Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Bill 2016. This bill is a great opportunity. The idea, the concept and the reality of investing in this unique part of the world have the potential to give a boost to not only Northern Australia but also, if done correctly, our environmental, social and cultural assets. There is so much potential, but it has got to be done correctly. If we do not invest in ways that meet the quadruple bottom line of being environmentally, socially, economically and culturally sustainable, then we risk repeating the mistakes of the past.

We have got an amazing opportunity not to do that. We have got an amazing opportunity to use all of our resources, knowledge, cleverness and agility to have development that is good for all of us—not just for all Australians but for all of the other creatures that we share our planet with while providing economic benefits and jobs. We can invest in infrastructure that delivers socially, economically and environmentally sustainable benefits or we can go down the path of exploiting local communities and environmental resources for short-term profits. We can bring everyone together and say, 'Yes, there's an opportunity here for some great outcomes' or we can invest in a way that is divisive and destructive to our environment.

So the Greens are in a position to be able to support this bill today, if some incredibly important amendments are supported. My colleagues today—Senators Siewert, Waters and Whish-Wilson—have already outlined the risks that this northern Australia infrastructure fund could have for our environment, our climate and our local communities.

I also want to talk about the type of infrastructure that the current proposal for this facility seems to be trying to promote and raise the dangers of some of the infrastructure that is being considered. Let's talk about rail infrastructure. We had it hinted—former Treasurer Joe Hockey indicated that he thought that this sort of loan facility should be used to fund rail projects to support the massive Adani coalmine. If you ask everyday Australians what type of rail the federal government should be investing in, the message is clear: commuter rail in our cities; regional rail to connect communities and help people to be connected across rural and regional Australia; and support for freight—to get freight off the roads and onto rail. All of these sorts of rail investments have got a huge amount of support across the Australian community.

But, if we are talking about rail that is going to help finance the disastrous Adani coalmine rail and port proposal, then that is not what people think is a priority nor what the Australian government should be investing in. In fact most Australians would be appalled to think that the federal government wants to subsidise huge mining companies to build rail that has only got one purpose: to transport massive amounts of coal from massive coalmines to damaging ports.

The Greens cannot possibly support the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility being used to support fossil fuel or nuclear projects, including those mines, railways, pipelines, ports and electricity infrastructure, that are based on ongoing fossil fuel use. That is not just in the long-term interests of northern Australia; it is not in the long-term interests of all of Australia nor the long-term interests of the globe.

I heard former Liberal leader John Hewson on the radio this morning saying that, in terms of most investors now, the Adani coalmine would already be considered as a stranded asset: it is not going to be economically viable in a carbon constrained world as well as being environmentally disastrous. So to use the northern Australia infrastructure fund to prop up these sorts of coalmines is not sensible investment. It is not investment that is in the interests of people. That sort of investment would be taxpayers supplementing the profits of the big end of town.

So what is the alternative? The wonderful thing is that there are so many alternatives and so much good investment that could be made in infrastructure that would develop northern Australia in a way that is environmentally and socially sustainable as well as being economically successful. It is infrastructure that has got an eye on our future rather than the damaging industries of the past.

In order to make sure that that is the type of infrastructure that is being invested in, we need to do careful assessment to ensure long-term sustainability. Developments must be targeted towards the needs and priorities of local communities and should also take full account of the environmental impact of what those developments are, particularly the environmental impacts of climate change. If investment is not going to do anything to help us address climate change, it should not be invested in. If it is an investment that is actually going to worsen climate change, then it is even further away from the sorts of projects that we should be investing in.

When we look at northern Australia, we know what the impacts of serious climate change are: we know what the impacts of the climate emergency are going to be. At the moment, one of the biggest economic assets of northern Australia of course is the Great Barrier Reef. We have seen the massive bleaching event of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef where 93 per cent have been bleached and many will not survive. Unless we address climate change, that massive economic asset of northern Australia is not going to be there in the future.

And it is not just in Queensland; as we speak, the reefs of Western Australia are still undergoing a bleaching event—because, as I am told, the waters of Western Australia are even warmer than the waters of Queensland. These are the real assets that need to be protected, and the only way of protecting our reefs of Western Australia and north-eastern Australia is to take urgent action to address global warming. That means transitioning to a zero carbon economy as quickly as possible. If we do not do that, the northern Australian economy does not have a future.

The other part of the world that has been focused on—and there was attention drawn to it in the media over the weekend—which seems to be a long way from northern Australia, is Greenland. If you look at the melting of the icesheets that is currently going on in Greenland, you might think, 'What's that got to do with northern Australia?' But the massive increased melting that is going on in Greenland indicates the seriousness of the issue of the melting of our polar icesheets and what the impacts are going to be in terms of sea level rise. If we look at many of the unique marine environments of northern Australia and the rest of the country, as well as the rest of the globe, and think about the impact on those natural assets of a metre or more of rising sea level, we see that the rising sea level is going to be disastrous for the development and the future of the communities of northern Australia. These are the things that we need to be thinking about and we need to be working out how we can have development that results in us actually tackling climate change rather than adding to climate change.

