George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia has many resources in abundance and one of the greatest is coal. Coal and iron ore helped make this country what it is today. Given our abundant coal reserves, we should also have cheap energy for all Australians. Plentiful coal and affordable energy are competitive advantages that can help us maintain our standing in the increasingly competitive global economy. If we have no competitive advantage, we have nothing—no industry, no business, no jobs, no ability to maintain our standard of living. Without competitive advantages, we have only decline. Families must have reliable and affordable energy. And for those families to have jobs, industry must also have reliable and affordable energy.

State governments have failed to deliver so it is time the federal government ignored the ideological squealing of the anticapitalists who want to kill off industry and boldly back what Australians really need. Coal-fired power generation is the cheapest means of delivering reliable and affordable energy, and the new technology can deliver the same power with 40 per cent—possibly up to 50 per cent—fewer emissions. If we really wanted to lower emissions, why wouldn't we support this technology? We should be willing to invest directly in low-emissions technology that can replace current baseload generators. After all, we invested money in renewables to provide occasional power. When the Greens and their Labor mates come into this place and argue against lower emissions with coal, they expose themselves for the frauds they are on the issue of climate, which they keep bleating about all the time.