Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Will the minister update the House on projects that will address freight efficiency for the producers of the Wimmera, Mallee and Mildura region?

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mallee for his question. He brings a great deal of experience and diversity to this place. As a farmer—the member for Mallee purchased his first farm as a 22-year-old—he went on to become the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation. He has been an outstanding advocate for primary producers—not just in the Mallee, but right throughout Australia. He also knows a lot about transport. The member for Mallee is a qualified pilot and he understands the need for country communities to remain connected. He understands connectivity in all its forms—whether it is road or rail or airports or telecommunications connectivity—and understands how critical it is for the future of our regional communities.

When it comes to rail, the Murray Basin Freight Rail project is all about connecting growers to ports and markets, capitalising on those new markets that have been established by members on this side of the House through those free trade agreements which have been so well received throughout regional Australia. An efficient freight rail system is critically important to connecting producers in the Mallee with their markets. As the member for Mallee will be happy to tell you if you get five minutes or five hours with him, his one of the most highly productive regions in the nation. It produces export quality dried and stone fruit, wheat and other cereals, wool, sheep and vegetables—a fact that the member for Mallee is particularly proud of.

The Turnbull-Joyce government is addressing the freight needs for our nation's future. It is worth noting that the Murray Basin Freight Rail project is a project that has been added to be Infrastructure Priority List by Infrastructure Australia. The government has committed $220 million to the Murray Basin Freight Rail project, and Prime Minister himself referred earlier to the fact that this is part of a $1.5 billion commitment he has made through our infrastructure package for Victoria.

This Murray Basin Freight Rail project will connect primary producers to their markets and to major ports. It will boost efficiency; it will create jobs throughout the Mallee and the regional economies connected to it. The House will be interested to learn that tenders opened in December and closed last month. This project will mean an extra 500,000 tonnes of grain will be transported by rail in the future; and it will mean that 20,000 fewer trips will be made by trucks to the ports of Geelong, Melbourne and Portland. It will involve an additional 276 jobs during the construction phase. So this is a good project.

This government is getting on with the job of delivering projects which build for our nation's future. We are also paying for future projects through the government's announcement a couple of weeks ago of the development of a freight and supply chain strategy, which has been well received by the industry. So we are delivering a safer, stronger and better regional Australia where people can get ahead. We know that good infrastructure can change lives and can save lives. The Murray Basin Freight Rail project does both. We are getting on with the job of delivering our $50 billion Infrastructure Investment Programme; we are building for the future; and the Murray Basin Freight Rail project is a great example of investment in jobs for the Mallee and regional Victoria. I thank the member for Mallee for his question.

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister reconsider an emissions intensity scheme, given an overwhelming number of organisations—including BHP, AGL, Energy Australia, the Business Council, the National Farmers Federation, Origin Energy, the Energy Market Commission, the CSIRO, the Chief Scientist, the Climate Change Authority and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, to name a few—now support one? How long will the Prime Minister continue to stand alone in opposing this scheme?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member must enjoy coming to Canberra more than anyone, because at least here he has a reasonably high confidence that the lights will stay on, the air conditioner will work, his computer will keep running. He gets out, leaves home and gets down here where he can rely on a bit of energy continuity. He cannot get that at home. Why not? Because the Labor Party in South Australia has now got to the point of such furious rage that the Premier is unable to contain himself even within the parameters of courtesy within the political context, let alone general behaviour. His performance the other day at the press conference with the Minister for the Environment and Energy was completely over the top. I can understand why he is so angry. What he has done is literally sleepwalk his own state into an energy crisis, to the point where, having said only a few months ago that everything was okay—it was fine; it was a great experiment that was leading the nation and the world; South Australia charges ahead—now he has to spend half a billion dollars to buy a new gas-fired power station and a 100 megawatt battery that will run for one hour. If you are short of 100 megawatts for an hour it would be very useful, but if it is for an hour and 10 minutes, not so much.

The reality is that the honourable member knows that the Labor government of South Australia has created the problem that it faces. The honourable member talks about emissions intensity schemes. The fact of the matter is this: an emissions intensity scheme is designed to shift generation from coal-fired power to gas. All of the assumptions that have been built in over the years assumed abundant gas at an affordable price. Thanks to the decision of Labor governments to lock up our gas resources, we are in a position where gas is not available in the quantities it should be, and it is certainly not affordable. If you could buy a long-term contract for gas at $9 a gigajoule—most people in industry will say you cannot—that equals $100 a megawatt hour. That is peaking power; it is not base load power. That is very expensive power, and of course gas prices are much higher than that.

The minister and I and the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Canavan, are determined to sort out this Labor-created mess over the gas sector. We have met with the producers. We have received commitments to continue to provide peaking power. We have more work to do with them. Labor has created a shocking energy crisis, but as their own chamber of commerce head in South Australia said, South Australia leads the nation in energy mismanagement. It is the canary in the coalmine. The Leader of the Opposition would have all of the nation like South Australia. (Time expired)