James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia, Senator Ruston. The Beetaloo Basin has potentially enough gas to supply Australia's needs for decades, offering the chance to grow a vibrant manufacturing industry in northern Australia while lowering carbon emissions. Can the minister inform the Senate what the Liberal-Nationals government is doing to unlock the Beetaloo Basin's gas reserves to support our economic recovery while lowering emissions?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McGrath, particularly for his interest in the benefits that can be generated for northern Australia by the extraction of the amazing resources that exist in the northern part of our country. One of the very, very important projects is the gas development in the $224 million Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan. The plan will help to deliver on Australia's long-term gas supply and dramatically improve our energy security. The Beetaloo sub-basin is one of the largest undeveloped resources of onshore gas anywhere in the world. It's estimated that there is over 200,000 petajoules of shale gas in the sub-basin. If you want to put that into some sort of context, only 15 per cent of that amount would supply the entire market of eastern Australia for in excess of 15 years. So the sub-basin holds extraordinary potential for Australia because of the quantities of gas it has in reserve.

Under this particular program, we will be able to accelerate a number of projects and to deliver approximately 10 exploration wells in the sub-basin in the next 12 months. The plan will bring, in addition, $150 million of private investment. This is a plan to support northern Australia. It also enables us to deliver things like strategic road corridors which will not only support 400 jobs but also support the northern part of Australia. We're also making sure that we deliver benefits for Indigenous owners, with Indigenous jobs, Indigenous businesses and Indigenous opportunities. Gas is essential for our manufacturing sector just as it is essential for our homes, for firing up our barbecues and for lowering emissions. That's exactly what the Beetaloo Basin can do for our nation.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator McGrath, a supplementary question?

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister outline more broadly how the development of gas is essential not only to supporting exports and domestic manufacturing but also to lowering emissions?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia's resources and energy sectors not only are leading when it comes to developing new technologies but we are also leaders in making sure that we adopt cleaner production processes. This includes Australia's gas industry, which is well placed to meet the growing demand in our Asia-Pacific region. The government is absolutely committed to supporting innovative producers by embracing technologies such as carbon capture, use and storage to deliver on our emissions reduction targets, which we are absolutely committed to. We will continue to have not only a responsible approach but a pragmatic approach. We are absolutely committed to technology and innovation being the backbone of the delivery of our energy future and we are not going to tax the Australian economy out of existence on some ideological pretext. This government is absolutely committed to investing in things such as the carbon capture, use and storage projects— (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McGrath, a final supplementary question?

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister advise the Senate on how a 'technology, not taxes' approach, including adopting nuclear technology, as mentioned in the government's Technology Investment Roadmap, could assist in lowering Australia's carbon emissions while growing our economy?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our Technology Investment Roadmap is designed to make sure that technology is at the core of everything we do going forward—making sure that we watch for international developments in technology so that Australian households, Australian businesses, all Australians, are able to exercise the choice to avail themselves of the latest technologies where it makes sense to do so. It's only sensible to evaluate and deploy any technology that can bring down emissions but at the same time deliver affordable, reliable and dispatchable energy for all Australians. This is because, as I said, we are committed to a technology delivery into the future. We are not going to tax our way to a clean energy future; we are going to innovate our way there. That is why we oppose those opposite in their attempts to destroy our technology facilitated energy future.