Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very honoured to speak in the Australian parliament tonight as the federal member for Ryan, a beautiful part of the western suburbs that I represent and indeed have lived in for nearly 25 years. Tonight I want to talk about climate change, because this is a very important issue for the constituents of Ryan. Climate change is a truly global problem and it requires a global solution. That is why I think APEC was so important. Sydney and Australia were very proud to have an international gathering of leaders coming from far away—leaders of some of the most significant countries on the face of the earth.

I want to take this opportunity in the parliament—as someone who is a very strong supporter of APEC, someone who is a very strong supporter of Australia’s engagement with the world and someone who is a very strong promoter of Australian businesses exporting to the world—to commend the government and particularly the Prime Minister for his chairmanship of APEC and his leadership in bringing the major powers of the world together, and to highlight the profound importance of the Sydney declaration that came out of APEC. I think that most Australians will appreciate how important this is. To bring together three of the major countries of the world—China, Russia and the United States—to agree to aspirational targets is a very significant first step.

I am delighted that the Minister for Trade is in the House. I noticed his very strong involvement in APEC in trying to persuade his counterparts in those countries how important it is to liberalise their markets, which creates opportunities for businesses both in this country and their countries. That brings economic opportunities and prosperity to all these countries, which allows us to explore new technologies to address the challenges of climate change. I want to put on the record in the parliament that I am a very big supporter of all alternative and renewable forms of energy. I very much support investment in wind power, biomass, tidal power, geothermal and nuclear. I am happy to put on the record that I do support nuclear being put into the mix as an option for Australia’s future energy and environmental benefit.

However, I also want to put on the record very strongly that, out of all the alternative sources of energy, I am especially a big supporter of solar energy. I am convinced that, of all the forms of renewable energy for our country, it is solar energy that has the greatest potential. Unfortunately, the take-up of solar energy coverage in Australia is terribly low. The most recent available ABS figures on this area are 2005 figures. They reflect that, of the 7.9 million households in Australia, only 409,000 households use some form of solar energy device. Of these, 350,000 or 86 per cent use solar for heating water. Of course, those households are reaping the benefit of reduced power bills. The national average for household coverage of solar energy in Australia is a mere 5.2 per cent. In my home state of Queensland, solar energy coverage in households is 6.6 per cent. So in the sunshine state we have solar energy coverage for only 6.6 per cent of households. The highest figure is 44 per cent in the Northern Territory. The second highest figure is 27 per cent in Western Australia. The lowest figure is just two per cent for Victoria. In Queensland, the sunshine state, there is a long way to go to try to encourage Queenslanders to go solar—to bring into their homes solar energy devices. I want to encourage all the people of Ryan to participate in a campaign to go solar as much as possible.

I understand that the amount of solar energy that bathes our country on one summer day alone is equivalent to half the total energy that the whole world consumes. I find that figure enormously tantalising. I do not know how they calculate it, but I am assured by the experts that that is the case. What enormous potential there would be for not only Australia but also the world if we could somehow capture that enormous amount of power and energy and convert it to meet the energy demands of our country and, indeed, the world.