Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement on a matter that Senator Ian Campbell raised after question time today.

Leave granted.

This saga of Senator Ian Campbell’s response to questions about the extent of the Australian government’s support for solar energy continues to get worse and worse. The Minister for the Environment and Heritage started out by saying that the Australian Research Council has 216 projects worth $144 million. When I asked him to list those projects, he eventually came back and said, ‘Sorry, we’ve made a mistake; it’s now 79 projects worth $63 million.’ But I still do not have the list of the 79 projects over six years which are worth $63 million. That was the specific question, and I would like the minister to table exactly what those projects are. It looks as though he has googled every single possible government use of the word ‘solar’ since the government got in 10 years ago, and he busily tabled every document pertaining to everything except the question I asked.

What I would like is for Senator Ian Campbell to come in here and table his Australian Research Council list of 79 projects worth $63 million. All we are getting is this constant reference to investments in solar and renewable energies which are not able to be verified when you push the minister on them. I wish to note that the Minister for the Environment and Heritage has tabled every reference to ‘solar’ that he can possibly find except the answer to the question I asked.