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

While the parliamentary secretary is considering that, I would like to respond to his view about the Productivity Commission. It is certainly true that they came out against a national energy efficiency target. Frankly, it makes them a laughing stock around the world, because their rationale for that is the old economic view that anything beyond the production of energy is free and an externality. They take the use of fossil fuels as separate from greenhouse gas emissions and the cost to society of producing the power. They say there is not an economic case to save energy. They are a joke. It is a joke that they are arguing along those lines. They should talk to state governments who are now challenged with having to put in new supply or somehow achieve energy efficiency. They need to take on board the principles of sustainable development and that ecologically sustainable development requires that the externalities of the production of energy, such as greenhouse gas emissions, are internalised in the cost.

We will have a price on carbon. It will internalise the cost of carbon dioxide. Perhaps then the Productivity Commission will recognise that there is an economic case for saving energy. But the way they think is that you do not cost carbon dioxide emissions into energy. I cannot believe that the Productivity Commission still behaves in this way, but then again I could not believe that ABARE continued to give the advice it gave to government until I saw that the former head of ABARE Brian Fisher had gone across to Charles River Associates, the biggest climate change sceptics on the planet. He is now giving them the benefit of his advice. What a pity he did not admit at the time that he was advising ABARE and advising government that he was involved in such climate change scepticism.

The Productivity Commission report on the national energy target will be seen as a national embarrassment as Australia gets a bit more perspective on internalising the costs of carbon dioxide emissions and the costs of climate change. The Productivity Commission should determine the cost to the Australian economy of the drought and then tell us about whether or not there is benefit to be gained from energy efficiency.