Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I strongly support this motion moved by the member for Curtin calling on the government to commit to an urgent, comprehensive and well-funded plan to increase our international competitiveness in decarbonised industries in the race to net zero and supercharge and incentivise investment in R&D and local manufacturing. The demand for Australia's current export mix will inevitably decline, and we must prepare to transition to green exports as the demand for them grows as the world decarbonises.

The government in its recent budget committed some $22.7 billion to the A Future Made in Australia plan, and I welcomed that. It includes the minerals value-adding production tax credit, additional funding for ARENA, a hydrogen production tax incentive and further funding to for the soon-to-be-established Net Zero Economy Authority. But I am critical of the remit of that authority and will seek to expand it, as it assists only some 10 per cent of the workers it should be assisting. It also included funding for the Solar Sunshot initiative and quantum computing.

So we have made a start with that commitment on making Australia a renewable energy superpower, and I've met with small and big businesses across the solar battery and green metal supply chain. They've made it clear that projects and companies are at risk of going over to the US and other jurisdictions because they would get more support there. There are companies in my own electorate of Warringah, such as Empower Energy, who are designing solar battery products. We know that enhancements to our storage capacity are urgently needed. Fifteen gigawatts of storage is needed by 2030, and that can be achieved if around 30 per cent of households take up solar and batteries. So what we really need to see is a program to assist and incentivise the take-up of batteries by households that have rooftop solar.

In becoming a renewable energy superpower, we must ensure a just transition for our fossil fuel communities, allowing our regions to thrive and households to save money, and, of course, consultation and benefits sharing with First Nations communities. There is so much opportunity in this transition.

Whilst we're making a belated start, there's still more to do to ensure we maintain our competitive edge in the global green race. The development of the production tax credit model for critical minerals and green hydrogen to incentivise onshore value-adding is a good start, but it could be widened to other industries. Most importantly, as this motion calls for, we need a comprehensive plan to ensure that any measure is both efficient and effective. It's critical that we invest not only in the large resources and manufacturing companies where it's necessary but also in the smaller companies, the SMEs, that have already proved their viability as well as their innovation. We need to ensure that they are also able to scale up and grasp those opportunities with the support of government. We need to make sure that all these new opportunities come through and are also available to SMEs—and, I should say, businesses led by women. We can do this whilst also delivering saving for households and driving demand for the products from those industries.

We know that in the US the Inflation Reduction Act has provided some $8.8 billion in rebates for home energy efficiency and electrification projects, which is expected to save American households up to $1 billion annually. So it is disappointing that, for the moment, the government has not focused on this. The Future Made in Australia plan remains silent on household electrification and did nothing to bolster already announced initiatives. The already announced household energy upgrade fund, for example, is, as of last week, only beginning to roll out its very first loans for household energy upgrades—more than a year after it was first announced. So, I would say to the Albanese government: be careful not to become like the Morrison government—big on announcements, small and slow on rollout.

We need to see quick execution of these programs so that households on the ground can take advantage of them. We know that, other than for quantum computing, the budget didn't really deliver on a clear plan for greater investment in research and development, and that is an area we must address if we are going to stay competitive. Already, compared with the OECD average, we are dropping. We now are sitting at about 1.68 per cent of GDP. So Australia is not investing in being that smart economy that we could be. We need to make sure that the government focuses on this transition. The race to net zero is on. It is a race that is well advanced in most economies. Australia is playing catch-up, but we need to make sure we do it in a smart way.

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

I thank the member for Curtin for bringing this motion on this most important issue, on decarbonised industries. The climate crisis and the actions we can take to help abate the effects of climate change should never be far from our minds in this place. Sometimes members in this parliament, particularly conservative members, seek to minimise the role that Australia, with our moderate population, can play in this field. I believe not only that we can play a leadership role globally but that we must.

When the US passed the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022 it was a welcome challenge to the world, indicating that the US was now serious about taking climate action and that other countries now needed to step up. This 47th Parliament had only just sat for the first time. In that same month we passed the Climate Change Act legislating our net zero target. But the member for Curtin says that Australia is lagging. And we have lagged, but we are now catching up, thanks to the changes, initiatives and investments the Albanese Labor government is making.

The main reason we lag in this area of policy, though, is the coalition and their failure to accept climate science and to base policy on evidence. They voted against the Climate Change Bill, and no serious voter should ever vote for the coalition until they get their heads straight on this. The Greens can take some of the blame, too, for playing their silly politics years ago. Greens voters should think about that. And every one of us, representatives and voters alike, need to take our share. In 1987 science minister Barry Jones stood in this place, down the hill, and stated clearly that planning and taking action on climate change then would avoid danger into the future.

