as I said, a substantial increase in renewable energy in the grid. We've seen a 25 per cent increase in renewable energy already, and we are continuing to tick off renewable energy projects at record rates. I have ticked off 55 so far. They are outstripping coal and gas projects, seven to one. Those opposite like to pretend that we're talking about renewables only. Of course, that's not the case. The Greens political party like to pretend that there's nothing happening with renewable energy. Nothing could be further from the truth. We've got record numbers of renewable energy projects in the pipeline ahead of us as well. Frankly, the market has decided that this is where investment in power is going. They've worked out that it is cheaper, as well as being cleaner.

Of course, my water portfolio has a critical role in Future Made in Australia as well. In May, we announced that the Commonwealth will contribute $65 million towards setting up a major desalination and water transport project in the Upper Spencer Gulf as part of the Future Made in Australia plan. That project includes plans for a seawater desalination plant at Cape Hardy capable of processing 260 megalitres a day, and a 600-kilometre pipeline to transport the treated water to Whyalla and to outback mining sites like Carrapateena and Roxby Downs.

At the moment, mining operations in the far north draw on water from the Great Artesian Basin, and, with the sort of scaling up that we want to see, that is particularly unsustainable. The Great Artesian Basin's water covers a large part of Australia, and it's very important for all sorts of uses. The hydrogen power station proposed for Whyalla needs a reliable and abundant supply of water to convert into hydrogen for power generation, and we are very happy to be partnering with the South Australian government to explore that opportunity. We're also providing $4 million to help First Nations communities to engage with those hydrogen project developers to take advantage of the jobs that can be created in regional and remote communities with this investment. Unlocking a vibrant domestic hydrogen industry is absolutely critical to our vision of being a renewable energy superpower and for a future made in Australia.

Of course, our plan doesn't just rely on these direct investments alone. We need a trained and skilled workforce. Those opposite spent years running down skills in our economy. We've invested in TAFE, with 500,000 fee-free TAFE places. I want to give credit to my very good friend Brendan O'Connor, the former minister, who did such amazing work in the area of skills. He will be sorely missed in this place not only as a skilled minister but also, more particularly, as a very, very decent human being.

It's not just the TAFE places. It's the additional investment in universities. It's the regional university centres that we're rolling out because we know we'll need the whole range of jobs, from skilled trades to PhD engineers and scientists, and everybody in between, as we transform our economy and grasp these opportunities that are there for the taking. With cyber capability, the research that universities are doing and the partnerships that we're supporting between private businesses and these critical inputs, you can see that our future made in Australia is bright. We are able to take the opportunities that this global transformation is offering Australia. With our unique advantages—our solar, our wind, and most particularly, our people: our hardworking, skilled, clever people—we can grasp those opportunities for a future made in Australia.

(Quorum formed)

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