Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

All right, it was no less than $25 million out of the $100 million. But why specify $25 million? I will be delighted if it is the whole $100 million, but, either way, not a cent of that money has been allocated to date. So, whilst Senator Campbell stood up and made his big announcement that this has been delivered as a result of the AP6 partnership, not a cent of the $100 million has actually been allocated yet. I would argue that the deal that went down was already organised between these private sector companies and that the opportunity was taken to announce it at the meeting in Sydney—and that is entirely appropriate. But to claim that it had something to do with the Commonwealth’s investment of $100 million, with that specified $25 million, is drawing a long bow.

Senator Campbell must be aware that there is a high level of scepticism in the community about the nature of the announcements. You try and find the detail of where the Commonwealth actually spent the money on these things that were supposedly done because of Commonwealth involvement and you are hard-pressed to find them. If Senator Ian Campbell responds to my remarks now, I would like him to tell me how much of the $100 million had been allocated to this deal between the Australian company Solar Systems and the US company Spectrolab in relation to this project, because I do not think a cent has, and that gives some sense of what I am talking about. That is why I want the specific list. I do not want a website reference. I have been to the website and it is not clear.

Most people in the solar industry were shocked when they saw this reference to Senator Ian Campbell saying that $144 million had gone to 216 research projects associated with solar energy over the four years to 2 June. People want the specifics of how that occurred. I also asked how many of the research projects relating to fossil fuels and nuclear power had been funded over the past four years, including the title of each, and the amount that went to each.

We need to establish once and for all the government’s priorities in relation to fossil fuel research, nuclear research and solar research. I would also bring to Senator Ian Campbell’s notice that the announcements that have been made on geothermal and solar in the last week—and I certainly welcome the deal that has been done with this new technology—point out that these technologies alone can provide Australia’s base load energy into the future and make a complete joke of the government’s commitment to nuclear. In noting the senator’s response, I note that in question time he gave me a piece of paper saying he would provide an answer soon. I thank him for reiterating that while on his feet, and I look forward to the detailed list of these 216 projects relating to solar energy, which amount to $144 million in the four years prior to 2 June this year.