Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Andrew Forrest put it succinctly in his National Press Club address yesterday when he described the difference between a politician and a political leader. The former creates division and criticism to get attention at the ballot box; the latter is elected for their genuine care for their community. Forrest criticised the coalition, who he said are putting at risk the acceleration of our transition to renewables. Our government's policies, though, like Rewiring the Nation, the Hydrogen Headstart program and the Capacity Investment Scheme, are already great drivers of major change, which he well and truly acknowledged.

Captains of industry like Twiggy are calling for greater cooperation from political leaders to accept the reality that the global transition to green energy makes economic sense and to ensure Australia is in a position to take advantage of the immense opportunity this transition brings. Instead of blithering on the so-called virtues of small modular nuclear reactors—or, to use his words, those 'misinformed, unscientific, uneconomic, plucked out-of-thin-air bulldust of nuclear policies'—we can move faster and harder into the renewable future. If the opposition, the Liberals and the Nationals, will not listen to government, the economists, the scientists or your communities, then perhaps they should take a listen to industry. Stop bickering, whining and creating division. Get on board or get left behind.