Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If there is one thing that the government excel at, it is that they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Whether it's rolling out vaccines in a pandemic or addressing climate change, the government always seem to be a day late and a buck short.

They're no different when it comes to offshore wind. But let's put aside that they're late to the party, and let's embrace the fact that they showed up at all. This legislation will finally allow offshore wind to begin in earnest in Australia. These bills establish a regulatory framework for electricity infrastructure in the Commonwealth offshore area. The bills would allow the construction, installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of offshore wind and other electricity infrastructure. Just like solar, where Australia could become the Saudi Arabia of solar power, we could become the wind superpower as well. We have one of the longest coastlines in the world, and we are, after all, an island nation. There is so much potential, and the energy providers are already there.

Once again, as with most things energy and climate related, the government is playing catch-up. There are more than 10 projects waiting for the government to bring on this legislation so they can get on with the job, and those projects have massive capability. Star of the South, off the south of Gippsland, when complete, will produce enough energy to cover 20 per cent of Victoria's current energy needs. One single turn of an offshore wind turbine can provide as much energy as a whole day's worth of rooftop solar, and these turbines can turn 15 times each minute.

Some of the best wind resources are located just off the coast of the regions that have powered Australia and Australian industry for generations: Gippsland and Latrobe, Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, Illawarra, Gladstone and Central Queensland. These regions have the strong electricity grid infrastructure, the ports, the railways and, most importantly, the populations for new energy and new industry. These communities and their workers have the most to gain from a thriving offshore wind industry. So it's not just the energy created that benefits Australia but the jobs as well. The turbines need maintenance, and there's a network of ships and ports required for that maintenance. Green Energy Partners have two projects that they're looking to start exploratory work on, off the Illawarra and off Newcastle. They want to use Port Kembla as a construction hub.

The government likes to talk up technology and not taxes, but here we see them late to the game again when it comes to offshore wind technology. Probably a decade ago, I had the very good fortune to go to the United States and do some work on energy transition. At that time there was a coalition of energy providers up and down the East Coast of the United States working to establish the regulatory arrangements for offshore wind. A decade later, we're finally getting around to it. Why are we so far behind when there is so much to be gained?

There are some issues with the bill that we don't feel are adequately addressed. The Senate committee examining this bill, including the government senators who lead the committee, made some suggestions that it considered were important to the legislation. These include amending the objects clause to better incorporate electricity transmission and exports. Australia can be the battery of South-East Asia, especially after we harness the opportunity of offshore wind. We need to have in mind not just the domestic uses of this power but the opportunity to export to other nations. The committee also recommended amending the consultation requirements for declared areas, and we agree with the committee that the consultation requirements should include the Minister for the Environment, affected state and territory governments, energy planning authorities and developers. There should be greater transparency and time frames incorporated into the declaration process, and the committee supported further consideration being given to these matters.

The Senate inquiry had two additional concerns that weren't reflected in the final report. In particular, Labor has concerns over the bill's work health and safety framework. The committee heard substantial evidence that the government has not adopted the harmonised and national workplace health and safety law in the bills. Instead, the committee heard that the government has amended those laws into an essentially unrecognisable state.

If we don't have harmonisation of these workplace health and safety frameworks, we may end up with a situation where a worker would be subject to one regulatory regime onshore, a second while in transit on a vessel and a third while operating on an offshore renewable project. That is confusing for everyone involved and it presents risks for workers and employees.

To be fair, there is disagreement on these points, including between the department, the regulator and stakeholders representing both employers and workers in the industry. But, given the significant difference of opinion, Labor urges the government to urgently undertake further consultation on both the content of the workplace health and safety provisions and their coverage. If the government chooses not to do that and there is a change of government at the election—which I certainly hope there will be—Labor will undertake that work. Our national platform is clear: Labor will improve and harmonise the workplace regulatory frameworks covering workers in offshore clean energy. Australia has some years to get this right during the feasibility period and before construction begins. It's crucial that we do.

Labor's second concern is that the bill does not require local benefits to be included in merit criteria for licences. When the minister of the day is considering whether to grant an offshore or electricity licence, he or she should be required to consider benefits to local workers, businesses, communities and First Nations peoples. The committee heard it was important for this requirement to be reflected broadly in legislation in order to allow and ensure that they are reflected in detail in the regulations. Labor would also welcome the government considering a legislative amendment to ensure benefits for the local communities in which these new industries will be situated.

In summary, we welcome the bills. We called for them. The government promised them, then delayed them. While we don't seek to hold up the passage of these bills, they would benefit from further amendments. Business needs certainty and swiftness. Workers need proper workplace safety frameworks, and opportunities for local communities and workers need to be considered and included.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Bill 2021. We need this bill to create an offshore wind industry to help us drive coal and gas out of our energy system. We need this bill in order to build the international transmission networks that we need to replace coal and gas exports with clean energy exports. It will only be abundant, dirt-cheap clean energy that will enable us to attract manufacturing back to Australia and transform our coal and gas reliant regions so that they remain economic powerhouses that export our sun and our wind to the rest of the world.

Australia has around 2,000 gigawatts of offshore energy that we can harness. To put that in perspective, Australia's entire grid is around 55 gigawatts of capacity. So we're talking about 40 times Australia's current energy use blowing right now across our offshore waters.

