Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in response to the matter of public importance submitted to the Senate by Senator Gallagher, our parliamentary colleague from the ACT. Senator Gallagher would like this chamber to discuss investment in renewable energy which makes economic and environmental sense. It gives me great pleasure to speak on this issue because it gives me a chance to inform both Senator Gallagher and the Senate of all the good work that the Turnbull coalition government has been doing with regard to energy policy.

As Minister Frydenberg and the Prime Minister have said many times, this government is committed to solving the trilemma which is energy affordability, reliability and meeting our international obligations for emissions reductions. Importantly, this is a government that is technology agnostic when it comes to how we go about actually achieving those goals. Rather than pursuing this ideologically driven, single-minded agenda of non-commercially-sustainable wind- and solar-energy production, I think it's incredibly important to understand the vernacular of this debate. Renewable energy and clean energy are not interchangeable, but they, in fact, walk hand in hand. This is a government that is pursuing clean energy alternatives without the ideology. Instead, its policies are based on economics and on engineering. Of course, one of those clean energy policies that could be considered as part of this clean energy mix is, in fact, clean coal. Clean coal is a technology that exists right now which renders coal-fired power stations as secure, reliable and, importantly, clean sources of energy. Clean coal technology is not something to be derided; it's not something to be mocked. It is one potential way that this government could ensure that Australian households are able to keep the lights on without paying exorbitant energy prices while also meeting those international obligations for emissions reductions. To remove conversations about clean energy sources from the debate, purely because you are ideologically opposed to them, is essentially economic vandalism. Those on this side of the chamber know very well that one of the most fundamental and important responsibilities of government, when it comes to energy, is ensuring that the lights stay on and that prices stay low for Australian households and Australian businesses.

Where once the opposition were more interested in pursuing sensible policy outcomes for the betterment of all Australians, they're now more interested in safeguarding those inner-city seats against the growing popularity of the Australian Greens. Now, perhaps it can be said that middle- to high-income earners, residents of those gentrified suburbs—those inner city suburbs, where the Greens are encroaching on Labor heartland—may not find electricity prices of particular concern. They have the luxury of being able to take an ideological approach towards energy policy. However, for ordinary Australians, that is simply not the case. For ordinary Australians, there is an ever-increasing proportion of household budget spent on electricity, and this is of huge concern. It's not just the direct effect of high electricity bills and it's not just the bills that land on the kitchen table; it's also the bills that we see in the accounts payable ledger. Electricity prices have an indirect effect on the cost of living as well as a direct effect.

Senator Gallagher has phrased her matter of public importance in such a way as to make a claim about both the environmental and the economic rationale for investment in renewable energy. Fortunately, on this particular matter, the Turnbull government quite agrees with Senator Gallagher. Indeed, for many forms of renewable energy sources, there is a very sound economic rationale. This is one of the reasons that the Turnbull government has committed to an investment in an upgrade of the snowy hydro scheme—colloquially, and of course affectionately, known and referred to as 'Snowy 2.0.'

There is hardly a better example of the government's commitment to energy security, affordability and a reduction in emissions than Snowy 2.0—an enormous infrastructure project that will allow for the kinetic storage of energy through a pumped hydro scheme. Snowy 2.0 allows us to pump water to higher altitudes during off-peak times and use that pumped water during the peak periods. This allows for a very efficient use of energy in Australia for Australian households, and it stands as a shining example of public infrastructure spending by Australian governments. Once again, this evidences the Turnbull government's commitment to solving the energy trilemma of security, affordability and reduced emissions.

The Finkel review developed a range of options to maintain the security, reliability and affordability of the national energy market and the coalition, along with state governments, has agreed already to 49 of the 50 recommendations. Many of these recommendations are aimed at ensuring the affordability and reliability of the energy market, but there is a need to safeguard base load power in Australia. We need to make sure that we have enough power to meet future needs, and that base load power is required to anchor our electricity system.

AEMO's analysis recently showed that there is heightened risk of shortages during the summer peaks and, without targeted action to provide additional firming capability, that threat will become real. The reckless policy of state Labor in Victoria and South Australia—of course, contributing to the closure of Hazelwood in Victoria and the Northern Power Station in South Australia—has seen the need for AEMO to take these quite dramatic steps. The government therefore stands in quite stark contrast to the ideologically driven peddlers of the myths of the panacea of renewable energy that is the calling card of those opposite and also of their party colleagues at a state level. I thank Senator Gallagher for bringing this very important matter to the attention of the Senate. It is an honour to speak on behalf of the Turnbull government on this issue. (Time expired)