Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am getting the same messages Senator Urquhart is about the travel agents, especially the ones in Tasmania, and it is dreadful. The stories are horrific, so I too ask the government: please have a look at this. These guys deserve a lot better. They've worked their whole careers and their whole lives to build up to where they are today, and they are having it all taken off them by something that has nothing to do with them. So please could the government have a look at that.

Where I'm from, on the north-west coast of Tasmania, we've seen the worst of COVID-19. As a matter of fact, we were the epicentre. But we're also starting to turn a corner, which is great. That's come at a huge cost, and that's clear. Businesses have had to shut. People have had to go without pay. We've had a huge dent in our economy, and we've still seen people becoming seriously ill and even dying. But we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel—what's been a pretty dark tunnel at that. We're not home and hosed yet, so, Tasmanians, don't become complacent. You can't just ignore social distancing requirements because things are starting to improve. You can't go out and socialise the way we used to. You can't travel wherever you want to or visit whoever you want whenever you want. We can't start sliding back to where we were. That goes not just for our health but also for our economy.

I don't want to nitpick either. All up, we've spent a huge amount of money, and it's being done to give people a safety net. Of course, some have still been missed from the safety net, but it has been a huge amount of money. It's not just what we've spent; it's also what we have not received in tax, as businesses have shut their doors and closed their trade. If you don't trade, you don't earn an income. No income means no tax back to the economy. So it's really important we turn our minds now to how to climb out of this huge economic hole we've all been thrown into. Just as different regions and different states have had totally different experiences of COVID-19, there are going to be local paths to economic recovery. 'One size fits all' isn't going to cut it—certainly not for this.

On the north-west coast of Tasmania, we all know the wind farms at Woolnorth and now Granville Harbour on the north-west coast. The idea of generating clean energy from spinning turbines that helps light homes through electricity grids is well understood, but that's small-fry stuff compared to what's possible these days. Tasmania has huge potential to generate clean hydrogen. It takes energy to split a water particle into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. That energy comes from either coal, gas or renewables. Clean hydrogen comes from renewable sources, and it's being used to produce a renewable battery. Hydrogen has the potential to store and move energy to places without access to the grid. Hydrogen fuel cells can one day replace diesel and farm machinery. Tasmania can be a new kind of energy exporter, earning income as Tasmania's overseas markets climb over each other for what we can produce better than just about anyone else. A study released by Hydro Tasmania last year found that Tasmania can produce hydrogen about 15 per cent more cheaply than anywhere else in the world, and the west coast is an ideal area within the state to take up this opportunity. We can do it cheaper, we can do it cleaner, we can do it better, and I'll tell you now: we can do it right now.

Hydrogen is also a huge job creator. We've already seen the positive economic impact of the Granville Harbour Wind Farm on towns like Burnie—my own town—and Zeehan. As for hydrogen, well, let's put it this way: it's like it's on steroids. It has the potential to create a new engine of economic growth that attracts skilled jobs, investment and the chance to revitalise west coast towns. When has there been a better time to get this off the ground? We have a world-class wind resource, abundant water and the space to create an industry that, properly managed, can deliver economic gains without the environmental impacts of mining. We can avoid the problems of the past by carefully selecting areas where we can build wind farms that have minimal environmental and social impacts and where we can realistically reconcile the environment and the economy.

The state government recognises the potential of the sector, and good on them for doing that. They've released the Tasmanian Renewable Hydrogen Action Plan, and that's a damn good start for Tasmania. What I'm advocating now is for the rubber to hit the road. Put the pedal to the metal, as they say. The COVID-19 crisis, and the need to kickstart our economic activity, presents an ideal opportunity for government to support projects that can deliver much and generate economic transition as well as recovery.

There are thousands of jobs for Tasmanians available here, close to nearly 5,000, if we seize the moment with both hands. The economy we snap back to won't be anything like the economy we left in March this year—we'll be honest—but if we can return to something similar, we will be doing okay. I want us to get back to having schools open, tourism businesses operating, cafes open for a sit-down lunch, cinemas running again. I want Tasmania's racing industry, which supports over 5,000 jobs around the state, back doing what it does best. It has just got to be done in a way that's safe. It's not worth letting people die just so we can go to the movies sooner rather than later and it's got to be done in a way that's smart.

We can be choosey about which bits of the economy of old we return to and which parts we choose to leave behind. For me, reshaping the economy means backing the businesses, the industries and the technologies that have the ability to transform how we do what we do best. Hydrogen is such a big opportunity for Australia and especially in Tasmania; it is huge. Like I said, we can do it cheaper, we can do it at scale and we're set for success. The question is whether we jump at it or we let someone else jump first. Backing home-grown technologies and industries is a recipe for success. It is a way to grow the economy and keep it growing in good times and bad, but we are making it so hard for people to buy Australian-made. We've got labels that say something is 'Australian made', a 'product of Australia', 'Australian grown' or just 'Australian'. They all mean different things and they're all used in different contexts.

If you ask someone on the street what they're buying when they buy with something with a slogan on it, they will tell you they are buying something that was produced in Australia and that's not always right. It's legal for someone to claim their product is made in Australia so long as half the total cost of producing the product was spent in Australia and that's terribly misleading. You get to count shipping as part of the cost of producing too. So if you're buying something from overseas, you're able to claim you made it here and sell it to the consumers, as long as you change the product a bit and you spend enough money shipping it. We ask people to do the right thing and buy Australian whenever they can but part of that is on all of us here in parliament to make it easy for people to do that with confidence.

Why aren't all products required to label their country of origin? Why don't we require every product to say where it's from? Some say we should leave it up to consumers. If they care about the country a product is made in, they will buy products that choose to include a label of country of origin. The ones that don't include the label won't get sold, and the market will take it off us. If we don't have enough products including that label, consumers can't compare products reliably. Consumers who find only 10 per cent of products they are comparing have a label will stop checking for it and that undercuts the value of the Australian-made logo. That's got to change. If you want to take Australia back to making Australian products again, make it easier for consumers to back them too.

The law has to change because it's too complicated, too easy to game, too easy to rip off customers who are trying to help the little guy, do the right thing and buy Australian-made. It's time to change the law to put control back in the hands of the shopper instead of the seller. Let's make it easier; let's do the right thing. Let's do the Australian thing. Australia's going to be a very different country as a result of COVID-19, and the world is going to be a very different place.

COVID-19 has shown us that we're vulnerable, extremely vulnerable. We are critically vulnerable and we are relying on other countries to sell us medical equipment that's needed here. If we are going to retake our economic sovereignty, retake the will of our economic destiny, we need to plan how we're going to do that in the future. Back the industries that give us the edge to maintain our fuel security, our national security, our economic security, our food security. Back consumers with the tools they need to buy local. Back Australians to back Australia. Let's get on with it.