Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

I'm not sure if the jury was out before Shadow Minister Birmingham's question to Minister Farrell about whether Minister Farrell was the worst trade minister ever, but now the jury is certainly in. We had the global president and chief executive officer of INPEX, Takayuki Ueda-san, addressing a private function in Parliament House about the damage the Labor government has done to our trade relationship with Japan, and Minister Farrell just blows it off. He just acts as though that speech never happened. That is an extraordinary performance by a minister who is meant to be championing and defending the trading relationships of this country.

Our relationship with the nation of Japan is not just one of our most important trade relationships; it's one of our most important relationships in a geopolitical sense. We have the global CEO of a major corporation coming to this place and saying:

Certainty in policy direction and a stable regulatory framework will continue to encourage strong investment in Australia.

Unfortunately, the investment climate in Australia appears to be deteriorating.

I think everyone in this place would agree that the Japanese, in cultural terms, when they're speaking diplomatically, consider every single word they say extraordinarily carefully—every single word they say. For the global CEO of a Japanese corporation which is a major investor in this country to say that shows how far this government has caused the deterioration of a key trading relationship in just a few short months of being in government. Heaven help us after they've had the reins for a couple more years. What damage is this government going to do to our international trading relationships?

This isn't a minor industry. This is a key industry for Australia. The gas industry is a key industry for my home state of Western Australia, and foreign investment is a key driver of that industry. We need foreign investment to underpin the economic development of this country. We go back to the 1970s, when investment, particularly Japanese investment, into Western Australia saw the development of our great gas industry. And we've seen this government in 10 short months destroy 50 years of relationship building and being a reliable, stable key trading partner in the gas space with these major international corporations.

And it's not just about the dollars that flow, although it is a great export earner for this country, and it's a great employer in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It's just a wonderful industry. But it's also about energy security for one of our key strategic partners. Japan is one of our key and most-enduring strategic partners, certainly in this region. For the government to trash that relationship to the point where we have a global CEO speaking in this place about the damage that's been done—let me quote a little bit more from the speech:

In Japan we say, 'don't cheat at rock, paper, scissors'. This translates to "don't move the goalposts after the game has started."

Here we have one of our key trading partners saying that we, Australia, are cheating at rock, paper, scissors, and the trade minister stands up in this place and denies—is just oblivious to reality—the fact that this Labor government is having a negative impact on our key trading relationships. And they've got form. They're damaging key trading relationships in the Middle East through their decision to ban the live export sheep trade. They're damaging our relationship with Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. These are key relationships.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to rise and take note of some of the responses we heard in question time today and particularly to have an opportunity to talk about how the Labor government is powering Australian communities with batteries—and not just individual batteries but community batteries, whereby we can support powering so many homes: 100,000 homes will benefit from this initiative. There are 400 batteries to roll out, and they will power entire communities. They will help entire communities to lower their electricity prices, which I'm very, very proud of.

One in three Australian households have solar panels, but very few have batteries. This community approach to powering our homes is going to make a big difference out there. And these things will help us get to net zero. A number of questions in question time today went to the issue of net zero. It was mentioned on a number of occasions. Looking around this chamber, we know that the majority of people in the Australian Senate are right behind the idea of net zero. And although it would have been difficult to see on the face of it, following the last couple of days of debate around the safeguard mechanism, there are even some people on the coalition benches who believe in net zero, but you wouldn't have thought it if you'd been listening to the conversation in here over the last number of days.

But that is where we need to get to, and the safeguard mechanism is another element that is going to help us get there—the safeguard mechanism that passed this chamber earlier today, after 10 long years of so much uncertainty. The safeguard mechanism, when put in by the coalition when they were in government, did nothing to reduce emissions, and its entire intent is to reduce emissions. But it did not. Emissions went up. You'd have to ask yourself, why was that? I think it was probably because there was no intention to do it in the first place—set up a mechanism and then set your baseline so high that nobody's coming down, which totally goes against the grain, totally goes against the intent.

I'm delighted that, today, this parliament has passed that bill, and the safeguard mechanism will kick in on 1 July. Last year, when the 43 per cent target was legislated in this parliament, we saw investment go up. We have seen organisation after organisation come and talk about how much the importance of certainty matters. The whole thing about moving the goalposts—well, let's put the goalposts in the ground first, shall we? The goalposts in the ground about where we're going and how we're getting there have seen a tick-up in investment. We know that, with the safeguard mechanism, 80 per cent of the organisations captured are already committed to net zero. They've made that commitment; over 80 per cent of them made that commitment, along with the majority of people in this parliament.

For the last couple of days and through question time we have been listening to all the puff and waffle. The fact is the Australian public placed Labor in government, and these are the things we will pursue. We will pursue renewable energy. We will pursue reducing emissions. We will pursue stronger relationships internationally. We will pursue that investment. That is exactly where we're going, with a broad vision that will make a fundamental difference to the people in this country, while you keep bleating on about small issues.

Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Small issues? Goodness gracious me, I honestly thought I'd heard it all this week and over this last sitting fortnight. But for Labor senators to be describing the cost-of-living crisis as just a small issue really does take the cake, at almost 3.30 on the last Thursday of the sitting fortnight.

