Ben Small (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Here we go again—more alarmism from the Greens, who told us before the Prime Minister went to the G7 that he would be isolated, cast aside and ignored on the world stage. But, instead, the only distance we saw at the G7 was COVID social distancing because, in fact, the Prime Minister has been recognised, much like a very solid former senator here from Western Australia, my predecessor, Mathias Cormann, who, in travelling the globe in order to secure the secretary-generalship of the OECD, told Australia's incredibly powerful story when it comes to achievement in reducing emissions. That's so much more important than talking points, promises, commitments and vacuous statements of intent. Achievement is what actually matters, and that is where Australia has a great story to tell on emissions reduction.

At the same time, this is a government that is focused on achieving affordable, reliable and secure energy for all Australian households and businesses. They are the three pillars that we absolutely need in a reliable energy market: we need affordability, we need reliability and we need sustainability—no doubt about that—because of the impact that power interruptions or significant increases in energy prices have not only on us as Australian citizens in our houses but more broadly on the Australian economy. We need to see small, medium and large businesses in industries like manufacturing grow in order to diversify the Australian economy as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, so they are the people that we target our policies at. That's why the government is taking real and practical action to deliver lower emissions at the same time as we protect our economy, protect Australian jobs and protect, most importantly, the investment that will deliver jobs into the future.

As the Prime Minister and the energy minister are fond of saying, the government's approach is driven by technology and not by taxes. We will not wilfully tax Australian business into the ground and cast thousands of Australians out of work. We are the party that supports Australians getting on with what they do best at the same time as we make the necessary investments and the technologies that unlock emissions reduction into the future.

We have a great story to tell here, not only on emissions reduction but also on our achievements in energy prices. Wholesale electricity prices on the east coast are at their lowest levels in more than nine years. There have been 19 straight months of price falls following the introduction of the big stick by this government. That's where we see the rubber hitting the road; that is what the average Australian experiences out in their home or in their business. It's what matters to them and it's what matters to us. Household retail prices are 11.2 per cent lower than they were just one year ago.

At the same time, not resting on our laurels from that great record of achievement, the government is making the necessary investments to ensure that reliable and affordable power continues to be available, and that's what underpins our investments in the Kurri Kurri power generation facility through Snowy. At the same time as the Labor Party and the crossbench are paying lip service to the gas industry, which generates tens of thousands of jobs for Australians directly and underpins the economic activity through our small businesses and our communities, we are not only supporting the energy industry but supporting the technology that will continue to deliver the sorts of results that have led to Australia being very isolated in achieving our Kyoto commitments and beyond. That's the only isolation that Australia feels at the moment. In fact, we beat our 2020 emissions reduction target by some 459 million tonnes. The latest forecasts show that Australia is on track not only to meet its 2030 Paris target but to beat it. Over the last two years, our position against that 2030 target has improved by some 639 million tonnes. What went before was good, what we're doing now is great and what is yet to come will be even better. This government has achieved the equivalent of taking all of Australia's 14.7 million cars off the road, not for a week, not for a month, not even for a year but for 15 years. That's quite an achievement. Further, between 2005 and 2019, our emissions fell faster than emissions fell in Canada, New Zealand, Japan and the United States, faster even that the OECD average overall. Emissions through electricity generation itself have fallen to the lowest level since records began, down an incredible 5.6 per cent in the last year alone, and the record levels of investment in renewable energy are continuing.

In 2020, some 7,000 megawatts of renewable power was installed in Australia. That's the difference between a taxing, spending, big-government approach advocated by those opposite and the record of the Morrison government in embracing renewable energy as part of an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy generation future for Australia. That 7,000 megawatts of renewable power installed under this government, in the last year alone, is more than what was installed under Labor during their six long years of government. Whilst we're often attacked for somehow being anti renewable energy, more renewables have been installed in the last year—in the course of a global pandemic—than were installed in the entirety of the last Labor government. Australia now has the highest amount of solar generation capacity per person of any country in the world. We have the most wind generation capacity of any country outside Europe, and electricity generation emissions, overall, as I've been clear to point out, are at the lowest level on record.

We've got to keep this momentum going. That's why the Morrison government has a clear plan to do so through the Technology Investment Roadmap. Our commitment through that process is clear: lower prices, keeping the lights on and doing our bit to reduce global emissions without wrecking the economy, and we're seeing the results. Advancing the next generation of low-emissions technology is crucial to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. That's why our investment in the technology road map will maintain a reliable and secure energy supply for all Australians at the same time as living up to our commitments and delivering on them, most importantly, on the world stage. Our experience has been that, when new technologies become economically competitive, they're rapidly adopted by Australian businesses and households, and that is certainly unchanged by the COVID pandemic.

Our comprehensive plan to invest in sustainable, renewable and affordable power will ultimately mean that we have power for Australian households and businesses to do what they need to. We will have our necessary commitment to the global emissions reduction targets. We will be accelerating the investment in things like hydrogen, carbon capture and soil carbon measurement, and that will unlock the potential for advanced manufacturing and for long-duration energy storage. Ultimately, it will support 160,000 new jobs by 2030 and cement Australia's position as a world-leading exporter not only of energy but of food, fibre, minerals and advanced technologies. I thank the Senate.