Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee on closures of electricity generators, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

This references committee and the inquiry has been going for some time. We had an interim report going into the double dissolution mid last year. We finally concluded what has been a very long series of travelling around the country and a series of meetings on a very important subject.

This committee has made a series of strong recommendations. I have yet to see the details of dissenting reports by the government and by Labor, but I will generally express that I am disappointed that the committee was unable to have a strong recommendation and have cross-party support to that recommendation, because this issue is incredibly important. This is not just about how we transition to a clean energy future and meet our COP 21, our global, targets under Paris. This is also about how we as a country provide certainty for coal communities—communities around coal fired power stations and communities around coal mines.

Chairing this committee in its final stages, there was very clear evidence to me both in New South Wales and in Western Australia—and I reviewed the Hansard transcripts from other inquiries—from stakeholders, including people living in the community. For example, we heard from community organisers in Collie in Western Australia, unions who represent workers and local government who rely on the businesses in their area. There was a unanimous call for politicians to work together to provide a plan, to provide certainty and to provide leadership for their communities. That is what they wanted. We asked them the questions directly. Even when they answered them, the government senators, who clearly did not want a transition plan, continued to ask the same questions just to be sure: 'Are you sure you want to plan for transition? Are you sure you do not want your coal mines and coal fired power stations to continue into the future?' The evidence I heard was very clear. These stakeholders said, 'We accept it's inevitable, under climate change and a world that is moving to reduce emissions, that the writing is on the wall for coal fired power stations in this country. We need to move to other forms of base load power.'

In the final stages of the committee hearings, the government introduced the concept of clean coal into the inquiry. A number of questions were asked of expert witnesses, including engineers who have worked on coal fired power stations, and I believe the committee heard very clear evidence that it was not viable. It was not commercially viable and it was not viable from a productivity point of view. We spoke to the finance experts, and there was no-one out there lining up to finance a coal fired power station in this country—except, as we learnt at Senate estimates a couple of weeks ago, Mr Clive Palmer, who put in a rogue bid to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to finance a clean-coal power station.

I want to reiterate the point that the communities who presented to this inquiry, who came to meet with the senators, presented the very clear evidence that they wanted politicians to work together and actually have a plan. That is what they asked for. They will look at this report and they will look at the three dissenting reports from three political parties, and they will be gutted that we could not do our job and come together as a polity in this place and provide a plan for transition out of coal fired power stations, a plan that gives workers and the communities that rely on them the certainty that they need. What we have seen instead is short-term political populism and opportunism.

It was clear as daylight to me during the hearings that the strategy of the Liberal-National Party coalition was to talk up clean coal and to talk up a viable future for these coal fired power stations. The strategy was designed to put pressure on One Nation in marginal seats where these coalminers and coal fired power stations are located. For the government, this is a short-term political strategy to head off One Nation at the pass. But what it is going to do is set us back years on going down the road of a just transition around coal fired power in this country—let alone on going down the path of meeting our global targets and the impact of emissions. And of course, very sadly, there is the impact on our environment.

We have seen the new data coming through in recent weeks about the Great Barrier Reef. It is just horrifying to imagine that the biggest living organism in the world is dying. You can say whatever you want about bleeding hearts; it is absolutely appalling that this has happened on our watch. The recommendations in the report of the committee, which I chaired, are very strong. They are very strong on providing certainty for the communities that rely on coal fired power stations now, and they are very certain about how to get us to a point where we can invest more heavily in renewables.

I am going to briefly run through some of the key recommendations. The first recommendation is:

… that the Australian Government adopt a comprehensive energy transition plan, including reform of the National Electricity Market rules.

I think just about everyone we heard from was unambiguously asking for that.

Recommendation 2 is:

The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in consultation with industry, community, union and other stakeholders, develop a mechanism for the orderly retirement of coal fired power stations to be presented to the COAG Energy Council.

Once again, go back and check the Hansard. It is what we were asked to do by the community.

Recommendation 3 is:

The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through representation on the COAG Energy Council, put in place a pollution reduction objective consistent with Australia's obligations under the Paris Agreement in the National Electricity Objectives.

Recommendation 4 is:

The committee recommends that the Australian Government establish an energy transition authority—

That was also in the interim recommendations going into the double-dissolution—

with sufficient powers and resources to plan and coordinate the transition in the energy sector, including a Just Transition for workers and communities.

That was also a key recommendation from nearly every stakeholder that we met with.

Recommendation 5 covers air pollution and the evidence that the committee heard around existing coal fired power stations and the health impacts of those. This includes setting up a national pollution inventory. We also heard about the limitations of state environmental protection authorities that monitor these things.

Recommendation 6 is:

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth and state energy ministers should undertake a national audit of likely rehabilitation costs …

We heard about the massive blow-out in expected costs in rehabilitating the Hazelwood power station. Recommendation 6 continues:

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth and state energy ministers should also work to develop a common approach to setting rehabilitation bonds to ensure that rehabilitation costs are properly provisioned for.

We heard evidence that if coal companies properly set out those liabilities a lot of them would probably be broke, because those liabilities are so significant under a transition plan. So, once again, for industry and for investors, we need a plan that provides certainty around these kinds of things.

Recommendation 7 covers the commitment to expanded renewable energy investment in this country, to provide base load power, including battery powered storage and changes to the grid.

Recommendation 8 is:

The committee recommends that the Australian Government commit to not provide any direct funding, subsidies or other support for the construction of new coal fired power stations in Australia.

That is absolutely critical if we are going to get on and tackle global warming.

Recommendation 9, the last recommendation, is:

The committee recommends that the Australian Government reverse its ideological opposition to the introduction of a scheme for managing the transition in the electricity sector such as an Emissions Intensity Scheme or the setting of pollution intensity standards and commit to considering fairly all policy options presented by the forthcoming final report of the Finkel Review.

The Finkel review of course is going to be very important as an overarching review in relation to this committee report.

Let me finish by saying this. This was a very important inquiry, which Labor and the Greens initiated. It took a long time to get to this point. We have a series of very important recommendations from the committee. I look forward to reading Labor's dissenting report. But let me say this: if Labor are not going down the road of providing a just transition plan and giving certainty to workers and communities, and of course meeting global emissions targets, I will be bitterly disappointed, and not just as a senator. I think communities in this country who expect politicians to stand up and work together and get this done will be bitterly disappointed. Let's be totally frank about this: we will have let these people down if we cannot get a plan to transition out of coal fired power stations. (Time expired)

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of the report that was raised by Senator Whish-Wilson. I do hope that Senator Whish-Wilson has the opportunity to read Labor's contribution to the report. I think you will find many areas which you will agree with. I want to take a moment to commend the work of the secretariat of the environment committee, who have been outstanding. I also want to acknowledge the work that Senator Whish-Wilson has done in this area. I know it is a matter he is very passionate about—as are many Labor and conservative senators, I might add. This is a report that demonstrates a diversity of views, and it also demonstrates the Senate at its best. I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned.