Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government does have an agreement in place with Dual Gas to provide, as I mentioned, funding of some $100 million committed to by the Howard government for the development of this technology if certain conditions are met. In terms of closure of power stations, the government's Contract for Closure Program is currently underway, which may result in some capacity closure in the Latrobe Valley. However, the outcome of this program will not be known for a period of time.

More generally, particularly in respect to your supplementary question about where future investment may be located, I would reiterate that it is not up to the Commonwealth government to determine where investment is delivered. That is up to the private sector. They make the investment decisions.

The government continues to work with the Victorian government to develop low-emissions coal technology in the Latrobe Valley through the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships Program. The Carbon Net project is investigating the potential of capturing carbon dioxide— (Time expired)