Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution in response to the address by the Governor-General at the commencement of this 47th Parliament, and I'm really pleased to do so today. While it has been a little while now since His Excellency addressed this parliament, I'm grateful for the opportunity to reflect on those sentiments at the start of this parliamentary term. I have the benefit of six months of government, though, through which to reflect and remark on the address that was made. While I was updating my remarks before this sitting of parliament, it occurred to me how pleased I was to see how consistent the themes and aspirations of His Excellency's address were with the reality of what our government has already achieved in the past six months.

The Governor-General spoke about our ambition for a future made in Australia, where we invest in Australian workers, skills, supply chains and sovereignty, through the National Reconstruction Fund. I'm pleased to say that this legislation has been introduced into parliament, and, despite what those opposite have said about their opposition, we are committed to bringing manufacturing back home. He spoke about the investment in Australia's infrastructure—something that has been a cornerstone of our first budget. Much of our government's work will be in not only restoring the reputation of our infrastructure department—ending the rorts and waste and the colour-coded spreadsheets—but ensuring that our regions have the investment that they need for the future.

The Governor-General also spoke about our government's commitment to climate action. Although many things have differentiated us from the previous government, our ambition on climate action has been the most stark. That's because, like most Australians, we recognise both the urgency and the opportunity that comes with taking action on climate change. Last year, climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen made Australia's first annual statement on climate change. In it, he laid out the urgency of the action that is required. He said:

Our country was devastated by the Black Summer bushfires just a few years ago.

But, as frightening as that bushfire season was, the absence of action will see the temperatures and conditions of that year become normal by the 2040s and become a 'good year' by the 2060s.

Our government is prepared to act to stem the tide of that forecast. We are prepared to listen to the science, to implement change, to deliver policies that create good jobs and to listen to what the Australian people voted for.

I'm proud that one of our first actions in government was, with the support of many in this parliament, to pass the Climate Change Act. This legislation finally sets medium- and long-term emissions reduction targets. With the passage of this legislation in our first 100 days, we finally provided the certainty and stability to industry, to businesses and to the community that had been missing for almost a decade in government. It means business, industry and investors can plan for our future prosperity with a new level of certainty and confidence. We took a careful and collaborative approach to determining our target because that's the kind of government we are and that's the kind of economy we are striving to create. This certainty delivers massive opportunity for progress in our economy and for our nation.

Our Powering Australia plan is already making headway on aligning our climate ambitions with our economic goals. Last week, Minister Bowen announced a global partnership for investment in green hydrogen with Germany and the Netherlands. These partnerships are just a drop in the ocean of work done by our government to re-engage internationally on climate. From COP27, the Quad and the G20 to our work with our Pacific family, we have resurrected Australia's international leadership on climate, one that was left for dead for over a decade.

On a community and household level, work has already begun on 400 community batteries, which are part of the Albanese Labor government's commitment to complement our climate ambitions with our cost-of-living commitments.

Our government is moving quickly to clean up the mess left by the previous government's failure to deliver an electric vehicle strategy. When we came to government last year, Australia's electric car sales were five times below the international average, at just two per cent of total sales. Our government has already passed on tax cuts to businesses who make the decision to invest in electric fleets. We have also partnered with the NRMA to develop our national electric vehicle charging network, making sure there's a fast-charger once every 150 kilometres on average on Australian highways. Of course, as a government asking the Australian people to walk with us on this economy-wide transformation, we are committed to demonstrating commitment and integrity of our own. We are working with all arms of government to meet our commitment of net zero by 2030.

We also know that, in order to make good on our climate targets and Powering Australia, we need infrastructure to be fit for purpose. Our electricity system is one of the biggest emitters, and if we reach our climate ambition we need an electricity system to accommodate more renewables—from 30 to 82 per cent over the next eight years. That is a difficult target to meet when we have had 10 years of inaction under the previous government. Our Rewiring the Nation policy will ensure our transmission infrastructure is up to the task, with its investment costed in our first budget. All of this nation-building means good, meaningful jobs now and into the future. Through Powering Australia, our government is committed to creating 600,000 jobs, with five out of every six of those jobs being in the regions. Future generations will benefit from 10,000 new energy apprentices, and I look forward to seeing many of them in my backyard in regional Queensland.

As a regional Queenslander I know how much anxiety and aspiration was built into debates about climate change and energy over the last decade. Hopefully, some of that divisiveness has now changed. We feel it a lot in regional Queensland. It's a daily discussion. But regional communities like mine have always been the centrepiece of Australia's energy security and industrial prosperity. Regional Australia worked hard for the good fortune that the entire nation enjoyed over decades. We have rightly earned our place as a centrepiece of its future opportunities. Regional Australia is at the core of our plan to become a renewable energy superpower. Our communities will be central to our efforts to rebuild our manufacturing industry, underpinned by reliable and affordable energy. Regional Australia will lead the innovation and effort to re-establish our global industrial leadership.

