Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week is National Science Week, and I kicked it off by attending St Mary's Catholic school in Shortland electorate last Friday. I was overwhelmed by the activities of the students, by their commitment to looking at alternative ways of doing things and by the fact that they were using stem technology and learning skills for the future.

Yesterday, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, visited Parliament House. That agency is looking at the future and looking at a very different future for Australia to the one that we have now. It is looking at utilising renewable energy. We are at that cutting edge as far as renewable energy is concerned in this country at the moment. I noticed that the minister made a commitment to ARENA and made a commitment to renewable energy and new technologies, and I thank him for doing that. The speakers at the event talked about the innovation, the knowledge and the professionalism of those involved in the presentation that we saw. They also talked about the fact that scientists, engineers, the CSIRO and a wide variety of professionals were involved in looking at new technology and looking at technologies that will secure the future, not only of Australia, but globally.

The organisations there included Sunshift, who have their factory at Tomago in the Hunter, I believe. They are involved in hybrid solar. In addition to that, there were representatives from the Moree Solar Farm. Moree Solar Farm uses really cutting-edge technology and, I believe, has the ability to power a small city. There was Australian Renewable Energy Mapping. The University of New South Wales was present, as were SETuP and many other organisations. The thing that impressed me most was the fact that we have these companies working here in Australia developing new technology that will be beneficial not only to us here in Australia but also to countries throughout the world. I congratulate everyone who was involved with the activities last night and I embrace ARENA and the future.