Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The President has received the following letter from Senator McKim:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That the Government must withdraw its $1.5 billion subsidy to support a gas export terminal and petrochemical hub in Darwin's Middle Arm. This is not a Future Made in Australia."

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerk will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips. I call Senator Hanson-Young to move the motion.

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That the Government must withdraw its $1.5 billion subsidy to support a gas export terminal and petrochemical hub in Darwin's Middle Arm. This is not a Future Made in Australia."

This motion put forward by Senator McKim is an important motion and one of urgency for this chamber, because we have the current government wanting to spend $1. 5 billion of public money on a project in Darwin Harbour that the community is worried about, concerned about and doesn't support. Furthermore, without being fixed, it would drive the climate crisis to be even worse.

What this particular Middle Arm project would do is act as a supercharger for the extraction of new gas, fracking and the export of fossil fuels at a time when we know that the climate crisis requires courage and leadership from governments right around the world to stop making the climate crisis worse, to stop extracting more fossil fuels, to stop pouring fuel on the fire. The International Energy Agency says, 'We will not be able to arrest dangerous global warming if we keep opening up new coal and gas mines.' And what this Middle Arm precinct in the Darwin Harbour will do is give a very strong signal for the supercharging of the expansion of fossil fuels. No wonder so many Territorians are worried about this.

This Saturday is election day in the Northern Territory, and Territorians have the opportunity to send a very strong message to both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party that they don't want their Darwin Harbour trashed for the sake of further expansion of fossil fuels. They don't want their health and their community and their children's future to be sold out to the gas lobby. We know, because we've heard from the health experts and we've heard from the doctors, that the Middle Arm Project, as currently designed—an export hub for gas; a petrochemical hub—will be a toxic pollution factory only kilometres from Darwin residents and their suburbs.

There is $1.5 billion of taxpayer money being used to create a toxic petrochemical hub right in the heart of Darwin. There is $1.5 billion of taxpayer money being spent trashing the Darwin Harbour. The tourism industry and the fishing industry in Darwin are worried about the impact that this toxic pollution, this toxic hub is going to have on their businesses and on their local environment. The Middle Arm gas hub is a threat to human health, clean air, safe water and, of course, our climate.

Territorians want their government to listen. Recently, when a Senate inquiry was up in the Darwin area looking into this particular project, seeing how $1.5 billion of taxpayer money was going to be spent, we were inundated with strong community concern. Hundreds of residents spoke out, talked to us as a committee, wanted to engage, wanted to have their voices heard. They're angry that they are being ignored by the current Labor Territorian government and the current Liberal opposition. They're angry that rather than spending $1.5 billion on helping Darwin become a renewable hub, a place where the environment is looked after and celebrated, rather than an injection into local tourism, into local culture, into fixing the hospital system, housing, the education system—all of the things that $1.5 billion could go to helping the local community in Darwin—they are furious that $1.5 billion of taxpayer money is being spent helping the fossil fuel industry expand.

The Environment Protection Authority in Darwin is turning a blind eye to the very real risks to the environment and human health too. People are furious that the doctors warning signs are being ignored. People are furious that the government is ignoring their concerns about what this means for clean air and clean water. Darwin already has an air quality problem, and this toxic hub will only make it worse.

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

Well, here we have, once again in this chamber, an ample demonstration of this radical Green Left tail wagging this dog of a Labor government, and it's a government that doesn't know whether it should be chasing its tail or whether it should be chasing the stick. So, instead, it just chases the parked car. We see a government that's completely unable to make decisions in the national interest. Instead, they get dragged ever further to the left by the radical Greens, their fellow travellers in the environment movement and the radical animal-activist movement. We see a government that's completely incapable of acting in the benefit and the interest of the Australian people.

Anyone out there with half a gram of sense knows that gas is essential to our economy. It is essential to the future of our energy grids, and it's crucial to the transition that other countries want to undergo in their energy grids. In fact, I was lucky enough just last week to meet with a delegation from the Japanese parliament to this country, who, once again, emphasised to me the importance of Australian gas exports to their country for their own energy security but also for their transition plans to a less carbon-intensive economic environment. Instead, we have the Greens in here trying to drag the Labor government to the left, and, whether it's through ignorance or incompetence, they allow themselves to be dragged because they cannot make a decision in the national interest.

