Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

I have just a couple of points in response to Senator Milne’s questions in particular and to some of the things that Senator Milne said during her presentation. Senator Milne is right: our rate of reduction of energy use is lower than, say, that of the EU. A number of factors are involved in that process, one of those being that, because Australia has a significant advantage in energy costs, it attracts a higher proportion of high energy use companies. One of the things that the government are seeking to do through this process, through the legislation that was passed last year, and which we are looking to make some minor technical amendments to today is to work with those industries so that they and the government can understand where efficiencies might lie and be gained. That is the whole purpose and point of this legislation.

So there are a number of factors involved, particularly our low energy costs, which are a significant advantage to industry in our country. Senator Milne earlier talked about the impact on manufacturing. I can assure her that, if there is a significant increase in the cost of energy that is disproportionate to other countries around the world, there will be a very negative impact on industry and employment in this country. That is one of the reasons that the government has said consistently that it will not disadvantage Australian industry in its energy policy, and that is why it insists that, if we are to be part of a carbon trading system, it be a global carbon trading system.

And that is why we have engaged with the world’s largest greenhouse emitters to build a process that puts us in a situation where we do not negatively impact on our industry. We are working very closely with industry to see those things are moved forward. So I think that our approach is a responsible one in respect of industry in this country and in respect of employment. We see it as very important that we work with industry. The Greens cannot have it both ways. They cannot say that industry are ahead of us and then say that industry are not interested in participating in this process. We know that they are. I have already given some examples of how they are looking at this process, working with us, identifying savings and putting them into place.