These commitments aren't just nice things to say, or untested aspirations. They are already underway. We have hit the ground running and we are committed to delivering on our promises. I know this firsthand because a few weeks ago I was in Townsville with the Prime Minister, and we announced that $150 million is already earmarked for a green hydrogen project in Townsville. It's why Gladstone was one of the first places listed as a future location for regional hydrogen hubs in last week's joint announcement with the Netherlands. Australia's regions are hives of resources, skills and expertise. There is no better example of that than throughout Central, North and Far North Queensland—communities who are so ready, have been waiting for leadership, finally have it and can't wait to get started.

Australia is also fortunate to learn from the insights and expertise of First Nations communities on our natural environment. In my role as a senator for Queensland and Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, I speak directly with First Nations rangers, community leaders and traditional owners. It is their intimate knowledge of our country and of our natural environment that will ensure the success of our collective efforts on climate. This is why our Labor government is proud to work directly with communities to develop our very first First Nations Clean Energy Strategy. It's why we're investing in the unique expertise and perspective of the Torres Strait, a beautiful part of Queensland, by developing the Torres Strait Climate Centre of Excellence. I'm lucky to have spent quite a bit of time in this place and to have seen firsthand the intimacy with which these communities understand the unique waterways on which they live. The water is a way of life in the Torres Strait. Working in respectful partnership with Torres Strait Islanders is one of our most promising strategies to protect the land and, most importantly, the water that we all love, especially the Great Barrier Reef.

I'm proud to have played my part in Australia's climate efforts in my role as Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef. Not only is the reef one of the seven wonders of the natural world; it is a vital part of Australia's economic prosperity. Sixty-four thousand jobs rely on the reef, and those families and businesses are front of mind in all the work I do. I only wish that those families, those businesses and those jobs were front and centre in the minds of those opposite. The Albanese Labor government has already invested $1.2 billion in protecting the Great Barrier Reef and making sure it can be enjoyed for generations to come.

When you consider the scale of communities and businesses and industries that are impacted by climate uncertainty, the inaction of the previous government becomes all the more shocking. That negligence is no better demonstrated than in our manufacturing industry.

Manufacturers have been telling us for years that they need reliable, cheap energy to keep their doors open. With a sturdy climate ambition and clarity on safeguard mechanisms, our government is giving them exactly that. And it's paying dividends. Just recently, Minister Bowen opened the expanded facility at Tindo Solar. Their growth shows that we have always had the skills and expertise to make our future energy needs here but have just required the right economic conditions to make it happen. Certainty on energy, complemented by sound investment through our National Reconstruction Fund, means we are finally on the way to a future made in Australia.

While I know I've painted a picture of optimism and opportunity, there are some in this place who have spent their time in the 47th Parliament already trying to derail it. While there are some who'd let the perfect be the enemy of the good, there are those who don't even strive for good in the first place. The shameful record of those opposite on climate action didn't end on 29 May. Not even an election could change their minds. Not enough of those opposite did anything on climate for nine years. They followed it up by putting up every obstacle they could muster to stop us from doing anything in government. Well, it was not enough that voters had sent a clear message that they wanted to end the climate/culture wars; those opposite continued to roll out the same old boring scare tactics. It was not enough that they'd come into this place and repeatedly whipped up hysteria about renewable energy. They followed it by arguing for the most expensive and slow form of power and the one hardest to deliver to the market—nuclear power.

What I will give them, when it comes to their one-pronged energy plan, is that they will continue to be consistent with their conduct from their days in government. They'll propose something divisive, expensive and ineffective, provide no detail on where it will go or how it will work, and hope that everyone forgets the flop of the plan they were flogging for months before.

Those opposite will tell you that this challenge ahead of us is a zero sum game—that, if you make progress on climate, you'll lose something that you enjoy. That could not be further from the truth. We won't lose what we love about the weekend just because we can make it easier to buy an electric vehicle. Investment in renewables won't be the end of good, rewarding, renewable regional jobs. The opposition have tried for too long to pull the wool over our eyes when it comes to what we know we have to lose if we don't act on climate change. In fact, inaction, lack of investment and ignoring the challenges are what will cost us the most.

Our silver lining is the duality of our future, if we get this right. Labor's future is for a serious climate agenda and a thriving regional industry; it's a safe planet, a healthy, vibrant reef and a booming tourism industry. It's electric vehicles and a weekend spent among our unique and pristine landscapes. It's renewable energy and affordable, reliable power at home. All of these things can be true at once, but only if we act with urgency. Australia has so much to gain—