Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'The first duty of a government is to protect its people,' the Prime Minister is fond of telling us. But unfortunately our Prime Minister has been abjectly failing in this duty when it comes to protecting us from the effects of global warming. He scrapped the post of science minister and the Climate Commission as well. He has sought to kill the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Climate Change Authority and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency as well—so far unsuccessfully. But he has abolished the price on pollution and he is hell-bent on destroying the renewable energy target.

Everyone knows that we have a science-denying climate change appeaser and a Luddite for a Prime Minister, but what many Australians may not know is that we have someone similar running Victoria. Premier Napthine has attacked clean energy program after clean energy program. We are now less than 100 days from an election in Victoria and the chickens are coming home to roost, because the Victorian government can no longer claim that Canberra is doing the heavy lifting on climate change, so Victoria can no longer get away with dragging the chain. They will be judged on what they have done and what they have failed to do.

This week, thanks to a report released by Environment Victoria, we have clear evidence of the state government's climate crimes. The report Sun blocks and wind breaks outlines 25 attacks on clean, renewable and efficient energy and I want to outline to the House each of those 25 attacks. No. 1: in August 2011 the coalition government implemented extremely restrictive planning regulations for wind turbines, making it almost impossible to get approval for a new wind farm. Attack No. 2: in May 2011 the coalition abandoned talks on the phase-out of one of the world's dirtiest power stations, Hazelwood, and as a result it continues to emit around 30 per cent of Victoria's climate pollution.

No. 3: in June 2011, breaking election commitments, the coalition government abandoned Victoria's white paper and all the commitments within it. No. 4: in March 2012 the Victorian government abandoned Victoria's 20 per cent pollution reduction target and removed it from the Climate Change Act. No. 5: in September 2011 they slashed the premium solar feed-in tariff from 60c to 25c. No. 6: one month later they restricted access to the standard solar feed-in tariff. No. 7: one year later they slashed the solar feed-in tariff further from 25c to just 8c.

No. 8: from the start the Victorian government joined Prime Minister Tony Abbott's crusade against the price on pollution. No. 9: in 2011 the Victorian government renewed Alcoa's coalmining lease at Anglesea for 50 years, with no measures to reduce its pollution. No. 10: the government has removed climate change and renewable energy from the remit of Sustainability Victoria and scrapped some of its successful programs. No. 11: the coalition has continued Labor's push to create a brown coal export industry in Victoria. No. 12: it spent $120,000 of taxpayers' money to improve the image of coalmining in Victoria. No. 13: it dropped the promise, after making election commitments, to implement pollution standards or new coal fired power stations.

No. 14, it failed to deliver any progress towards the election commitment to improve residential energy efficiency. No. 15: a $20 million pledge to replace energy-guzzling streetlights with more efficient lighting was ditched in the 2012 state budget. No. 16: despite an election commitment, no review of fossil fuel subsidies has taken place. No. 17: in March last year the government scrapped the solar hot water rebate. No. 18: the government also repealed a cost-effective program that was helping business to reduce energy consumption. No. 19: earlier this year the government drastically scaled back loans to government departments to improve their energy efficiency. No. 20: despite the closure of Alcoa, the government has extended the operating licence of the Anglesea power station, which helped to power the smelter.

No. 21: $75 million has been provided to three proposed coal projects in the Latrobe Valley. No. 22: the government is phasing out the low-cost and job-creating energy efficiency scheme. No. 23: the government has joined the Prime Minister in his push to destroy the RET and even argued for gas to be included as renewable. No. 24: it has also backed the retailer Simply Energy's decision to charge customers an extra $51 a year for having solar panels. No. 25: it has cancelled the requirement for government agencies to purchase green power.

As this appallingly shows, the Napthine government cannot be trusted to act on climate change. In fact, backed by Labor they are seeking to expand the coal industry in Victoria and have set out to destroy action on clean energy. Only the Greens can be trusted to fight for clean energy.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 13 : 01