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

In fact, I do know, Senator Brown. The simple fact is that we as a government have invested heavily in renewable energy. That means that we will not be going backwards. We have, for example, put $50 million into International Power for its ‘Hazelwood 2030 A Clean Coal Future’ project and up to $75 million into Solar Systems Australia for its ‘Large Scale Solar Concentrator’ project. We have had a whole host of other investments as well, multimillions of dollars worth—in fact, if I recall correctly, something like $960 million worth of investment. That is the sort of thing that we need, not mandating, which will force increased power charges on every single Australian and on the manufacturing sector. We need the investment so that the renewable energy sector can compete in the market. (Time expired)