Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to answer Senator Milne’s question. In relation to the lateness of the answer, Senator Milne called my office before question time, and I thank her for giving us that notice. I asked my staff and my department for an explanation and, at short notice, I wrote a note and took it across to Senator Milne. Senator Milne was not here during question time, but I did leave it on her desk. I am not sure whether or not she found it on her desk. Her desk looked a bit like my desk; it is sometimes a bit hard to find stuff on it.

The question related to an article that appeared in the Canberra Times on 4 June or thereabouts where I had stated, in response to assertions that the Commonwealth was not investing heavily enough in solar energy technologies, that in fact on my latest check of the Commonwealth’s investment in solar technology projects there were no fewer than 217 projects we were investing in. The time it will take to compile all of that is a little bit longer than I would have liked. If it were all within the Australian Greenhouse Office and the Department of the Environment and Heritage, I could have met the timeliness requirements under the standing orders. I do work very hard to meet those, and I thank the officers of my department for their hard work in responding to Senate questions in a timely manner.

In relation to this question: there are grants that come from a range of other organisations in the Commonwealth. There is the Australian Research Council, which funds an enormous amount of renewable energy research. There is also the CSIRO, which, contrary to assertions from the left of politics, also funds an enormous amount of activity in the area of renewable energy, particularly solar energy. We are trying to collate a comprehensive list in response to Senator Milne’s question. I am very keen to get that to the Table Office and into the public arena, because it tells a magnificent story about the Commonwealth’s activities in the area, particularly in promoting solar technologies.

I know that you take a close interest in these things, Mr Deputy President Hogg, and you would have noticed in the media that I held a joint press conference with Dr Harlan Watson, from the US State Department, where we announced a magnificent joint venture between two great companies—the Boeing Corporation of Seattle and Solar Systems, an Australian solar technology company. Solar systems will be using their world-leading technology to concentrate solar energy by turning solar dishes into a satellite shaped configuration to concentrate solar beams coming down from the sun onto a receival node. The technology that Boeing bring to the project is a photovoltaic cell which is used for satellites. We would all understand that, if you are building photovoltaic cells for satellites, you need to ensure that, firstly, they are very robust; they need to be strong. Secondly, they need to be ultra lightweight, and, thirdly, they need to be very efficient. This is one of the projects that we will list as a project that has received support from the Australian government.

We believe that this collaboration between Boeing and Solar Systems will see a transformation in the way that solar energy is created in Australia. I believe, having seen the Solar Systems proposals, that this offers an enormous opportunity for very large-scale energy production from the sun. This is one of literally hundreds of projects we have under the Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund, and Ian Macfarlane, the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, and I will be announcing the successful applications in a few weeks time.

There are some fantastic projects coming forward, some very large-scale renewable projects. The renewable energy development initiative, a $100 million program under this government, is seeing some fantastic investment in renewables in a number of solar projects. The $5 million Origin Energy sliver cell project, again, is developing world-leading technology down in Adelaide, as Senator Ferris will be interested to know. It is a breakthrough project funded by the Australian government. There is $3.254 million to Solar Heat and Power for a proof-of-concept solar-concentrating array project at Liddell Power Station. There is nearly $200,000 for a Perth based company, Solco, developing hot water systems particularly with application to remote and Third World countries. For example, this company builds, with the support of the Australian government, entire minifactories that will produce polyethylene solar hot water systems that can actually be made in Third World countries and develop an industry for Third World countries.