As the member says, we have an abundance of natural resources. The work Geoscience Australia has been doing needs to be mentioned in this regard. Last week Minister Madeleine King and Geoscience launched the world-leading Digital Atlas of Australia, which provides access to datasets on Australia's geography, people, economy and the environment. This follows the work by Geoscience and Monash University which won the Eureka Prize for Sustainability Research in 2023. And I agree with the member for Curtin that the approvals process needs to be examined and streamlined. The environment minister's approach is to strengthen our protection of the environment while providing certainty and speedier processes for industry.

Fortunately, generally mining companies now do engage with Indigenous owners at the outset of exploration and development, which assists in approval processes. Two excellent examples are the MOU signed between Rio Tinto and the Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation for collaboration on renewable energy projects in the Pilbara and an agreement between InterContinental Energy and the Mirning people, with Mirning Green Energy a 10 per cent stakeholder in the Western Green Energy Hub proposal. The key here will be cooperation between federal, state and local authorities, which the Future Made in Australia policy outlines.

I agree too with the member for Curtin that investor confidence for renewable projects could be better. Confidence only comes after there is clear leadership, so it is no surprise that this has had to be built up largely from scratch over the last two years. The most helpful thing in this space would be for the coalition to embrace our net zero targets and get behind our Future Made in Australia policies. Perhaps the next leader of the coalition will manage that.

Nevertheless, industry has already started to pivot its operations, and government leadership has made a difference to this. Centurion, one of the country's biggest transport companies, based in my electorate of Hasluck, is delivering a $29 million project to integrate 30 battery-electric trucks to its existing fleet, powered by solar generation and off-grid battery energy storage. Supported by ARENA's investment of $15.8 million, Centurion will install charging equipment, integrated energy generation and storage infrastructure at their Hazelmere depot in Perth, a great example which I'm sure others will follow. Woodside, who I used to work for, has come a long way since I worked there. Woodside has 70 projects afoot to help decarbonise their operations. They have proposed a hydrogen and ammonia plant at Kwinana and are progressing a 50-megawatt solar project near Karratha with battery storage, which will have the capacity to expand to 500 megawatts in the future to meet demand to electrify their gas plant. Rio Tinto and BHP too are moving ahead with battery-electric haul truck trials.

So the measures delivered in this budget do create a positive investment environment and include the establishment of a new front door for investors and streamlining approvals. It brings together our work in both climate change and industry portfolios, and I hope all support it.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for this motion. Like her, I too want to see Australia be an abundant source of renewable energy. Making the transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy is a non-negotiable for Australia to play its part in reducing the impact of climate change, and I support the shift. But, if Australia wants to increase international competitiveness in decarbonised industries, we must not leave regional communities behind. It is, after all, regional communities, communities in renewable energy zones, who will be home to the batteries, solar, wind and hydro. But, right now, many of these regional communities are feeling like their needs and aspirations are being ignored by international companies seeking to make a profit off Australian resources.

Take the communities of the Strathbogie Shire in my electorate for example. These communities have long-term energy security issues. In fact, many communities in Strathbogie Shire experienced up to 11 power outages between November 2023 and February 2024. They're on the edge of the grid, and their energy security is, frankly, appalling. These same communities are at the forefront of a renewable energy project proposal of wind turbines and transmission lines that are being touted as a part of the solution to keeping the nation's lights on—a proposal led by an internationally owned company. But this project, if it goes ahead, won't keep the lights on in Strathbogie. It won't offer any change to the energy security in the towns in which it would exist. So you can understand why communities would have little regard for a proposal which would impact on their beautiful landscape with no change to their energy situation.

The shift to renewable energy presents a moment for us—really a moment that is as consequential for our nation as the building of the original Snowy Hydro scheme. But, right now, we're failing to realise this potential for regional Australia. There are communities like Strathbogie right across the nation. Where overseas companies are proposing significant infrastructure changes that would create private profits, these communities are experiencing record housing and childcare shortages, potholed roads and hardly any public transport. Therefore, governments, investors and industry must start joining the dots. If we want to achieve a clean economy, we must show the communities who will get us there what it could look like—what it could look like for them.

A decarbonised economy can be the next gold rush for regional and rural Australia, but only if we get it right. There are already some good examples of what could happen in regional communities. Golden Plains Wind Farm in Victoria, for example, offsets electricity costs for households that live within three kilometres of a turbine. The Sapphire Wind Farm in New England powers 115,000 homes, has generated 150 jobs and was built with a $7.5 million co-investment raised by local people. These locals are now receiving dividends.

