Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety) Share this | Hansard source

My, my! I feel like I should put my seatbelt on now, because here comes the mother of all scare campaigns from those opposite. They can't help themselves. But that's an argument for another day. I rise to speak against—I say that very clearly, Senator Canavan: against—the Galilee Basin (Coal Prohibition) Bill. I note this was introduced as a private senator's bill by Senator Waters on 5 December 2018, and it was sent into committee the next day. It lapsed due to the recent general election and has been placed back on the Notice Paper recently, hence the debate now. For the record, the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee recommended that the Senate not pass this bill. On this side of the chamber we have our own reasons—I'm talking about the Australian Labor Party, not the little cabal in the corner there, but this side here, the main side—for opposing this attempted legislation.

Let's have a look at this. The prominent objective of this bill is contained in the title. It seeks to prohibit thermal coal mining in the Galilee Basin, which is a large Queensland coal resource which lies some 300-odd kilometres inland from Gladstone. The bill is quite specific about its prohibitions. One: it applies to constitutional corporations. Two: it applies to thermal coal which is used to generate electricity. Three: it even names the Adani Carmichael mine, which intends to mine around 10 million tonnes of coal per year for the Indian electricity sector. The bill also prohibits any proposal from a company owned by other Australians. The penalty for mining thermal coal from the Galilee Basin would be two years in prison or 1,000 penalty units. Any company that has already invested in the basin would be compensated on what Australians call 'just terms'. That's quite clear: no mining of the Galilee Basin; no coal; no Adani.

The rationale behind this bill, according to Senator Waters' speech in this place on 5 December of 2018, is to keep global emissions below a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius on pre-industrial levels. The senator claims that, if the entire Galilee Basin were to be developed as a mine, it would add some 700 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere each year, whereas Australia currently produces 400 million tonnes a year. According to Senator Waters and the Australian Greens, the only way to stop global warming rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius is to, in their words, 'keep coal in the ground'.

The Greens' rationale raises some factual issues. Firstly, the Greens' scenario entails the entire Galilee Basin being mined, which it is not. There is one project with an approval in that basin. We all know that's the Adani Carmichael mine. It intends, as I said earlier, to mine 10 million tonnes per year in phase 1 of its operation. Ten million tonnes is not a small coalmine, but it's not what you would call huge. Existing Australian coalmines such as Blackwater and Peak Downs produce around 12 million tonnes per year.

Another problem with the Greens' rationale for the bill is that they want to count emissions that are not created in Australia. Adani is exporting all of its coal to Indian power generators—a country where around 300 million people have no access to utility-scale power. I point out that the Paris climate agreement makes each signatory nation responsible for its own national emissions and responsible for its emission reduction commitments. The IPCC has a territorial emissions accounting system, which counts only the emissions produced within a country's borders. This is the system used to measure the Kyoto and Paris agreements. There is also the system that our own Department of the Environment and Energy uses to plot Australian greenhouse gas emissions. Australia can't be responsible for India's emissions any more than Australia can shirk its responsibilities for emissions created by imported gasoline and aviation fuel.

There are several other points to be made about the Galilee Basin bill, and the most obvious are economic. Our resources sector is an important industry. Resources made $290 billion worth of exports in the last financial year and account for more than 50 per cent of Australian exports by value. How does the resources sector do this? It takes a workforce of more than 240,000 people—around 1.1 million people when you factor in the associated resources businesses and the services sector. More than half of the resources sector's employees live in regional Australia, making it a cornerstone of many regional economies.

There are 52,000 Australians working in the coalmining industry. These are highly skilled people who earn more than the average wage. Resources employees earn, on average, $2,659 per week, which is 65 per cent higher than the national average wage. And 67 per cent of the minerals workforce hold a certificate III level qualification or higher, and apprentices and trainees make up four per cent of the national workforce.

The resources sector has a higher proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working for it than any other industry. The mining sector employed 6,599 Indigenous Australians in 2016, which is 3.9 per cent of Indigenous employees. That's 2½ times the number that were employed in 2006. By comparison, non-Indigenous mining employment grew by 1½ times over the same period. More than 60 per cent of Australian minerals projects neighbour Indigenous communities.

There are broader economic benefits attributable to the mining industry. Deloitte Access Economics say that the mining industry paid $185 billion in federal company tax and state and territory royalties between 2006 and 2016. In the financial year ending 2017, the minerals sector paid $12.1 billion in company tax and $11.2 billion in royalties, making the resources sector the second-largest contributor to company tax revenue. Labor welcomes the royalties and taxes paid by mining companies. They fund our education and health sectors and make possible so much of our civil infrastructure.