We know that global energy markets are moving on to 21st century technologies and we know that public investment needs to be oriented towards reaping the benefits of renewable energy technologies and sunrise industries. Investment needs to be going into the huge renewable energy resource that is there in northern Australia. That is one of the best resources of northern Australia. If this money were going towards investments that make sure that we develop that potential, that would be a magnificent outcome. If we do not and we do not look to the emerging trends, northern Australia is going to be saddled with last century's infrastructure while the rest of the country and the rest of the world will have moved on. That would be a disastrous outcome.

The Greens vision for northern Australia is for a zero carbon economy that promotes ecotourism, communications, clean energy hubs and services and lots and lots of jobs. We all know about the ecotourism potential of northern Australia. We need to capitalise on the opportunities for local communities by putting the power in their hands and especially looking at supporting ecotourism development that are managed and controlled by traditional owners. People are not going to travel from around the world to see great big holes in the grounds. They are not going to travel from around the world to see dead, bleached coral reefs. But people do need safe ways to travel that are as efficient as possible—so we do need transport infrastructure.

We also need to address the chronic lack of services in local communities. We need to address the chronic lack of communications technologies. We need infrastructure that supports communications, whether it is physical communication in transporting people by good-quality roads, good-quality rail services and good-quality bus services, or information communications technology—broadband. Having wonderful communications technology in every community across northern Australia will do so much to bridge the divide between rural and regional Australia and the communications that those of us who live in the capital cities enjoy. That is the sort of investment that needs to be prioritised under this sort of fund. They are the sorts of investments that the Greens want to see—environmentally sustainable and socially sustainable investments.

But we are extremely worried, and this bill gives us no faith, that this sort of fund would be used to prop up fossil fuels. The Australian Greens staunchly oppose subsidies for polluting fossil fuels, and we will not support the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility becoming a $5 billion slush fund for polluting industries. Community connections are important, but subsiding rail that will only serve the interests of coalmining is not. Subsidising environmentally disastrous mining is not in the interests of northern Australia. Subsidising massive dams that are unsustainable in a climate changed world, subsidising land clearing and destroying the very things that make northern Australia unique should not be considered for investment under this fund.

Making our transition to 100 per cent renewable energy as quickly as possible is urgent. We are in a climate emergency; a climate crisis. We need to bite the bullet and say that the fossil fuels that Australia has need to be kept in the ground. We know that, for the world to keep global warming under two degrees or under 1.5 degrees, the vast majority of the fossil fuels that are in the ground need to stay there. All 75 per cent, three-quarters, of the world's coal resources that are currently known about need to stay in the ground. We cannot afford to continue the exploitation of these unsustainable resources.

That is why the Greens, in the interests of our future—in the interests of the future of northern Australia as well as everywhere else—are calling for an immediate ban on new coal mines and gas projects, including fracking. Not only would investment in fossil fuel projects be environmentally destructive; it would be economically reckless. Developing large, illiquid infrastructure for sunset industries is not a good use of public finance. So we are calling on the federal government to rule out financing the Adani coalmine, rail and port proposal and other Galilee Basin coal mines out of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Sadly, until that is ruled out, we will not be able to support this facility. The Adani mine, the railway and the Abbot Point coal port expansion would be environmentally disastrous and economically reckless. With the price of coal in structural decline, more than a dozen international and domestic banks have already ruled out providing finance.

There are so many other opportunities. There are so many other investments that would be environmentally sustainable, socially sustainable and culturally appropriate that we could invest in. One of the things that we need to have as part of this fund is a really rigorous assessment process to make sure that any investments that would be approved really tick all the boxes—not investments that would be propping up otherwise damaging and uneconomic projects. We should be able to get this right. We should be able to find projects that do tick all those boxes, that bring us together and that serve the interests of communities now and communities into the future, that serve the interests of communities as well as industry, and that serve the interests of our precious environment as well as economic development.

The Greens amendments to this bill we think are absolutely critical and essential for it to be supported. The first of those amendments is that the bill should be amended so that any project that is substantially linked to fossil fuel or nuclear projects, including mines, railways, pipelines, ports or electricity infrastructure, should not be funded under this infrastructure facility. We want to amend this bill to ensure that all proposals are subject to a rigorous, independent cost-benefit analysis which includes all the environmental, climate change related, cultural and social costs.

We propose to amend this bill to ensure that the federal government cannot delegate its responsibility for project approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to state and territory governments. This is national infrastructure that is being considered here. National funds that go into it should be assessed against national environmental legislation. Finally, we are proposing to amend this legislation to ensure that the investment mandate for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility includes the requirement that all proposals are consistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development.

We reckon that with these amendments we would have a terrific opportunity to really bring everyone together. We could have development that everybody can agree on, development that everybody recognises is in the interest of us all—the interest of northern Australia, the rest of Australia, all of the other environments and all of the other plants and animals that also have an interest in what happens in northern Australia, and in the interests of the peoples of the globe. We have the opportunity to do things differently here in this parliament, to say that all of these issues matter. Every aspect of investment proposals matters, not just whether you have jobs. You can have good jobs, but you can have jobs that are very destructive. There is the opportunity here to have investment that can deliver for our environment, can deliver for our people and can deliver things that are economically sustainable as well.

With these amendments, the Greens would be supporting this legislation. I look forward to getting the support of the rest of my colleagues here for a bill with those amendments made to it.