I think many Australians listening in to parliament over the last fortnight wouldn't have been particularly impressed by some of what we're hearing. It's been another week, another sitting day, more broken promises from the government, more dirty deals to get their legislation through this place. We have a government that are unable to deliver on the commitments they made during the election. They promised to cut electricity bills by $275. They promised Australians cheaper mortgages. They promised there would be no changes to superannuation. They promised Australians could expect to see their cost-of-living expenses go down. But, since then, we have seen the complete opposite of all those things occurring. It's rank hypocrisy from government.

I note, in Senator Ruston's first question in question time today, this week we have seen yet another one. This was a government that promised transparency, accountability, integrity and all these things—these commitments they made to the Australian people in the lead-up to the election last year. They promised to be a government of integrity. Yet we now have a situation where it has come to light that the Mobile Black Spot Program, which has been used to great effect previously to support local communities with the necessary communications infrastructure, is now being used to direct funding to a number of seats that are all Labor held seats. Twenty-seven out of 27 grants in New South Wales, under this funding stream, went to Labor seats. There were only three locations selected in Victoria; they went to Labor seats. The minister has directed that 40 of the 54 chosen sites in the most recent Mobile Black Spot Program $40 million round are locations in Labor seats. This was a government that promised it was going to do better. This was a government that promised integrity and transparency and accountability, and, quite frankly, I don't think that is what transparency and accountability and integrity look like.

Like I said, this is just another one in the long list of broken promises from this government that are just piling up and piling up. It is amazing how fast the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, changed his tune from when he was telling Australians that their lives would be easier under a Labor government during the election campaign to then being in government and systematically going back on key election commitments he made. At one point he even stated, 'If you make a promise and a commitment, you do have to stick to it.' That sounds like stating the very obvious. But the Prime Minister hasn't really stuck to his word, has he?

It doesn't stop there. This week we have seen more scheming and broken promises from this government. In doing their deal with the Greens to push through their safeguard mechanism reforms, Labor will inflict further pain on Australians. Instead of working to make life easier for Australians, which I'm sure is something they probably committed to during the election campaign as well, Labor has again put the Australian people last. They have capitulated to the demands of the Greens in putting the safeguard mechanism through this place this week, and they have sown the seats for not only the next energy crisis in this country but the next economic crisis in this country. We know the impact that is going to have on hardworking Australians and their families.    This Labor-Greens deal is a hard cap on economic growth, it is a hard cap on new industries, it is a hard cap on existing industries, and it is a hard cap on jobs. It will cast doubt out over new mining and gas projects which have the potential to provide energy security. These projects are necessary for the production of renewable technologies and projects that will help drive down energy prices, and yet Labor, in bed with the Greens, are doing everything they can to completely run these projects off the road.

Apparently, lowering the cost of electricity isn't that much of a concern for Labor anymore. All this deal is going to accomplish is irreparable damage to the energy market. It will penalise consumers—apparently, consumers haven't suffered enough already under this government. If only they had found it within themselves to pass on the $275 decrease to our power bills, then maybe we wouldn't be in this position.

Linda White (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How good is the community battery grant scheme? It is absolutely fantastic. It is being rolled out across this country in communities. It is the Albanese government delivering on an election commitment to roll out 400 batteries in neighbourhoods across the country, delivering more affordable and secure solar power to more Australians. It is a fantastic program which will allow ordinary Australians to store affordable solar energy for use during peak times and to share excess power with other households in their area—areas like Aston, in outer Melbourne.

Aston is a typical area in outer Melbourne which is facing a by-election this Saturday. They'll be weighing up the programs and the ways in which the Albanese government runs programs like the community battery grant—programs where you can clearly see what you need to do to get community batteries. The websites talk about how you apply, what the criteria are and how you could be successful. The people of Aston would appreciate that, I am sure, because in the past they have had a member of parliament who was involved in the significant robodebt scheme—he was partially an architect of that. They've also seen sports rorts, where the grant schemes were administered through colour coded spreadsheets. So I am sure the families of Aston will be weighing those things up.

Of course, it is difficult thing to win a by-election as a government—in fact, there hasn't been a by-election won by a government for about a hundred years, since 1920—but I'm sure that the provision of the community battery grant and the way it's being administered by this government will be something weighing on the minds of Aston residents as they think about the government they had previously and how grants had previously been administered. They'll compare that to this fantastic community battery grant scheme, which has already seen 58 community battery grants awarded, where clear guidelines had been available. They will know that it's possible for the community to have these battery grants. They know they will be offered by a group, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, and there will be a program to deliver the rest of those batteries, the 342 other batteries that the government has committed to. This will be done with stakeholder consultation and will be done with clear guidelines that people can follow and transparently see how they are delivered.

As my colleague Senator Grogan said, one in every three Australian households have solar panels. That is one of the highest rates in the world. There are lots of solar panels in Aston. I've been out there many times. There are lots of people who have taken up solar panels. They are looking forward to things like the community battery grant scheme: whether they can apply for them and whether they can be successful. Community batteries are going to allow the storage of energy and sharing with others, so your neighbours. And it's not just rooftop solar. What this program is doing transparently is putting downward pressure on household electricity costs. It's going to contribute to lower emissions. It's going to provide a benefit to the electricity network. It's going to store solar energy for later use, sharing and support. It's going to allow households like those in Aston that cannot install solar panels to enjoy the benefits of renewable energy through shared community storage.

That's one of the things that's going to be weighing on the minds of the good voters of Aston this weekend, not only what the government have already delivered but also what we will deliver. They have a fantastic candidate in Mary Doyle in Aston, who will be able to prosecute their needs and represent them. It's my great hope that this weekend she gets elected to be the member for Aston.