Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It was two per cent originally, Senator Boswell. I was around then. We thought at the time that that renewable energy target was interesting and, of course, partly because of rapid advances in the wind industry, that target was met years before schedule. It was ramped up to 10, it was ramped up to 20 and now we are seeing, not because this technology is flaky and not because this technology is expensive but because it is so successful, coordinated attacks by fossil incumbents on the wind energy sector. I do not believe for a moment that the individuals presenting with health concerns at these public meetings or the people who fronted Senate inquiries are part of some grand anti-wind conspiracy, but let us not deny that renewable energy technology, capital intensive but having zero fuel costs, is a very effective competitor to fossil fuels. It has the incumbents extremely worried and they are doing everything they can to shut out these competitors.

From a purely commercial point of view you might say that it is their right, as energy incumbents, to protect their investment. The Greens believe there is a public health and an urgent social, economic and environmental imperative to ramp up the output of renewable energy generators across the board. This does not mean cutting regulatory corners, it does not mean putting communities at risk, but the urgency cannot be understated for ramping up this technology. Whether they be mature technologies like wind or encouraging the next generation like concentrated solar thermal plants, the need is absolutely urgent.

To give a sense of the importance of the wind industry, in my home state of Western Australia, the South West Interconnected System, the SWIS, which effectively stretches from Geraldton through to Kalgoorlie and Albany, takes in the big generators in Collie in Kwinana—SWIS is about 50 per cent in the electricity consumed in WA. Of the small fraction of renewable energy on that grid, 75 per cent of the renewable energy is generated by wind farms. Three of the largest ones, Collgar at Merredin, Walk Away at Geraldton and Emu Downs at Badgingarra, are very large-scale utility plants making a large contribution. It is not going to be enough and we believe that the wind energy industry has a big future in WA, as it does elsewhere. We want to see the same results as those we have seen in South Australia where the large-scale deployment of this technology is seeing wholesale electricity prices falling.

The coalition are entitled to their own opinions and that is good. That is why we assemble in this parliament—to have a clash of opinions. But can you at least not invent your own facts and make things up, which Senator Edwards was doing before, insisting that wind energy has pushed prices up when the South Australian electricity regulator is telling us it is pushing prices down. We know to a decimal place how far wind energy is pushing prices down. I want to underline the idea that we start now in a serious way to roll out the next generation of renewable energy infrastructure, which, once it is built, requires maintenance but no fuel. That is what will ultimately push electricity prices down. When we become efficient about how we use electricity and stop wasting so much of it and when we finally have a large amount of infrastructure in the ground which effectively has zero fuel costs, we will start to see electricity prices coming down.

We do not believe that this bill provides the best way forward, although I think all of us who have contributed have acknowledged the motives of Senator Madigan in bringing it forward as being to give some voice to people who have expressed genuine health concerns. All I can really do by way of comfort to Senator Madigan is to call his attention to the way Senator Di Natale, or the other the Australian Greens, spelt out that these people do need to be given a voice, to have their legitimate concerns aired. But let us have a look at the cause and effect relationship, at exactly what is giving rise to these concerns in the first place. We should look in a fairly clear-headed way at Denmark—world leaders in wind energy technology. They have huge onshore and offshore installations and buffer zones; they do not have people living right underneath the turbines for perfectly good reasons. They have zero of the health effects that some claim are causing the impacts which are being reported to Senate inquiries and through various other processes.

The Greens will stand with the wind energy industry. It has a huge part to play in energy policy here in Australia. We will not be giving them free rides. We will not be enabling cutting of corners, regulatory or consultative, but let us at least try to work from an acknowledged body of facts in this debate—to do any less than that really is to let down the constituents who have spoken to Senator Siewert and Senator Madigan expressing these health concerns—so that collectively we can take the urgent actions that are required of this present generation to rapidly expand the installation and deployment of renewable energy in this country.