Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Last night before we adjourned I was talking about the impact of the mining boom in Western Australia and the fact that it has not produced the sustainable economic growth that some people like to make out it has produced and the fact that in Western Australia we need to diversify. If we grasped the opportunity to develop new green-collar jobs based on sustainable industries such as renewable energies, we would be doing a great deal not only to address the issues around climate change but also to address sustainable economic development and a truly sustainable future for Western Australia—a future that does not then put at risk our biodiversity, our water resources, our fishing resources, our health or places such as Ningaloo that are desperately threatened by climate change.

I am desperately disappointed that people are not grasping this opportunity to develop a sustainable green economy in Western Australia, because they are doing the state a disservice. They are not looking to the future. They are not looking to help those in Western Australia who have missed out from the mining boom. As I articulated in my speech last night, it has not produced a sustainable and prosperous future for all Western Australians. There are significant numbers of Western Australians who have missed out, who have not been able to buy a house because prices have risen so high and who have not shared the increase in wages that those in the mining industry have gained from. Instead of looking to a new, sustainable green future, what is our West Australian government doing? It is investing even more money in clean coal in Collie.

The people in Collie know that they need to be looking to a future that involves renewable energies. Our state government do not recognise that. Unfortunately, they do not have the wit or the wisdom to realise just what we could do with $16 billion invested in a truly renewable, sustainable industry, instead of investing $16 billion in old industry. That is where we need to focus our efforts. We are supporting and subsidising the old fossil fuel industries that have contributed significantly to climate change. We are investing in old technology in the belief that somehow that may change the polluting practices of these industries, when of course it will not.

A significant interest that I hold dearly, not only as a West Australian but also as the portfolio holder on community services, is climate justice and looking at how responding to climate change gives us an opportunity to transform our economy so that it delivers for those people in the community who have continually missed out from the benefits of the mining boom and have not seen benefits delivered to create a sustainable future for them. We believe that if we take a measured and proper approach to addressing climate change then we can create sustainable, job-creating industries, such as renewable energy, that will deliver green jobs and sustainable jobs into the future and that will help those who have missed out from the benefits of the boom. We can create new jobs and new employment opportunities for the whole of our community. We also need to be—