Projects such as the Adani mine in the Galilee Basin also require a lot of investment in the form of capital expenditure. This is the investment you make upfront before you earn any revenue. Most of that investment is foreign direct investment, which is known as FDI. The mining sector relies on foreign direct investment. According to DFAT, there was $365.5 billion of FDI in Australian mining in 2018, which was 37.8 per cent of all FDI in Australia. The Queensland government has estimated that, for every $1 billion in FDI into Australia, 1,000 jobs are created.

Most senators would know that one of the many drivers of FDI in Australia is low sovereign risk. Indeed, CSIRO has nominated our favourable environment with 'social-economic and political stability, with supportive national policies and services' as a competitive advantage for Australia when attracting investment. Given this global advantage we should all be concerned with actions that put Australia's reputation at risk, such as with proposed laws that can nullify or expropriate significant capital investments. Labor is committed to maintaining a positive sovereign risk profile for Australian mining because, without foreign direct investment, we wouldn't have the resources sector as we know it.

Labor also acknowledges that the Galilee Basin (Coal Prohibition) Bill 2018 has the potential to be inconsistent with the Constitution, which prohibits expropriation without just compensation and therefore potentially leaves the Australian government liable for compensation payments. Labor does not support actions, policies or legislation which would have the effect of stripping investors of lawfully held assets, titles, tenements and/or approvals.

We should also recognise that Australia already has a high-quality system of approvals and oversight when it comes to unlocking our resources. These approvals are run by the state, territory and Commonwealth governments, and they are predominantly driven by independent, evidence based agencies and highly professional, experienced people. So, given the number of Queensland and Commonwealth hurdles that the Adani company has had to jump, not to mention the court challenges and ministerial decisions, we, meaning Labor, don't believe it's advantageous to this nation in the long term to have legislation that singles out companies and even people for prohibition.

The facts are these: Australia is a country that digs up minerals and extracts oil and gas, and we sell these products to the world. These products bring good jobs and make us a truly wealthy nation, with a capacity to fund the best in health care, education and public infrastructure. Adani has done nothing wrong. The company seems to have met all of our approvals criteria. The company says it will create around 1,500 jobs in central Queensland and will eventually inject no less than $21 billion into the Australian economy. It is building rail infrastructure, and the mine will have an operating life of up to 90 years. These are not inconsiderable benefits for regional Australians. Because this issue focuses so strongly on emissions, let's remember that the Adani company is also investing in renewables. It has a solar farm at Moranbah, which can power up to 23,000 homes. It is building an even larger solar facility in Whyalla, South Australia.

Why am I talking about renewables? It is because Labor is committed to renewable energy and greenhouse gas abatement strategies that keep Australia in line with the Paris climate agreement's attempt to keep global warming beneath two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. Labor will pursue policies that ensure Australia has net zero emissions by 2050—no surprise. However, Australian coal is exported to the Asia-Pacific market, both thermal and metallurgical coal, because of that region's need for cheap, reliable power generation and for steelmaking. The International Energy Agency, in its World energy outlook 2018, noted that, because of Asia-Pacific demand, Australian coal exports would grow by 20 per cent by 2040. Australia will continue to earn revenues by selling high-quality coal to the Asia-Pacific so that they can develop their economies.

Labor supports the development of renewables as part of Australia's future energy solutions. Unlike Senator Canavan, the former resources minister, who we just heard from, Labor does not see renewables as 'dole bludgers'. Large resources companies are already investing in renewables and future energy technologies. Shell's new commercial solar farm project in Queensland is a real example of how the resources sector is ensuring that it is part of the renewable energy future. The Gangarri solar project is a partnership with the local tradition owners, the Yiman people. The project will provide rewarding jobs and training opportunities, building capacity and support for local community groups. It will produce 120 megawatts, which is enough energy to power 50,000 homes and reduce emissions by 300,000 tonnes per year. This is a good thing.

Another renewable project in WA is the Agnew gold mine, which will be home to Australia's largest hybrid renewable energy microgrid and the first mine site to use wind generation. According to Agnew, the microgrid will have a total power generation capacity of 54 megawatts, including 19 megawatts of gas and diesel, 18 megawatts of wind, four megawatts of solar and 13 megawatts of battery storage—Adani's Whyalla and Moranbah renewables projects are in keeping with this investment. It's also striving to be a leading supplier of renewable energy in Australia. It's an example of how the resources sector is doing its bit to get the balance right in our future energy solutions.

Australia should be a leader in reducing emissions. Australia should be a leader in finding solutions for other countries who also want to reduce their emissions, even as Labor does not support providing public funding or concessional loans for the development of the Galilee Basin. If investments or developments are to occur, they must stack up financially without public assistance. However, Australia has a role to play in ensuring that countries who do not enjoy access to electricity are able to, due to our resources sector. The Greens don't have the right to pick and choose who will have access to reliable and affordable power, and they don't have the right to destabilise what is a successful and stable investment environment for resources and energy projects in our proud nation. Labor opposes the bill.