These examples should be the norm, not the outliers, so I want to work with government to translate these community aspirations into legislative change. The government have set up the Net Zero Economy Authority as a key step towards ensuring Australia's industries and regions decarbonise and support communities through these changes. But right now that legislation is really only supporting communities transitioning out of fossil fuel industries, not those transitioning into renewable energy generation and storage for the first time.

It's why I'm seeking to amend the Net Zero Economy Authority Bill, to give communities pathways to negotiate tangible, touchable, long-term benefit. Things like community benefit plans, so renewable energy companies must listen to and work with communities to identify what they want to see and then put some of their profits back into those regional communities. It could be skilled jobs, childcare services, affordable housing, health services, roads, bridges, telecommunications services.

My amendments also allow the authority to set up local energy hubs, trusted shopfronts which facilitate community understanding of what these developers are proposing and why. These trusted, neutral advisors could communicate locally informed expectations to industry about how the community would like to be engaged and how they will see benefit.

These amendments offer practical ways to connect the industries who will build the wind turbines, solar panels, hydro facilities and transmission lines for a decarbonised economy and the communities that will inevitably host all of that infrastructure. It is well past time that governments start listening to and supporting all regional communities at the centre of this massive transmission transformation.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm really proud to stand here in this place to talk about decarbonising industries. It's an opportunity for me to share with the chamber all of the great things that our manufacturers are doing in Bendigo.

Bendigo is a region that has a proud manufacturing history. As such, with that proud manufacturing history, our Bendigo Regional Manufacturing Group formed over 30 years ago to talk about energy and energy security. I do acknowledge that that conversation has moulded and shifted in more recent times to talk about how they can be cleaner and greener, so this is an issue that has long been on the radar of my manufacturers.

When we talk about decarbonising industries, it's important to talk about where our manufacturers are at. We have a real mix of manufacturing in the Bendigo electorate. We have food manufacturers and we have heavy metal manufacturers. We also have a number of manufacturers in building supplies. But if I can, I'll talk briefly about our heavy metal manufacturers and engineering. Now, I do acknowledge that Bendigo tends to be known for manufacturing Bushmasters. And while we're proud to manufacture the Bushmaster, which saves lives, we are home to a number of other heavy metal manufactures, including Keech Castings and Hoffman Engineering.

Hoffman Engineering are on track to hit their net zero targets. They are traditionally a manufacturing company that produces the big gears in the big machinery that is required. They are transitioning from being a supplier of this equipment to mining industries to more clean and green industries. And I did want to make this note: if we're going to have a renewable energy industry, which we absolutely need to have, we also need to have the capacity and capability to maintain that renewable energy industry. That is one thing that Hoffman can do. They can refurb, renew, the big gears, the big turbines that we have popping up all over the country. It is part of that supply chain opportunity that we have. Unfortunately, they still do rely upon gas because we don't quite yet have the hydrogen technology at the level that it needs to be to transition into manufacturing. But I know that they will welcome it when it does come.

The truth about gas in Victoria is that it sits at about two per cent of our energy make-up. At the moment it is a little bit of a necessary evil; we have no other choice. If we want Hoffman Engineering to be able to refurb our wind turbines, they need to have gas to keep their temperatures at a certain level to be able to do that, to do the welding that's required and to get the metal to the level of heat that's required. That is why our government's plan to fast-track the development of hydrogen energy is so critical, to give our manufactures another energy alternative to gas. Just to remind people, that it is about two per cent of our overall energy mix.

Another manufacturer doing amazing things when it comes to renewable energy is Australian Turntables. They are actively involved in securing and decarbonising and are on their path to net zero. One of the previous speakers talked about mining, and I want to give a shout out to Fosterville Gold Mine. They've bought electric vehicles. In fact, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, was there on the very first day that one of the diggers was going underground. However, again, this comes back to how we are transitioning the grid. Unfortunately, we don't have the energy requirement yet for the mine to go entirely electric vehicle, which is something that they're working closely with Powercor to do and with localised landholders to do in building the solar farms to generate the energy so that they can be one of our first mines in this country, a gold mine, to go net zero. They're on track to meet their target and beat their target by 2050.

Our food manufacturing sector, too, is adapting to renewable energy and going towards that decarbonised focus. Solar panels are a big part of their solution. I can remember, and this goes back to when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister, the clean energy grants. One of our particular manufacturers had the biggest solar system in the state of Victoria. Not today. But we have been early adopters of this kind of technology. We must have industries that decarbonise, and I know that they're up for it.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allocated for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.