Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

They say good things come in threes, and in Tasmania we have a triple blessing of good things. You might just be thinking of the prize-winning wine that Senator Colbeck spoke of last week, the dangerously good Anvers chocolate and our sensational seafood, and you'd would be right in every way. Our food and wine are second to none. The whole world knows just how good it is.

The world also wants energy that has the same Tasmanian clean and green qualities. So how can we do it? How do you make an energy source that is easy to store, easy to use and safe to ship? For Tassie, it's green methanol— methanol that's made without the use of hydrocarbons. Green methanol is the low-carbon fuel that can replace petrol and diesel in engines, big and small, from motorbikes to tractors and trucks, and bigger things too, like the ships that cross Bass Strait. The engines in these ships can now use lots of different fuels, from natural gas to diesel, and methanol too.

With 365 methanol-powered container ships on order across the world, methanol is the future in shipping. With this shift, methanol is fast becoming an important fuel made and sold around the world. Tasmania can be a player in this growing market. We have a lot in our favour—not just wine, chocolate and seafood but also the three essential ingredients for methanol. To make green methanol, you need lots of renewable energy, lots of water and heaps of biomass. Tasmania is 100 per cent self-sufficient in renewable energy, with a 200 per cent goal for 2040. We have plenty of water and endless biomass from the wood waste from our sustainable forestry plantations—biomass that would otherwise be left to rot or be burned, wasted and lost.

The magic that makes methanol starts with electrolysis, by making hydrogen and oxygen—like we did at school, with wires from a battery and a glass of water. Just like at school, you collect the hydrogen from one wire and the oxygen from the other. The next bit is where the clever stuff starts. The biomass is gasified with a green oxygen to make a syngas, which is then combined with green hydrogen to make green methanol, which can be sold into local and international markets and can make money if the price is right.

Plants that make methanol need easy access to power, water and wood waste and a port to export through. We have two planned green methanol projects in Tasmania—one with ABEL Energy's Bell Bay power project, on the site of the Bell Bay Power Station, where demolition work is underway, and a second with HIF Asia Pacific's project, which is 30 kilometres from Burnie, on the north-west coast. Between them, they will create 500 full-time jobs and many hundreds more during the construction phase. They are jobs that will make a big difference to hardworking communities that have done it tough for many years.

I remember when the pulp mill on the north-west coast closed. The loss of jobs was hard on the community, but the coast also lost some of its identity that day. It was an area that was known for its industry, and I'm not sure the north-west coast ever recovered from that. That's why projects like the HIF e-fuel plant are so important. There's a domino effect on the local community whereby it opens up training opportunities, more money goes to small businesses because more people have better-paying jobs and more kids participate in sport and after-school activities because their parents can finally afford for them to do them. That's what these projects would mean for Tasmania. They can bring new hope to make a real change—the jobs we need in a cost-of-living crisis.

I know what it's like to land a good job—the real change it makes after years of struggling to pay your bills and the way it lifts a weight from your shoulders. It makes people stand a little taller and smile a bit wider. You see the change when people start to believe in themselves. I want that for the people in my communities. That's why investment in these big projects is so important. These companies have committed millions of dollars to the two projects. Both come with a huge degree of risk in both financing and getting the plants up and running. If they are going to compete in the world market, we need the hydrogen production tax offset in place ASAP. The offset will make the difference.

To see Tasmania realise its potential and to support its community and our export earnings, we must also look at the critical minerals production tax offset—it's another part of this bill that can make a real difference to Tasmanian miners. The Dolphin Tungsten Mine, on King Island, has the largest high-grade tungsten deposits in the Western world, and it's one of the largest tungsten reserves in Australia. Reopened by Group 6 Metals less than a year ago, it still has 2.7 million tonnes of its tungsten reserves left to mine. The processing and refining offsets in the bill might just make the difference for Dolphin to reach its potential.

The opposition doesn't support this bill. Why are the Tasmanian Liberal senators afraid of backing something that will keep companies investing in Tasmania? Once again, they're toeing the party line instead of voting for something that will help the people they're supposed to represent. This bill can renew industry and bring hundreds of jobs to Tasmania—jobs that bring much-needed cash into our families, communities and local businesses. I fully support this bill and what it will bring to Tasmania.

(Quorum formed)