Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I have to commend Senator Green for getting through 10 minutes on an MPI put forward by the Greens around banning coal and gas without mentioning either of those particular fossil fuels. I was enlightened by your contribution there about the Labor Party's—now government—policy to legislate, but I'm still at a loss to understand, based on that contribution, where you stand on this MPI. I'm sure other government speakers will enlighten us on exactly where they stand, but I'll put on record my views and the views of the opposition here, which have been made clear time and time again.

Sometimes, though, I do think that some in this place live in a parallel universe. I think we could be forgiven for thinking that because today we saw the inflation number released—6.1 per cent. I don't think we should just brush off and forget about that figure and not pay attention to the impact it's going to have on Australian households and businesses, job-creating entities. These sorts of things are an important backdrop to the motion that the Greens have so generously put down for us, as put forward by Senator Waters:

The biggest causes of climate change is the extraction and burning of coal and gas. To prevent the climate crisis getting worse, no new coal and gas projects can be developed in Australia.

Now they've spoken to that as a standalone statement today, but the impacts of doing that on the economy—and I mentioned earlier on today that there are two fragile things that we need to take into account here: (1) the environment and (2) the economy. Environmental decisions have an impact on the economy, on people's jobs, on their ability to pay power bills, on their ability to keep food on the table and on their ability to keep their businesses running, and to make a decision over here with absolutely no regard for what impact it will have over there is a ridiculous approach to public policy, and that is exactly what we're seeing here. I can see why Senator Green refused to even go near it, because it is difficult for the Labor Party to reconcile their rhetoric around fossil fuels and the problems they're going to have when it comes to the Australian Greens and trying to legislate in this place and deal with their demands when it comes to things like this.

I've already mentioned inflation hitting 6.1 per cent, hitting a many-decades-held record, which is, as I say, going to have an impact. We know that, similarly, power prices are going sky high and that from June 2021 prices have gone up in the National Electricity Market by 200 to 300 per cent. That's a huge amount. We know that Labor won't be able to fulfil their promise to the Australian people from just nine weeks ago that power bills will go down by $275. Bank interest rates are going up. Fuel—the cost of fuel—to put into your car is going up. And Australian households are hurting. They're doing it tough. So, on the first substantive day of sitting in this parliament, in the Australian Senate, when we're here debating this issue with absolutely no regard for the impact that it has on households and businesses, it's something Australians need to wake up to and listen to, to see the impacts that these sorts of policies, this sort of direction, would have on households that are doing it tough and on Australians that are working hard. It is something, frankly, that the Greens should probably reflect upon, given it demonstrates how out of touch they are with Australians, who just want to get on and live their lives and want the government to bring in policies that help them live their lives, to make a better future for themselves and their children, to have a go and to get rewarded—you know, those great Australian ideals. But, as I say, this MPI has been written with zero regard for the impact such a call would have on the ability of honest, hardworking Australians to make a go of things.

We already know the facts around how much the resources specified in this MPI contribute to energy generation in this country. The great bulk of energy generated in this country is from these resources. Now, we know there are plans. The government have outlined their plan to transition to renewables, but the idea that you can just shut down exploration and expansion of existing resources, which are going to be needed—any expert will tell you that—without forcing businesses and households, hospitals and schools to turn the lights off, the heaters off, is a short-sighted, cynical stunt which will have bad impacts on Australians.

Let's say this MPI and what the Greens would love to do to Australia in some dystopian world became reality, when would the lights switch off? Would it be in five years, 10 years? When would we not be able to keep the lights on in schools or store in appropriate refrigeration units vital medicines in hospitals? When would we stop being able to do that? When would you be sitting in the dark at home eating your dinner? When would the factories stop being able to do what they do best, manufacture, something we want to do more of here, with our resources rather than outsourcing it to countries that do burn fossil fuels? That is something you guys seem to forget about. The jobs are lost, the businesses are shut down and the cycle goes on and on, and this is something that these trite statements, these motions that we see from time to time never, ever take account of and never have any regard for. Those people who work in those industries and those people impacted, they don't matter, apparently.

We only have to come down to Tasmania, where we have businesses that do rely on coal to be able to do what they do. The Railton cement factory, for one, is something. We have this shortage of material to go into the housing and construction sector. But let's say the Fingal colliery ran out of coal and needed to expand, I presume if the Greens had their way we would no longer be able to source coal. We would not be able to produce concrete to be able to feed that plant and, of course, the housing and construction sector but that doesn't matter. How about the Norske Skog paper mill in the Derwent Valley? It doesn't matter. They use coal to fire their boilers. They are looking for alternatives, of course. I am sure they are ones that we would want to stand in the way of. But, as it stands, under your motion, we would be standing in the way of that and the 500 or 600 jobs in the Derwent Valley. Who cares? Don't worry, that community does not matter. This is the thing. There is no regard for these people and no consideration at all for the flow-on effects this would have for the economy and, indeed, also for the environment.

I'm waiting to see what the alternatives are. I look at a bit of recent history around what we could be doing, because if we're shutting down fossil fuel use and there are no more new gas or coal operations and projects across this country then where would we be sourcing this energy that we need to be a competitive economy from? In this fragile economy I talked about before, the one that's facing the economic headwinds that the government have already been talking about and the international community is bracing for, where would we get this alternative energy from?

I heard Senator Whish-Wilson refer to 'renew economy' earlier on. I was looking at the website and there was a link on there talking about how the Greens opposed the Marinus Link, a vital piece of infrastructure which is there to generate investment in renewable energy, in the battery of the nation, expanding our hydro generation. But no, we can't have that. So, okay, we can't have hydro. We all know the Greens were given birth to out of the Franklin dam dispute, so they are definitely against hydro. They also opposed the Robbins Island windfarm, one example of renewables they're opposed to. So we have hydro, we have wind but they are a no go. So where would we be getting this energy from? They want to be a part of the solution here but they don't provide solutions; they just tell us what we shouldn't be doing. They have no regard for honest hardworking men and women who will be impacted by this. But I'm not surprised by this and I doubt a great many Australians would be either, to be honest with you.

We in Tasmania know exactly what we're dealing with here when it comes to this sort of thing and the party behind the movement of such MPIs and motions. When you have the Greens near the levers of power, bad things happen. We warned Australians about this and here we are, the first substantive day of sitting in the Senate, and this is the first thing they chuck down. I tell you, this is what we need to expect. It is a word of warning to the Australian Labor Party, the government, we all know you have two pathways to legislate in this place. One of them is with the Australian Greens, and we've just been given a sneak preview of the kinds of things, I dare say, probably the stuff they've been laying on the table in new negotiations over your legislated 43 per cent reduction in emissions bill. This is what the world is in for in Australia. At a time when people can't pay their mortgages, can't pay their power bills and can't put fuel in the car, this is what the Australian Greens are proposing. It is a dim, dark future not just because we can't keep the lights on but because the policies this crew put forward are bad for Australia, are bad for businesses and households and will mean economic disruption and the removal of our ability to compete in the international economy.