Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Hansard source

to further it—100 per cent! Instead of working collaboratively with industry, instead of working collaboratively with communities—communities need to have a say. It's their backyard. It's their view. Communities need to have a say in this process. My job isn't to say whether we should or shouldn't do something; my job is to represent the views of my electorate and put that to the government, put that to this place, so that my constituents are heard.

It's not my job to say whether something is right or wrong; it's my job to ensure that the process is followed. And in this case, in this particular bill, the process has not been followed. The process has been circumvented. This bill is a shortcut. This bill is being jammed through, and I fear trickery. It doesn't look good. It doesn't bode well for the views of my electorate, those good communities, those good people out there, who just want to have a say on what they're looking at from their homes and their businesses. It's not on. I'm all about looking people in the eye and asking them how they feel. That's something the government hasn't done in this case.

The other issue that we need to talk about, when we start talking about Tasmania, is the ability for Tasmania to grow. Now, in order for any country to grow they need to grow their base load energy production. It unlocks industry and it unlocks potential. It aids in providing businesses with the energy that they need for 24/7 operations. I will use Tasmania as an example. As I said, Tasmania consumes around 10,500 gigawatt hours of energy each year. Around 86 or 86½ per cent of that is through hydro. It comes from 54 hydro dams and 30 power stations. Some have been operating for 110 years. That hydro energy is made up by wind and solar. We've already got that. In order for the wind and solar industries—if you like—to develop and grow, they need access to market.

That's where Project Marinus comes in. That's where the two dual 750-megawatt DC cables that go from my electorate into Victoria come in. It allows the excess renewable energy from the great state of Tasmania, which is 100 per cent renewable, to be exported and sold. It also allows the safeguard that, if we do run low on water, like during a dry year or a drought, we get import energy as well. It goes both ways. It's a wonderful option. We've already got that in Project Marinus.

It was initially a 600-megawatt DC cable, but there's a six-hour cool-off period with that cable before we can reverse polarity, so that's why we've now downgraded that to about 480 megawatts of energy, which is insufficient for our renewable operators to operate in the market. So, if you want to make energy cheaper in the state of Tasmania, then you need to make more units. How do you make more units? You increase the scale. How do you increase the scale in an island state that's not connected? We need those dual 750-megawatt cables that link Tasmania to the mainland. That allows more units to be made cheaper, and we provide reliable, cheap, baseload energy free from offshore wind. We've already got enough on our beautiful state.

However, we're seeing that process being stalled. We want to see Marinus move ahead. We want to see that expedited and moved ahead so industry can move ahead. Out of that 10,400 gigawatt hours of energy, Rio Tinto Alcan in Bell Bay, an aluminium smelter, consumed about 25 to 26 per cent of that entire production. So, you see, 25 per cent is being consumed by one business. That's a quarter. What we're saying is we need to grow that. We need to make more units. We need to make those units cheaper in order to make that reliable and cheap for Tasmanians first, and then, if we've got any excess, we can look after the mainland. We need to look after Tasmania first.

The other thing it'll do is create potential growth for future businesses. If you are a business somewhere, say the south of France, and you were looking for a place to start a business as a reasonable energy consumer, why wouldn't you set up in Tasmania? It's 100 per cent renewable. If Tasmania were its own country, it would be in the top 5 countries in the world to reach 100 per cent renewable, and it's not talked about. It's not spoken about, but we should be singing this from the hilltops. Tasmania is a great state. Tasmania has great potential. We don't need Mr Bowen at all—and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I don't need him down there with his wind towers, and I particularly don't need him shoving this particular legislation through like the sneaky little minister that he is. We don't need that in Tasmania.

We're upfront, and I'd rather say to my constituents—I'd rather say to my people—'What do you think?' and have them look me in the eye and tell me what their heart tells them. This is their home. Families have lived here for generations, and I want my state protected. I want my constituents listened to. I respect my constituents. I respect them deeply, and all I'm asking is for this government to share that same respect. Show a little bit of contrition, allow this to go to public consultation, listen to people's feedback and follow the due process. It's not a big ask. It's fair, and, if Mr Bowen wants to be fair, then he's going to have to start getting a little more fair dinkum as far as I'm concerned because this bill sucks. This bill stinks; this bill reeks of sneakiness and underhandedness. It's almost evil.

In closing, my advice for Mr Bowen: have a little respect for the people of the north-west, the west coast and King Island in the great state of Tasmania. Think about where they're coming from, think about their position, think about their homes, think about their futures and think about their family, their children and their children's children. Think about that before you go ramming some piece of legislation through here, because, I tell you what, they probably want to do the same to you. Heaven knows it mightn't be a bill.

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