Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

This motion demonstrates the breathtaking hypocrisy of the Greens in a nutshell. This is the party which demands that wind turbines and solar panels be spread across the regional Australian landscape like a lethal cancer. But they refuse to acknowledge that, without natural gas, their precious renewables will never work. The Greens are deliberately ignorant of the laws of nature and celestial mechanics which dictate that the wind doesn't always blow in Australia and the sun does not always shine. These laws cannot be changed for the Greens amendment. These laws are immutable and beyond the power of human beings to change.

When the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, you need something to generate energy other than the toxic solar panels and wind turbines polluting the Australian landscape. More specifically, we need natural gas. There's no getting around it. Even in South Australia, the state with the greatest renewables pollution, the gas is always on to provide a reliable back-up for these deficient renewables. That state's Labor government claimed 100 per cent of South Australia's energy was being generated by renewables for a period of time. Gas was being burned to make up the shortfall.

So here we are in 2024 with Australia sitting on some of the richest gas reserves on the planet. We are now facing domestic shortages of natural gas to the point at which energy providers are talking about importing it. This is appalling. The world's largest exporter of natural gas is facing domestic gas shortages. Only in Australia, where the energy market has been interfered with so badly, could such a ridiculous situation come to pass. The Greens want to restrict our supply even more. They think the welfare of snakes, turtles and whales is more important than the welfare of the Australian people. They think anything and everything is more important than the Australian people, who pay their salaries, pay for their airline tickets and subsidise their precious renewables. They hate this country, which is why they try to cripple it by banning any new gas or coal developments and opposing the one proven emissions-free technology that can provide reliable energy—nuclear power. This robs the Australian people of the natural wealth that is their birthright and robs our nation of the energy security we must have for a prosperous future.

Senator Sterle mentioned the North West Shelf, which I totally agree with. Just to put that into perspective, we are the largest gas exporter, and Senator Sterle mentioned a figure of $40 billion that we've got in royalties from our gases off the North West Shelf of Western Australia. Qatar is the next biggest exporter to Australia and they've made $26 billion a year out of their gas exports. The North West Shelf has been going for 40 years, so what did we make in that time? When you look at it, we've made only about $300 million. It was only last year's budget that brought in $2.4 billion. That's all we're making out of it. To make $40 billion over 40 years is pittance considering the resources that we have in this country. We are not getting paid properly for it and that's due to both the coalition and this Labor Party. In this country they're reluctant to go after the multinationals to pay their fair share of tax for the resources that belong to the Australian people.

Renewables will not give us the power that we need because a lot of industries and manufacturing are shutting down. We have to have diversity of power. We need to have the gas supplied. South Australia would not run, it would be in blackout, if it weren't for the gas that props it up when they don't receive the wind and solar power that they need. Wind and solar supplies between only 18 and 32 per cent of the power on a daily basis. You have to have gas. You have to have it. We're not in a position—they talk about the batteries. It's not going to happen. Green hydrogen won't happen—it can't—because it costs about $15 a kilogram to actually produce it, and you can't run it on renewables.

Queensland is in a position where we're going to lose our—we're producing the power only because of coal-fired power stations. You're living in a dream world with all these renewables because we can't keep this country going and keep the lights on for those people who dearly need it. And one day you'll end up with no power, no industry, no manufacturing and in poverty. That's where we are headed under this Greens-Labor government.