Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Urquhart, I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for Mr Morrison to deliver real action on climate change by delivering a climate change policy and legislating net zero by 2050, instead of releasing nothing but another glossy document, and undermining confidence in low emissions technology like electric vehicles by incorrectly stating that "it's not going to tow your trailer. It's not going to tow your boat. It's not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family" and that electric vehicles will "end the weekend".'

I rise to contribute on the matter of urgency moved by Senator Urquhart. We are in a global race, a race to net zero, a race to secure the global job opportunities of renewable and low-emissions technology and bring them right here to Australia. We are in a race that, under the Morrison government, we are going to lose. We are going to lose this global race because we have a Prime Minister who always does too little, too late, a Prime Minister who just does not know how to lead and who doesn't have a vision for our country ot only does this Prime Minister fail to see a bright future for Australia as a renewable superpower; he can't even see the opportunities which have always been right in front of him.

We all know that, during the 2019 election campaign, Prime Minister Morrison—famously—said that 'electric vehicles will end the weekend'. No matter how many times he tries to deny it now, that is simply what he said. Now he says electric vehicles are the key building block in the government's net zero plan. There have been two years of missed opportunity to put Australia at the front of the queue to develop an electric vehicle industry. What can we expect from the government that famously turned its back on the Australian car manufacturing industry—a move which was responsible for the loss of thousands of skilled jobs in this country? Imagine what could have been achieved for this industry and these workers if the government had had a plan and if they had acted on the opportunities before them. The story for those thousands of skilled workers and small businesses which supported the industry would have been so very different.

What can we expect from a government that is driven by politics and not by principles? What can we expect from a government which is only now seeing the advantages of green technologies, while other countries have been investing in them for decades? What a shambles is this government's climate policy. This government has seen no leadership from its Prime Minister. As the world moves rapidly towards renewable energy, Australia has the opportunity to take the lead. We have the opportunity to become a renewable energy superpower, to generate thousands of new jobs as part of a global green technology revolution, to export our renewable energy to the world and to rewire our nation to take advantage of our sun and wind. What we have, right here in Australia, right now, is the opportunity to rebuild Australian manufacturing. We have the opportunity to do that, with cheaper renewable energy to make more of what we need right here in Australia.

The world's climate emergency is Australia's jobs opportunity, and Australia needs a government that is up to the task, a government that gives the energy sector the policy certainty that it needs in order to invest, and a government that has a plan to create thousands of well-paid jobs while making power cheaper for our homes and businesses. Instead, we have a government that is absolutely divided on this issue. It is unable to move forward from outdated and completely inadequate mid-term targets and unable to legislate its net zero by 2050 target because it's afraid it won't have the numbers on its own benches to get the job done. We have a government with climate policies which have seen us fall to last place on global climate action. Without a real plan, it is Australian workers who will pay the price. If we do not act fast enough, Australian industries will face international carbon tariffs and, again, it is Australian workers who will pay the price and Australian workers who will face losing their jobs. If we don't act fast enough to seize the opportunities in front of us, workers will miss out. Australia has the most to lose if we act too slowly to respond to the global green economy, but we also have the most to gain, if only this government could act right now.

Australia is best placed to have a thriving battery manufacturing sector. We can mine the lithium that we need right here in Australia and we can use that lithium to manufacture batteries for our own electric vehicles. We can build more of what we need right here in this country, but only if we have a government that has a plan to act and harness those opportunities. We can do all of that, while creating good, secure jobs for workers right here in Australia—jobs on union sites with decent pay that will last into the future. We can do more than dig things up in this country. We can use these natural advantages that we have, our resources, and we can add value right here. That's instead of shipping them off and then just buying them back. But we need the ambition to do it and we need a government with that ambition. We need a government with the leadership to get the job done. We are falling behind because the Morrison government lacks the ambition and lacks the leadership that we need.

We are losing the global race to bring these jobs here to Australia. Australians want a government that has a plan. They want a government that will act right now. What I'm hearing from people in my home state, Victoria, is that right now is the time to bring these jobs here—right now is the time that this global race is on. Overwhelmingly, the people I've spoken to want this government to support new jobs in renewables. They know that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild manufacturing and to deliver good, secure jobs. They don't want Australian workers to miss out.

But this government has put forward a plan that is just not a plan. It is just a glossy document that is full of promises and no delivery—not unlike this government's Prime Minister. This is a glossy document that promises to get to net zero but has no plan and no policy to get us all the way there. This is a plan, a glossy document, that promises that 100,000 jobs will be created but, again, offers no policies and no plans to get that job done. I asked the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources about the government's net-zero plan during the Economics Committee hearings earlier this month. I asked about the 100,000 jobs that this government claims in its glossy document will be created. I asked when these jobs would come online and when we could expect to see them. The response from the department was: 'Well, from the perspective of the 100,000 figure, that is a longer-term projection.'

So when will we see these jobs? In five years? In 10 years? What is the government's plan? When will this government tell us how they're going to seize the global opportunities that are there right now to bring these jobs to Australia? The answer of course is that we don't know, because the government doesn't know. They have no plan and they have no vision, and this government have had eight long years to figure it out. Time is running out, because we have a leader who just doesn't know how to lead. We have a leader who is not prepared to get Australia into the global race. He's just not prepared to run the race himself. But what he is prepared to do is to let the opportunities of the future simply pass him by and pass the rest of us by as well. This Prime Minister is just not up for the job. The Morrison government has had long enough to come up with a plan, and Australia can't afford to wait any longer. The next generation can't afford to wait any longer, the planet can't afford to wait any longer and workers who need a plan for good secure jobs from this government can't afford to wait any longer either.

Australians don't want a government that thinks electric vehicles will end the weekend. They don't want a government that doesn't know how wind turbines work. They don't want a government that they can't trust to deliver good, secure jobs for local communities. They want a government with vision. They want a government that brings our country together to win this global race—a government that grasps the opportunities of the future with both hands, delivering the benefits to all Australians. (Time expired)