Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a commitment that we took to the last election, and we on this side honour our commitments. Apparently, as we heard tonight, it is only we on this side who believe in honouring election commitments. It's something I'm quite proud of. Labor don't support mining, and they don't support the regions that rely on it. Labor has just gone through an NT election claiming that they support the onshore oil and gas industry. Is that about to change? Are they about to follow their southern masters? It's no surprise that last week, when Labor stood up against mining jobs, the CFMEU announced that they are backing away from Queensland Labor. Is our NT onshore oil and gas and future coal industry the next thing they're going to attack? 'But we don't need oil, gas, coal et cetera, because we have renewables'—renewables, or the dole bludgers of the energy mix, as my good friend Senator Canavan calls them.

Last week in this place Senator McAllister brought up the Territory's Sun Cable project, and I'm glad she did. For those who aren't aware, this project involves filling a cattle station paddock on the Barkly full of solar panels and running an extension cord over to Singapore. Present estimates for this project are that it will cost about $25 billion, or over eight small modular reactors. Labor brags about this number of $25 billion as though it is something to be proud of. Let's not forget, this project is predicated on a raft of technologies that do not exist. One only needs to look at Labor's history of fiscal mismanagement to understand how this massive expense rolls off their talking point sheets so easily.

Compounding their gross lack of understanding of renewables is their adherence to the inane notion that solar and wind power is free. That's right: they tell people that renewables are free or cheaper than coal- and gas-fired power stations. Why? Because you are the hoaxers, Senator Ayres and Senator Rice. You are the hoaxers, not those of us on this side of this place. The fact that the sun shines and the wind blows only partially explains their position. But the most alarming element is that when Labor spends taxpayers' money on rebates and subsidies they pretend that the money came from nowhere. Indeed, they factor that spending into their argument to make the cost of renewables appear lower. As with all Labor governments I've seen in Australia, that economy is a false one. In reality, the sun shines less than half the time; the wind blows intermittently. When renewables do produce power, you need to have a means by which to store that power. Those of us on this side of the house know this, and the concept is one that we see, understand and plan for. Labor prefer to remain in their fantasy world of unicorns and flying horses, of making announcements and pretending they will become a reality.

The productivity report into the power and water authority in the Northern Territory that came out earlier this year highlighted the imminent collapse of significant portions of the NT power grid because, while solar farms are being built everywhere, nobody actually thought to install a battery. Worse, they didn't even have any future plans to do so. That's right: all sun and no fun. When the sun sets, the solar power goes away, and then Territorians must rely on something other than renewables. For more than four months every year, the monsoon season rolls across the Top End of the NT, and guess what? There's no sunlight. In Queensland, right now, communities can have a coal-fired power station for about $2 billion. Two billion dollars is a great deal of money, but it's a fraction of the $25 billion for the solar powered project in the Northern Territory.

My Queensland colleagues in the Senate assure me that the sunshine state is, in fact, sunless for at least half of every day. I also know that in northern parts of Queensland many areas are affected by the seasonal monsoons inhibiting sunlight. How much impact do these attributes have on power in communities in Queensland? They have none. And do you know why, Madam Acting Deputy President Askew? It's because Queensland has coal-fired power stations.