Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. What are the benefits for Australian business and the Australian economy from successfully managing the energy transition, and what are the impediments?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the wonderful member for Macquarie for her question. Successfully managing the energy transition is central to Australia's future prosperity, and that makes it absolutely central to our economic plan as well. As the Productivity Commission identified in its report last week, climate change is, and will be, an increasing cost felt by our communities, our economy and our country. But the shift to net zero should also be seen as an opportunity to create new jobs and new industries and new sources of growth, so that what has been a headwind in our economy can be a tailwind in our economy and for our future prosperity if we get it right.

The business community in this country understands this opportunity, even if the so-called party of business doesn't. Deloitte estimates that a smooth transition to net zero by 2050 could add an extra $890 billion to GDP over the next 50 years, increase productivity and create an extra 195,000 jobs. The BCA says that low-emissions technologies could deliver $30 billion a year of new export revenue from energy-intensive low-emissions products by 2040. A recent study from Climateworks estimated that the move towards net zero will require something like $225 billion of additional investment by 2050.

It's absolutely critical that our policy settings allow this investment to be delivered in the most efficient way. Australian businesses and investors see the potential of harnessing demand for renewable energy to broaden and deepen our industrial base while at the same time maximising our traditional economic strengths, but they need certainty in order to do that. That's why the business community and Australia's big employers and investors are pleading with this parliament to support the passage of the safeguards legislation, and it's why it's incumbent on everyone in this parliament to get behind it.

Australians and their economy can't afford another decade of this parliament stumbling and stuffing around when it comes to climate change and energy policy. On this side of the House we want to get on with the job of providing business with the certainty they need in the interests of our economy, our environment, our country, our people and their future, while this Coalition of Cookers continues to stand in the way.