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

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by the Minister for Trade and Tourism (Senator Farrell) to a question without notice I asked today.

I asked the minister about the future gas strategy. I'm hoping that the folks out there are paying attention because this is fact: right now, we are in a climate crisis. I know some people in this place have their cooked theories and their denial that climate change exists. At this end of the chamber, people who respect the science know that it does exist. I come from a state where last week we were in a three-day heatwave of 41 degrees. That will happen again at the end of this week. Every report that comes out of every organisation—not for profit and government—UN agency and international body acknowledges this. These reports in fact say that it is becoming more and more dire. This is very, very clear in those reports that detail we must be moving away from fossil fuels. We must be transitioning to renewable energy. We have to have the plans in place to shut down some of those existing facilities and support workers, more importantly, through that transition.

So, as Minister Farrell put it in his response to me, just flipping a switch is not what we're talking about. We asked about a transition plan. We asked for a transition. There is a big difference between existing coal and gas projects in the country and upgrading and having new projects. Which is that? We are asking the government to answer us. We want an answer about what they are actually going to do. What about the answers they gave to the coalition about keeping the lights on? No-one wants to hear that rhetoric. We want actual answers from the government about what they are going to do.

We know that we need to transition in order to have the best opportunity and chance of avoiding some of the catastrophic impacts of rising sea levels, storms, droughts, floods and fires happening all over this country. If you have conversations in your own electorates with your own constituents about how that is affecting them in Far North Queensland or in my home state of WA, you will know—and I hope that you know and are paying attention—the impact it is having on people's lives. We cannot sit here. We know there has not been any action for the past decade—action that is desperately needed by our communities.

We also know what state capture looks like. For those folks out there watching in digital land today, state capture is about accepting millions of dollars from the fossil fuel companies, having our systems captured in this country. There is proven evidence of that. I just happen to have some of those figures on hand. In the 2022-23 financial year, the Mineral Council of Australia donated $213,000 to the major parties. Santos donated $169,000, Tamboran donated $28,000 and Woodside donated $97,500. The minister himself showed in his answer how this government is linked to the gas cartels. 'The gas industry are completely correct,' he responded to me. There was no critical thinking and no care about how commercial interests are at play here. Of course the gas industry wants to continue. They want to continue to make billions and billions of dollars and play a role well into our future facilitated by the Minister for Resources, who had a junket over to Japan and might as well get a job at Brumbies as a baker, baking in the next 26 years of gas coming out of this country for trade and not for domestic use.

The role of this government is not listening to the science, continuing to entertain the gas companies instead of actually listening and making a plan for some tangible outcomes for our communities. They're not looking forward on that. I thought there was a policy announcement coming when Minister Farrell said, 'Right now.' I am waiting with bated breath to see APPEA's new media release, Minister Farrell, because it will have your policy announcement there. That's exactly what they will do.

Or the chamber of minerals, resources and energy will have the media release ready to go for this government.

Question agreed to.