Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

The answer to the first two questions are: yes and yes. Can I disabuse Senator Sherry of some of his misapprehensions—although, in fairness, I do not think they are misapprehensions; they are a deliberate attempt by him to spin the Labor Party’s rhetoric on mandatory renewable energy targets. As Senator Sherry well knows, the policy that the Labor Party took to the last election, and that they are still espousing, would mean the wholesale export of jobs from Australia to China and other countries. The people in Senator Sherry’s home state, and my home state, of Tasmania, who live in places like Georgetown and who earn their incomes from places such as Bell Bay, or the zinc works, or the Norski Skog Paper Mills or the Wesley Vale Paper Mill or the Burnie paper mill know that the cost of energy is a significant contributor to the efficiency of the global markets. If the price of power were to increase with the increased mandatory renewable energy targets suggested by the Australian Labor Party, these businesses would be severely prejudiced—not to mention the pensioners who would have to pay the increases in each and every one of their energy bills.

Once again the Australian Labor Party are seeking to position themselves as the green party, whilst forgetting about the pensioners and honest workers of this country who are employed in the zinc works and at Norski Skog in Tasmania. That is why over the past 10 years the term the ‘Howard battler’ has come into vogue. Those people on pensions and those who work in facilities such as Georgetown and the zinc works in Lutana know full well that they are protected by the sensible policies of the Howard government and they will not have any truck with the sort of nonsense the Labor Party is espousing on mandatory renewable energy targets. In relation to Vestas, in the north west of Tasmania, the government has announced that it will seek to support those workers. Mr Mark Baker, the member for Braddon, has done a fantastic job in championing their cause whilst fully recognising that, if the Labor Party policy were adopted, thousands of Tasmanians would be thrown out of employment because of increased energy prices. That is what Mr Baker, the member for Braddon, has so effectively done. He is ensuring that all the jobs are in place at the Burnie paper mill and elsewhere and that the workers who will, unfortunately, be losing their jobs at Vestas toward the end of the year are looked after. That sort of sensible, commonsense approach has become the hallmark of the Howard government.