Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Acting Deputy President. We note that hospitals in rural and regional areas don't have enough money to repair and upgrade their facilities, there has been a constant backlog of highway repairs needed, and there has been little to no investment to upgrade our rail network, not to mention the infrastructure for the transition of electric vehicles. However, under the previous government, billions of dollars was invested into infrastructure projects related to fossil fuels. Over $1 billion was committed to the Beetaloo via both direct and indirect funding. The indirect investments included: $173.6 million for the NT gas industry road upgrade; $300 million for low-emission LNG, clean hydrogen production at Darwin, and carbon capture and storage infrastructure; and $1.5 billion for a new port infrastructure at the Middle Arm harbour, which we heard about today during question time. All of this investment happened while First Nations communities, in the Northern Territory in particular, have entire families living in one room. So rural and regional communities who need health and education facilities and roads are being taken for a ride.

Once again the major parties are propping up the fossil fuel industry in this place at the expense of everybody else. Once again the major parties are doing the dirty work of those fossil fuel companies so that they can keep raking in millions of dollars of donations. These companies don't need the money. They are making record-breaking profits and they are not paying any taxes on them. So, yes, I agree infrastructure is important and we need to invest in it. But we need investment into regional and rural Australia that is linked to and led by Australian communities, that includes an independent assessment of the applications with clear and transparent criteria in their decision-making processes.

Like previous governments, this government is continuing to support the fossil fuel industry that is destroying our planet and is funnelling public money through these infrastructure projects to pave the way for them to keep going and, worse still, to have those assets abandoned. We need to transition to renewable energy, and we need to do it now. The good news is that this is already starting to happen, and we are seeing the global pressure from our markets for fossil fuels to dry up.

So why does the government keep spending more money in building new infrastructure for these projects, especially when the science has told us that we can't open up any more new coal and gas mines or extend the life of the existing ones? This continued investment is propping up a dying industry which will only benefit the executives of these companies whilst throwing workers and communities under the bus. They will continue to extract dirty fossil fuels as long as they can, long after the supply chain is gone and no longer profitable.

My colleague Senator Penny Allman-Payne has a bill which will establish the National Energy Transition Authority to guide Australia's shift into an economy powered by reliable, secure and low-cost renewable energy. This can only be done by working with communities, workers, unions, industry and government at all levels to create jobs and to open up those new export markets. The climate crisis is here, and there is no doubt. But our infrastructure is no longer fit for purpose, and some of it was not fit for purpose to begin with. We need to make sure that we are making an investment in the right place. (Time expired)