Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Deputy President. I'll take that compliment. I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Birmingham today relating to nuclear energy.

This government, sadly, is proving to be, I put to you, Deputy President, the worst government since Federation. This is a terrible government, and it has demonstrated time and time again that it is not up for governing in relation to the important matters that relate to the running of this country. This government is a terrible government. Bring on the election as soon as we possibly can, I say, because the Australian people are really starting to wise up to how bad this government really is.

Just in the last few days, this government has embarrassed itself yet again on the international stage in going over to this conference on climate and not siding with the usual international partners in relation to energy. We could have gone there and really shared and led the way, but, no, we didn't. This government is like the dog that caught the car: now it doesn't know what to do with it. This government said that it was going to have some real action on climate change, lead with integrity and honesty, and deal with issues such as cost of living.

Yet on all of those matters they are proving to be incapable.

When it comes to nuclear energy, the world has accepted that in order to meet the objectives around climate change, to breach net zero—regardless of what your position is on net zero; I mean, if you set a target, then obviously you have to seek to reach it—the only way to actually meet those objectives around net zero is to include nuclear in your energy mix. This government, due to their ideology—which seems to trip them up every single time, whether it's on immigration, whether it's on industrial relations or whether it's on matters of the economy and certainly here with energy—are tripped up. They're tripped up by their own ideology.

The minister responsible, the member for McMahon—Australia's energy champion—has no idea. He says the only way Australia can meet these objectives around net zero is to use renewable energy. Senator Wong, when she came in here and answered the question on this matter today, said Australia is the sunniest place on the planet, or words to that effect—and she's right; it is. I think there's only one other place, maybe in Africa. But everyone knows the sun doesn't shine all day; the wind doesn't blow all day. So if you're going to produce your energy requirements just off renewables, you need to then have a significant—enormous—scale of storage that is just not feasible. So, nuclear provides a clean, efficient and reliable source of power that is necessary to provide that reliable and affordable power to Australians, to industry.

Imagine the sorts of industries we could see here if we had an abundant source of energy, a reliable source of energy, an affordable source of energy that nuclear can provide. But this government, because of their ideology, is lost at sea. There are countries around the world where there are even green parties supporting nuclear, like in Germany. In the United States, which is divided on so many issues, the left and the right have come together and recognised that nuclear provides a solution for them—on the left because of reducing emissions, and on the right because of the energy security. They've come together. They recognise that nuclear provides a future for that country. Australia, sadly, is one of the few countries in the world now that is not embracing this. This government ought to be leading the way, but it's not on the international stage, like on so many fronts.