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

Thank you. As I was saying, this bill would stop public money going to coal. They've got their hand out all the time—this industry already receives many billions of dollars every year in freebies. They get cheap diesel fuel, they get accelerated depreciation and they get a whole raft of other tax perks, which get up to about $5 billion or $6 billion depending on how you slice and dice the figures.

When you compare that to the donations that the coal and gas industries make to the big political parties, it's a very telling story. There's been $3.7 million given by the fossil fuel sector to Labor, to the Liberals and to the Nationals over a period of three years to 2016. What do they get for that money? They get all of their approvals, no questions asked. There has never been a coalmine or coal seam gas field rejected by either side of politics when they've been in government. And, in fact, they get all of these fossil fuel subsidies back. It's a pretty good return on investment; for every dollar that the fossil fuel industry donates to the big parties they get back $2,000 in subsidies. It's a pretty cushy deal.

It's a wonder, then, that they've got their hand out for even more support. They want more support through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund for someone to build the railway for the largest proposed coalmine in the world, by Adani, and now they've got their hand out to prop up coal-fired power stations—and the government is champing at the bit to give them public money. This bill would prohibit the government from doing so. This bill shamelessly says: no money for coal-fired power stations, no money for refurbishments. Let's use some of that money to transition those communities so that we've got long-term, sustainable local economies that support those workers and communities, and let's get behind clean energy.

We can't buck world economics. It is perfectly clear that coal is on the way out, just as it is clear that coal is killing people. It is killing our reef. We've lost 50 per cent of our coral cover in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area already. Coal is killing people with its toxic emissions when burnt. The coal industry is already heading towards automation, and people are losing their jobs. If we want to create jobs, protect the climate and save our reef then renewables are the way to go. It is perfectly clear to us. I am really proud to be speaking in support of this Greens bill, and I would urge both sides of politics to return their fossil fuel donations and vote for job creation and clean energy with the science and with the community. I won't be holding my breath, though, because we saw our new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, when Treasurer, brandish a lump of coal and tell us all there was nothing to worry about. I think the latest national climate policy is: 'Let's pray for rain.' I am not a religious person myself, but I won't be betting the house on prayer being the answer to climate change. With all due respect to the Prime Minister, I think the Australian community deserves slightly more from a climate policy than praying for rain.

We've seen the politics of climate change continue to roll out. We now have a new Prime Minister. The former Prime Minister got dumped for espousing Tony Abbott's targets. It's sort of ironic that the targets that then Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed this nation up to, which are woefully inadequate, were seen to be too tight and too tough on the fossil fuel industry such that then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was rolled and our current Prime Minister—who has abandoned the National Energy Guarantee altogether and who has said that emissions are a distant priority and that bringing down power prices is the main priority—was installed. I've got a suggestion for the Prime Minister: you can fix electricity prices; why don't you just re-regulate them? You're the Prime Minister. You've got the numbers, or may soon have the numbers—well, maybe not so much in Wentworth—or perhaps you won't be in government anymore. The point is that this parliament has the ability to re-regulate power prices.

So, rather than pointing the finger and giving public money to try and prop up coal, this government should do its job, regulate to reduce power prices and invest in clean energy. That will set us up for the future. It will protect what's left of our precious Great Barrier Reef. It will help safeguard us from the devastating extreme weather events that are wreaking havoc on our communities and wreaking absolute havoc on our regional neighbours. We know that renewables are cheaper. We know they will bring down the cost of power. We know we can transition those communities onto clean energy. We know we don't want the hypocrisy of this government, which claims to back the free market but wants to give handouts to the coal industry.

It is my great pleasure to be speaking in support of this bill. For the sake of future generations—and for our regional neighbours who are starting to drown and for whom the saltwater incursion on their food-producing land is a serious problem—I call on both sides of politics to support this bill.