Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I don't know whether Senator Waters wants a policy that basically limits the energy consumption of other countries but the truth is many countries within our region have increasing energy needs. That is a subset of increasing populations, higher living standards, fewer people living in poverty, a whole range of factors that are driving the growth of living standards.

Senator McGrath interjecting—

Thank you, Senator McGrath. Yes, indeed, fewer people living in poverty is a good thing and more people enjoying higher living standards is a good thing. Increased energy consumption is part of that. They could have chosen to use more domestic coal sources in some of those cases.