James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Can the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is backing Australian ingenuity and innovation to reduce emissions here and around the world? Is the minister aware of anything that might stand in the way of this approach?

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Sturt for his question and for his commitment to technology led approaches to bringing down emissions. Of course, he knows that in Australia we have some of the best and brightest when it comes to low-emissions technologies, and we're backing them. We're backing them in South Australia, in places like the world-leading Hydrogen Park at Tonsley. We're backing Australian innovation and ingenuity. We're backing them to get that balance right between healthy environment and healthy economy. That's what it's all about, and the way to do that is with technology-driven approaches in places like Gladstone, where we're backing hydrogen for the Yarwun Alumina Refinery there. We're backing our dairy farmers to bring down emissions and bring down the cost of their energy at places like Nowra, where we've recently backed a microgrid for the dairy farmers there—one which can then be replicated at dairy farms right across Australia. And we're backing regional communities, including in the member for Indi's electorate. We were talking about microgrids just earlier. We're backing a sevenfold increase in electric-vehicle-charging stations. The change is happening, and we want to see more of it. That's why we've expanded ARENA so that it can invest in all technologies—clean hydrogen, wherever the clean hydrogen might come from; low-emissions steel and aluminium; healthy soil, soil carbon; stored energy. All of those technologies are part of a portfolio which have the potential to eliminate or substantially reduce emissions in sectors responsible for 90 per cent of not just Australia's but the world's emissions. That's our commitment.

I was asked about things that stand in the way of this approach. Those opposite are standing in the way of investment in more technology, because it was just last week that they teamed up with the Greens to vote against the Technology Investment Roadmap. They want to put a handbrake on new technologies that will bring down emissions, strengthen industry, strengthen manufacturing and strengthen agriculture in this country. Not once but four times now they have teamed up with the Greens to vote against low-emissions technologies. If it isn't to be technology, it is to be taxes, and we know those opposite have never seen a tax they don't like. Their track record is to solve problems through taxation. That's not our approach. We won't vandalise our economy. We're getting on with the job of delivering emissions reductions through a technology-led approach.