Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Campbell. Will the minister inform the Senate about greenhouse abatement measures put in place by the Australian government, and the Australian government’s international leadership on climate change? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Mason for the question. Senator Mason is from the great state of Queensland. Issues of energy policy and climate change are deeply important to all Queenslanders, as they are to most Australians. Senator Mason will know that the Commonwealth government is committed to providing secure energy for Australia which will underpin secure jobs, jobs growth and living standards for all Australians, particularly for Queenslanders. But we are also equally committed to reducing the impact of human activities on the climate. We are committed to finding energy production through clean, low-emissions technologies.

For example, the government has recently extended the photovoltaic rebate scheme, a scheme that rolls out solar cells on private houses and schools across this country. We are on target to reach 12,000 solar facilities across this country. It is a practical, multimillion-dollar project to create solar energy as a standard form of energy across Australia.

Senator Mason also asks about international leadership. While Labor is still talking about Kyoto, the rest of the world has moved to beyond Kyoto and post Kyoto. I am very proud to announce that Mr Howard Bamsey, the head of the Australian Greenhouse Office, is co-chairing the key United Nations framework convention policy group on finding solutions and pathways forward to building a truly effective international climate change action plan.

Senator Mason also asks about alternative policies. Today we have finally seen the Labor Party’s program for a national emissions trading scheme released to the Australian public. It is Labor policy. We have been waiting for it for two years. The lazy Labor Party up here could not come up with a policy, but their comrades in the states have. This morning the plan to have a national emissions trading scheme was launched, and it was launched with all six states listed on the front cover. I started a sweep in my office and I said, ‘By lunchtime Mr Beattie will be out of this.’ This is so bad for Queensland and so bad for Western Australians. It will drive up power bills by imposing a new Labor carbon tax on energy emissions right around Australia. Under this Labor Party policy typical household power bills will go up by around $300, industry will be driven offshore and coalmines will be closed down.

I said there is no way that Queensland would be a part of this scheme. I wagered that Mr Beattie would be out of this by lunchtime, and I got it wrong. What happened before lunchtime was that Premier Carpenter in Western Australia, who clearly cares about Western Australians, said, ‘Under no circumstances will I be part of it.’ So we can already, by question time, take the great state of Western Australia off this. They are gone. I have money on Mr Beattie being out of this by five o’clock because this is so bad for Queensland.

The impact of this plan for a carbon tax, backed by Mr Latham and now backed by Mr Beazley, is a 30-plus per cent decrease in the use of domestic coal in this country. Do you know what that will do to the Queensland coal industry? They sell $10 billion worth of coal in this country in any given year. That is a $3 billion reduction in coalmining in Queensland alone, wiping out thousands of jobs in the Queensland coal industry.

This government is about reducing the carbon coming from coal and using coal cleanly. That is how you get secure energy; that is how you get a greenhouse outcome. The Labor Party wants to stop coalmining and stop the use of a great Australian resource. I give Mr Beattie by five o’clock tonight to be out of this and destroy Labor’s stupid policy for a new carbon tax.