Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation would have you believe that it is delivering projects achieving a total abatement of 3.88 million tonnes per annum and that it was doing so at a negative cost of $2.40 per tonne of abatement. These claims by the CEFC, which have been parroted by Labor and Greens senators in this chamber, are not supported by the facts. The CEFC is spending borrowed taxpayer money to invest in wind farms, many of which are already built and supported by private sector finance. About two-thirds of the CEFC's annual abatement claims rely on just three wind farms, Taralga, Portland and Macarthur.

What the CEFC and the Labor and Greens senators are not telling the Australian people is that these projects are already supported by the government's 20 per cent renewable energy target. With the CEFC gone, the renewable energy target will still be delivering these investments and emissions reductions at no cost to Australian taxpayers. It is ridiculous that the CEFC should take credit for emissions reductions that are happening anyway and that will happen without it. In one example, the CEFC helped to refinance a wind farm that was 50 per cent owned by Meridian Energy and, in the process, helped the New Zealand government get a better price when it sold the company in October—all paid for by the Australian taxpayer. How does that make sense?

The government's position is that the CEFC should not be using $10 billion of borrowed money underwritten by Australian taxpayers to invest in wind farms. Australian taxpayers do not want their government to act as a bank. This is the role of the private sector, not the Australian government. There used to be a time when the Australian Labor Party believed that banks should be private. In fact, it was the Australian Labor Party that privatised the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, but here they are going down this bad old path again.

This bill abolishes the Clean Energy Finance Corporation by repealing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act 2012. This bill also transfers the CEFC's existing assets and liabilities, including the CEFC's investments, to the Commonwealth. These assets and liabilities will be managed by the Treasury. Funding to manage the CEFC's existing assets and liabilities and meet contractually committed payments on investments will be met from the CEFC's existing funding, which will be transferred to a new CEFC transitional special account.

Future moneys that were due to be appropriated to the CEFC annually until 2017 will be returned to consolidated revenue. The bill also provides for excess funding to be returned to consolidated revenue at any stage if it is no longer needed for managing the CEFC's assets and liabilities. I commend this bill to the Senate.