Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

So many speakers before this have made this a battle between renewables and nuclear. It is not that; it is far more than that. It is about certainty and credibility as we go forward. What we've seen is net zero reduction achievements of zero or 0.2 or nothing over the last two years of this government, which goes to the crux of this matter: they're not doing it; they're not getting on with it.

When we go to Senate estimates and they talk about their 43 per cent renewable target, we hear evidence from their own departments and their own ministers that says their goal is 38 per cent with extensions for another five per cent. Let's look at those extensions. They're the energy emissions bill, which was reduced, so that's actually not going to achieve what they want. Then there's the Safeguard Mechanism. That's not going to achieve what they want. And they're rolling out power for the 38 per cent more slowly than they ever thought possible. So their policy is not working. The results are on the scoreboard. There is very little reduction in emissions, and the progress towards other energy is going ever more slowly.

Mums and dads at home want to have certainty—short of putting their kids in hamster wheels to power the household. They know that, when they flick the light on, they'll have it there. They want to keep the fridge on to keep the food good. Small businesses need to know that they'll be able to keep operating and that they'll have the power to continue their businesses. Manufacturing needs certainty. What has caused that certainty to fail? It is the policies of this government.

When you look at the renewables rollout, it is being rushed, it is hodgepodge and it is amateurish. That sums up so many actions of this government. But when we've asked have a committee to look at how we can do the renewables rollout better—which we've done 10 times here—the answer has always been no. If we were able to look at better sites, better methods for landholders and better ways to roll out transmission lines, that would give the certainty we want. But all we hear from the other side is nuclear versus renewables. They all have a place in creating certainty for mums and dads here. Everything has a place in creating the energy we need.

Primarily, we want to do it as cleanly as possible and as cheaply as possible—we owe that to the Australian people—but we need that certainty, and this plan is failing. The energy rollout under Labor is failing, because they rush to communities and don't consult properly, so there are legal challenges and other impediments. There are community protests. We're seeing that in the Illawarra and in Port Stephens.

The government talk about nuclear not being viable. I don't want to make this one thing, but there are 440 nuclear plants in the world—including some dodgy Russian ones. Let's be honest about that, but they exist. When the government talk about green hydrogen production facilities, there are none. When they talk about floating substations for floating offshore wind, there are none—zero, an integer less than one. So the only hypothetical things we are talking about are the energy sources in Labor's policy. They want to build approximately 200 floating offshore wind constructions off the Illawarra and Port Stephens, on one site. In the world, there are fewer than 20. Five of them are powering gas and fuel rigs off the Scandinavian coast. Five are up in Scotland, at the Hywind facility, and they are averaging $14,000 per megawatt. That is the cost of what we're talking about here. But this government, which has achieved so very little so far, thinks it can do it for five. Forget inflation and all these other things.

So what we're saying is not only that the reduction target is off but that getting to that figure of 82 per cent renewables, the very thing that Senator O'Sullivan is talking about here, is not going to happen. Only one group of people in this building has had the courage to point out this isn't going to happen, and that is the group over on this side, including Senator O'Sullivan and Peter Dutton in the other house. They are saying we aren't going to get there. Labor should come clean and say we are not going to reach 82 per cent renewables by 2030 or get the emission targets by 2030, and the reason is that they are not competent. They have dropped the ball. They are messing around. They're great at saying what they're going to do or what we're going to do, but they aren't good at doing what they're meant to be doing, and the people who will suffer are the mums and dads at home and the employees in businesses that won't have sure power. We all need to get together to run renewables better. We need renewables in the mix, but it has to be done better, and we need to get an energy system that works.