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

I'll take the interjection from the minister over there, who's talking about a wind farm I opposed in Port Stephens, the offshore wind farm out there. We're talking about the 3,000 welding jobs that will be caused by constructing this in the Port of Newcastle. There's only one problem: the licensee that got the viability licence for that wind farm is the only one that doesn't have an Australian made component in their bid. The only licence application to get the go-ahead is the only one that didn't have an Australian made component. This is how we fail. We come in here and say good things, but the rubber never meets the road. This isn't a policy. This isn't legislation. This is a slogan, and that is all you're delivering here today.

Take the concept of green hydrogen and where we go there. Industry is running away from it at a million miles an hour. Just last week, Origin Energy pulled out of the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub because they say it's unviable. They do not want to invest more than the millions they already have invested in a pipedream. We've seen other companies across Australia doing the same, because it is not real.

When we're driving through these regions—when the Labor members opposite drive through these regions—do something. Stop. Pull out. I know, Acting Deputy President Sterle, you've been there in your long-haul trucks. Talk to these people. They don't want these hifalutin hopes. They want some rubber on the road. They want some action. They want something happening, because it's not at the moment.

We see industry running away from green hydrogen, but that is the only thing that this bill really wants to do at the moment. It wants to put money into something that industry is saying doesn't work. Fortescue is slowing its operations. Origin is pulling out. There are long talks about comparative advantage on the other side. It's a year 9 concept. What comparative advantage do you need to be more productive and have better returns than another country? We don't have it in this area. We don't have it in these things. How is a company meant to build solar panels in the Hunter Valley when there is indentured labour in foreign countries, when there is slave labour in foreign countries and when there are lower energy prices in foreign countries? How do we expect to compete, producing against those guys? We're going to—