Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Vanuatu is calling out Australia on our nonsense. It's clearly said that Australia shouldn't host or co-host the next climate conference if we are giving public money to open up new coal, oil and gas projects. I completely agree with the Vanuatu climate minister on that.

I thought this government had made a commitment that there wouldn't be any new public money for fossil fuel subsidies, but, unfortunately, when the budget was handed down we saw some tweaks, sure, but we saw about $40 billion of the last government's fossil fuel subsidies retained by this government, who is so poor it can't put dental or mental health care into Medicare. It can't raise the rate of JobSeeker. It's too poor to do that, but it's not too poor to keep $40 billion of the last government's subsidies for the coal and gas industry. And then it has the audacity to add $1.9 billion for a new gas export terminal—without the consent of First Nations owners, I'm desperately sad to see. That's $1.9 billion for a new LNG export terminal and petrochemical hub.

We just heard from Labor: 'Oh, it might do other things as well. Don't look too hard.' Well, I'm afraid it is directly a gas export terminal that will prop up gas extraction from the Beetaloo Basin, for which the $50 million public grant fund proposed by the last government is also being retained by this government. This is a gas export terminal that will create a market for the Beetaloo gas basin, which also lacks First Nations' consent and which would be an absolute carbon bomb. So much for no fossil fuel subsidies and so much for being too poor to fund decent things in this country. The government isn't too poor to give yet more handouts to the gas companies that conveniently make large donations to both political parties.

The other thing that made me laugh/cry was the Labor Party saying this was a sustainable development precinct and not to worry because it's going to be assessed by the EPBC laws, our federal environment laws. Well, I am an environmental lawyer and I can tell you that there are no climate impacts considered under the EPBC Act because we do not yet have a climate trigger. So I'm afraid it gives me no comfort whatsoever that a gas export terminal will need tick-off from our current EPBC laws, which were written by former prime minister John Howard, because the climate impacts won't be considered.

Honestly—you could not make this stuff up! We're at $42.7 billion of public money over the forward estimates, over four years, going to prop up the fossil fuel sector—$42.7 billion over four years. That is an absolute outrage, from a government that said there wouldn't be any new public money for new coal, oil and gas, and from that same government which is crying poor when it comes to actually helping people with the cost of living and to doing things like increasing the pathetically low rate of JobSeeker, which these people kept below the poverty line.

It doesn't add up—except when you look at the donations from the coal, oil and gas industry. And of course, they only have to disclose those once a year, on 1 February. So it's just a very cosy little stitch-up.

It's no wonder that Vanuatu's climate minister is calling Australia out and urging us to not have new fossil fuel subsidies if Australia wants to host the next climate conference. The Greens are firmly in agreement with that position.

Those fossil fuel subsidies should have been dumped from the budget. There certainly should not have been $1.7 billion added for a new gas export terminal. The Labor government need to start remembering that at one time they made a commitment not to have new fossil fuel subsidies, and they ought to stick to that commitment.