Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

and to do exactly what the coalition asked for from day one. Senator Williams makes a valuable interjection: ‘Some of it.’ I will come to some of our foreshadowed amendments very soon that are important, as I said, to the passage of these bills. I re-emphasise that our support for the target and for these bills is not a blank cheque. Indeed, the coalition will seek a number of amendments to these bills. We are not satisfied with what has passed through the House of Representatives. I acknowledge the good work of Mr Hunt, Mr Macfarlane, Mr Robb and others on the coalition side in the other place in negotiating with the government to achieve concessions thus far to ensure that we have a system in place that both sides can and will support. But we are not satisfied with what passed the House of Representatives and we expect further changes during this debate in the Senate.

We will firstly, as Senator Williams alluded to, seek a full decoupling of the renewable energy target from the flawed emissions trading scheme that was voted down by the Senate just last week. We have been successful in securing the principle of decoupling. Certainly, if you listened to the language of the minister or, in particular, the Prime Minister on this matter, you would be led to believe that total decoupling had occurred, but it has not entirely happened. In particular, it has not happened for key affected industries. We believe that the framework of compensation and qualification under the ETS should be replicated but decoupled so that the start date for that compensation framework will be 1 January, irrespective of whether the ETS has been passed. That must occur for all affected industries.

We seek coverage of the aluminium sector for both its existing MRET and its expanded renewable energy target liabilities to the 90 per cent already offered by the government for the latter. At this stage we are not willing to accept the idea that the government limit its compensation in this sector in narrowly defined ways. We want to preserve and protect, as we have said all along, Australian jobs. That has been a priority of the coalition, along with ensuring the growth of renewable energy in Australia. We do so recognising the trade exposed nature of industries like this sector and the reality that, without this type of protection, we will simply see such industries close down in Australia, with jobs and the industries moving offshore to countries with less clean regulations than Australia. We will see the leakage of carbon emissions to those countries for no environmental benefit, with possibly even worse outcomes—yet to the economic detriment of Australia. So we are pushing hard and we expect the government to continue to negotiate in good faith on these issues, as we acknowledge they have done to date in earlier discussions and we hope that will continue behind closed doors and in the committee stage here.

We will also be seeking amendments regarding food processing to ensure that that sector is categorised for assistance under the renewable energy target as well. Protecting Australia’s food security is something that all members of the coalition have stood up for for a long time. We did so in the water debate and we will do so in this debate as well, because in the end Australia has a valuable role to play in food security not just for our country but also for the rest of the world.

The coalition will also seek to remove a loophole in relation to the multiplication of RECs for industrial heat pumps. We will also move that a portion of the RET be banded and reserved for emerging renewable technologies such as baseload solar, geothermal, wave, tidal and biomass. We will seek that 8,875 gigawatt hours or 25 per cent of the additional 35,500 gigawatt hours of renewable energy be reserved for these sectors. We do so in response to lobbying from the clean energy sector and from many of the parties involved in this, and because we recognise the importance of ensuring that this target is not just about clean energy but also about growing Australia’s capacity in the clean energy sector.

Growing our capacity does not just mean putting in place a mechanism that encourages further proliferation of the already well-developed and cheap wind opportunities that may exist—cheap by comparison with some of the others at this point. It also means ensuring that Australia, if it is to have a renewable energy framework, actually develops key baseload capacity. We want to make sure that the renewable energy target delivers on baseload potential for Australia’s future—not just the technologies that provide, potentially, additional energy at peak level but cannot be relied upon for that all-important baseload potential.

We have already been successful in securing amendments that recognise renewable gas or waste coalmine gas as a zero-emission source of energy, as it is in the United States and Germany. We are happy that the government has accepted that. We believe this will save some 400 jobs in the sector, but we believe the government should consider extending this support to 2030, not just to 2020.

I note, again as a South Australian senator, the enormous potential role that the gas industry can play in also reducing our emissions over time. Natural gas can meet future baseload power generation requirements for Australia. It can be a key partner to this renewable energy technology. Where we have technologies, like wind, that may not be reliable, gas has the potential to be able to be wound up or wound down in accordance with the power generated by some of those other technologies, so it can complement these sectors. I know that companies like Santos, one of South Australia’s major companies, have been working very hard to explain this potential to the government.

In conclusion, I emphasise the coalition’s commitment to a clean energy future for Australia and to continuing to work with the government through the Senate process, in good faith, to achieve the changes that I have outlined—changes that we believe will secure Australia’s future and our economic position and protect Australia jobs while at the same time giving Australia a world-leading position in developing renewable energy technologies.

As I emphasised, our support is not a blank cheque. Whilst we will support the second reading of the bill at the conclusion of this stage of the debate, we do reserve our position on the third reading depending on the progress of the amendments that I have outlined today and amendments in the committee stage. But we welcome the fact that this bill is before us and we look forward to working in a cooperative manner with the government to, hopefully, ensure that Australia has a bright, clean energy future ahead of it.