However, this bill does need improvement. We have circulated amendments that do three main things. Firstly, to ensure that our abundance of renewable resources are matched by an abundance of Australian jobs, we want a local content clause to ensure that wind companies that commit to securing Australian workers and Australian services get preference in securing offshore titles. Secondly, our amendments would make clear in the objectives of the act that the purpose of the bill is to encourage clean energy exports. Thirdly, we want to ensure the section on financial assurances required of clean energy projects doesn't come into place until a similar regime exists for oil and gas assets. The government said they are committed to doing this, but they're dragging their feet. Once this bill passes, offshore wind projects will have a higher burden of financial assurance than oil and gas projects, which, of course, are far more dangerous—such are the favours that oil and gas companies enjoy in Australia under this government. The Liberals love red tape when they can wrap it around things that they don't like, like clean energy that threatens the profits of their coal and gas donors.

However, we understand we don't have majority support for those amendments and we do want to facilitate the quick passage of this legislation. I understand that Labor supports the intention of our amendments and we will continue to work closely with Labor in future parliaments to ensure that this bill is improved on, particularly in relation to the work health and safety provisions that the government refuses to improve.

We don't want to jeopardise this bill's quick passage. There are projects that need this bill to pass so that work can progress over the summer, like the Star of the South which will replace Yallourn, Australia's oldest and dirtiest coal plant, in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. That project will replace 85 per cent of the supply that Yallourn currently produces. That's Australia's dirtiest and oldest plant, whose life was extended in a secret deal by the Victorian Labor government. This project proves that we don't need it and that the contract to prop up coal should never have been written.

In conclusion, by harnessing the abundance of our offshore wind resources, we can drive the cost of energy down—potentially, close to zero—giving Australia a competitive edge to bring back manufacturing to our shores and to ensure that heavy industry can continue in a carbon-constrained global economy. The biggest winners from this bill and the clean energy transformation will be regions like Gladstone in my home state of Queensland, Gippsland and the Hunter and Illawarra—deepwater ports with heavy industry. These nearby rich offshore wind resources will provide those regions with the clean energy needed to create hydrogen for steel, ammonia for export and power heavy industry and manufacturing at dirt-cheap prices. This is an important step to drive out coal and gas and keep it in the ground. We support this bill's passage through the parliament.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Bill 2021. This bill establishes a regulatory framework for offshore electricity infrastructure to, finally, allow the construction of offshore wind and other electricity infrastructure. This bill is so long overdue. It has been delayed by the chaos and the division of this government—chaos and division which has delayed this very vote, delayed a real climate action plan and delayed the good, secure jobs that this new industry will deliver.

There are a dozen offshore wind proposals around the country at various stages of readiness, just waiting for this long overdue step from the government. These delays are completely unacceptable because this is a global race. There is a global race on to bring the opportunities of the global transition to green energy right here to Australia. It's a global race that we are at risk of losing because of this government and because of the division in this government, which is holding the jobs of the future to ransom. The first of these projects that is absolutely ready to seize this moment in time is in my home state of Victoria. It's the Star of the South project in Gippsland—a region that is crying out for the jobs of the future and crying out for this government to take swift action to deliver those jobs of the future. The Star of the South project will provide 20 per cent of Victoria's energy needs and power 1.2 million homes. It will invest $8.7 billion into Victoria over the project's lifetime, with the significant majority of that investment being in Gippsland and in the Latrobe Valley. Most importantly, this project will create jobs in an industry that has a bright future ahead of it.

Just yesterday, we saw the type of leadership and vision that this industry and these communities need, not from our Prime Minister but from the Andrews Labor government. On Tuesday, the Victorian government announced a $40 million funding boost for offshore wind projects in my home state in Victoria. It is the largest single offshore wind announcement in Australian history. Victorian coastlines are amongst the best in the world for these projects, and the Andrews Labor government is positioning Victoria to lead that global race. Meanwhile, the Morrison government hasn't even started running. The Morrison government had the chance to deliver jobs with the Ryan Corner windfarm project to power the Snowy Hydro project. Of course, this government missed that chance. Keppel Prince in Portland is the only manufacturer of wind turbines in Australia, and this manufacturer was primed and ready to provide the turbines to deliver the content for the Snowy Hydro project. But, instead of using local content, local manufacturers and local companies, that project will be using imported products and overseas companies because that is how the Morrison government does its business. This is a decision that has already cost 40 jobs in a small regional town that desperately needs those jobs.

This kind of approach from the Morrison government has the potential to cost so many more jobs in this global race for the renewables jobs of the future. This was a chance for the Morrison government to deliver good jobs in green energy and, like so many opportunities, they squandered it. Instead, they lost those jobs. This is what we can expect from any Morrison government move to a renewable energy future: no commitment to local content and no commitment to local jobs—it's as simple as that. Workers know what they're going to get from this government—a glossy document, but no real plan to deliver the future job opportunities of this global race to Australians.

Unlike this government, Labor have a plan. We have a plan to see Australia become a renewable superpower. A Labor government will invest $20 billion to rewire the grid. We will make electric vehicles cheaper. We will support 10,000 new apprenticeships in the energy trades of the future. We will have 400 community batteries powering 100,000 homes. We will invest $15 billion in a national reconstruction fund, creating exactly these types of jobs and cutting emissions in the process. And we will make sure that our regions are at the centre of this change. We will make sure that our regions are at the centre of this shift to becoming that renewables energy superpower. That is our plan, because we should be a country that makes things here and because we need to win the global race to bring the jobs of the future right here to Australia.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contributions and commend the bills to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bills read a second time.