Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I did not vote for that. I do not know any Australian that did. I think it is a criminal shame that tonight we are standing here trying to defend our clean energy target and we have very little company. I note that Senator Lazarus voted with the Greens on that last amendment and I expect his support on this next amendment. Nobody else supported it. So much for a representative democracy.

We have seen a really dirty deal done with the crossbench and now the government have finally coughed up the final letter, which is the proof of the price that they extracted out of the crossbench to support native forest logging and burning. We see quite a lot of inconsistencies in that letter. I think, belatedly, the crossbench have realised: 'Gee, cutting the renewable energy target might actually prioritise wind. It might actually encourage wind.' We know wind has less of a lead time than solar. They suddenly realised: 'Whoops, that's right. We hate wind. We're about to do something that will reduce wind. We'd better do a second dodgy deal to try to fix it up.' So here they are putting a whole lot of extra regulatory infrastructure on wind, an industry which is clean which generates jobs and which does absolutely no damage to human health, while they ignore the health impacts of coal.

We have a wind farm commissioner now. We have an independent scientific committee on wind when all the other independent scientific committees and independent scientists have been sacked and defunded, in the majority. And now we see that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which this government wants to abolish—there is a bill on the Notice Paper to abolish the CEFC—are suddenly charged with additional responsibilities. This is a body that this government wished did not exist.

I find it very hard to swallow that the crossbench think they have any sort of good deal out of this. There is no saving grace out of this. We have just voted that this parliament will let native forests be burnt. We have just voted that the clean energy target will be slashed. Now the crossbenches have got a deal to charge an independent body to invest in solar in conflict with their investment mandate that this government changed—a body that this government want to abolish. It will not even answer a question that Senator Milne asked about whether they are going to change their mind and keep that body or abolish it. I am going to come back to that question because we deserve an answer, and it is very germane to this debate.

Instead, we see a program of climate denial and, of course, massive plans to expand the coal industry. But the Prime Minister really belled the cat on this last week when he said, in agreement with the Treasurer, that wind farms are ugly. He does not like them. He thinks they are aesthetically displeasing, like that is some measure of scientific effectiveness—the Prime Minister's perception of what is attractive or not. We know he has 1950s views on women; clearly he has 1950s views on science as well. The Prime Minister thinks wind farms are ugly, and we hear that he wished that John Howard, when he was Prime Minister, had not introduced a renewable energy target at all. How very interesting that the Prime Minister, who had been gallivanting around the countryside trying to claim that all he wanted was certainty for the renewable energy industry, belled the cat. He wants to get rid of the clean energy target altogether. He wishes there was no RET at all.

I am very disappointed that the Labor Party even entered into negotiations with this government, knowing full well that this government has an agenda to completely throw its lot in with the coal industry and not invest in clean energy at all. The Labor Party allowed the government to open the door, they have done a dirty deal with the government and now the crossbench have kicked the door even further in. They are undermining wind power and setting solar up to fail by charging a body which this government wants to abolish with unachievable obligations. This is an absolutely rotten deal, no matter which perspective you look at it from.

As I said, so much for the certainty. Where is the investment certainty? This deal is not going to fix it. The Prime Minister has said that he does not want wind energy. He wants to R-E-D-U-C-E wind power. We always knew that, but he has completely undermined the wind energy industry. We will be moving this amendment tonight, which would stop the cut to the renewable energy target from 41,000 gigawatt hours down to 33,000. What a crying shame that all of the experts acknowledge that we had too much power in the system, and that here was our opportunity to retire some of those oldest, dirtiest and most polluting coal-fired power stations. Instead of taking that opportunity the government wants to kneecap the renewable energy industry because it thinks wind farms are ugly, and because maybe the solar industry does not donate enough to this government's re-election coffers. This is an atrocious bill, and we will be moving that amendment in a moment.

I do have some questions for the minister. Minister, we deserve an answer about whether or not this government is going to change its mind and retain the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and ARENA. It is currently on the Notice Paper to abolish them. Given your deal with the crossbench, which charges those bodies with additional obligations, will you now revoke those bills from the Notice Paper?