Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this motion. We, on 5 September, supported the Greens in referring this issue to an inquiry by the Environment and Communications References Committee, and that inquiry has not yet reported. This is somewhat pre-empting the outcome of that inquiry process, which would pose the question: why did you bother with the inquiry in the first place? But that report will come forward, and that will give an outline, exactly, of the evidence that was heard and the challenges that were put forward.

In relation to the Middle Arm development, the Albanese government has made a commitment to invest in the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct to support industries that are critical to meeting our commitment to net zero. We do understand that there are a range of views and perspectives on this project, but we are committed to working with the NT government and the community to ensure that the necessary assessments take place before the project proceeds. Those assessments are under way, and pretty much all of the commentary is pre-emptive of what those assessments are going to show us.

Before the Commonwealth takes a final investment decision, we are going to look at all of those assessments. That includes Infrastructure Australia's assessment of the stage 3 business case. The NT government is working with Infrastructure Australia to progress the projects through the stages of that process, and, through that, we will find out more. We will see the details of what the reality is. What we have heard, for a couple years now, are an awful lot of assumptions. We've seen various changes in how this development is going to roll out, and yet what we've seen from the Greens is their cherry-picking of the bits that sound as explosive as they can. They have been cherry-picking those bits and overblowing what they see as negatives. The final decision that we make will consider the most appropriate funding structure to implement the government's commitment to shared infrastructure, to funding and to providing resources for the shared infrastructure.

We've already seen Infrastructure Australia support and approve the stage 2 business case, and one of the comments they made, which I think is quite critical, is that the project will support the transition of Australia's exports to high-tech, low-cost, low-emissions energy sources. Let's just be really clear, because there's an awful lot of muck and bother being thrown out there: the project will be required to meet all regulatory approval processes, and that includes the EPBC processes. That includes the NT government's own processes, and any Commonwealth funding that's going to go towards infrastructure that supports industries critical to meeting our commitment to net zero needs to be clear.

This development is also going to include hydrogen and the manufacture and export of lithium batteries. The proposals being progressed include a hydrogen facility using solar energy and facilities for green ammonia production, gas and critical minerals processing for use in energy storage batteries and precursor battery materials.

Gas remains an important energy source for Australia, and we don't shy away from that. The NT government is also working alongside Larrakia Energy and Korea Midland Power Co, and they've also signed an MoU to achieve a rapid development of the green energy project, which is going to support a 300-megawatt solar farm in close proximity to the Middle Arm precinct. It is a mixed-use facility, and the whole idea of the government investment is the shared infrastructure to help us reach net zero.

These projects are also going to provide significant economic benefits and an estimated 20,000 jobs in the Territory. This project is a valuable contribution—