I've been lucky enough to travel north in Western Australia in the last few weeks, particularly over the winter recess. I took the opportunity, once more, to visit the Burrup Peninsula and look at the quite remarkable development that's going on there—the thousands of jobs for the current construction of the Pluto Train 2 and the ongoing jobs and high-quality investment in infrastructure that the gas company provides in that local area.

But I was also lucky enough to travel to an area that's actually been decommissioned, Thevenard Island, where, once upon a time, about 15 years ago, there were two large condensate tanks, a massive pipe right across the island and, obviously, a workers' quarters. Now you go to that island and not a trace of that activity exists. The large concrete jetty that was there, which was obviously very tall to deal with the massive tides in the north of Western Australia—and I've seen that jetty in the past—is now no longer there. In fact, it has gone without a trace. The two large condensate tanks—and, when I say large, I mean that they would just about fill this chamber—are not there anymore. In fact, they're gone without a trace. In fact, even more remarkable is that the gas and oil rig that was a few miles offshore and could be seen last time I was out there has gone. It's been redeployed elsewhere to generate new economic activity and to generate new supplies that are needed not just domestically for our own energy system but internationally for countries like Japan and their energy transition.

Instead, we get phrases, particularly from state Labor governments, like 'load shedding' and we get bans on new gas in homes. We pay industry in Western Australia to close down rather than have them put pressure on the energy grid, because this Labor government, being wagged by the tail that is the Greens, wants to go for a renewables-only approach to energy supply. That simply doesn't stack up when it comes to industrial development. It simply doesn't stack up when it comes to manufacturing.

The fact is that the Greens, dragging Labor with them, have never seen a mine or an industrial development that they like, but they have the jobs that will be the future of Australia.

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

The government will not be supporting this motion. We, on 5 September, supported the Greens in referring this issue to an inquiry by the Environment and Communications References Committee, and that inquiry has not yet reported. This is somewhat pre-empting the outcome of that inquiry process, which would pose the question: why did you bother with the inquiry in the first place? But that report will come forward, and that will give an outline, exactly, of the evidence that was heard and the challenges that were put forward.

In relation to the Middle Arm development, the Albanese government has made a commitment to invest in the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct to support industries that are critical to meeting our commitment to net zero. We do understand that there are a range of views and perspectives on this project, but we are committed to working with the NT government and the community to ensure that the necessary assessments take place before the project proceeds. Those assessments are under way, and pretty much all of the commentary is pre-emptive of what those assessments are going to show us.

Before the Commonwealth takes a final investment decision, we are going to look at all of those assessments. That includes Infrastructure Australia's assessment of the stage 3 business case. The NT government is working with Infrastructure Australia to progress the projects through the stages of that process, and, through that, we will find out more. We will see the details of what the reality is. What we have heard, for a couple years now, are an awful lot of assumptions. We've seen various changes in how this development is going to roll out, and yet what we've seen from the Greens is their cherry-picking of the bits that sound as explosive as they can. They have been cherry-picking those bits and overblowing what they see as negatives. The final decision that we make will consider the most appropriate funding structure to implement the government's commitment to shared infrastructure, to funding and to providing resources for the shared infrastructure.

We've already seen Infrastructure Australia support and approve the stage 2 business case, and one of the comments they made, which I think is quite critical, is that the project will support the transition of Australia's exports to high-tech, low-cost, low-emissions energy sources. Let's just be really clear, because there's an awful lot of muck and bother being thrown out there: the project will be required to meet all regulatory approval processes, and that includes the EPBC processes. That includes the NT government's own processes, and any Commonwealth funding that's going to go towards infrastructure that supports industries critical to meeting our commitment to net zero needs to be clear.

This development is also going to include hydrogen and the manufacture and export of lithium batteries. The proposals being progressed include a hydrogen facility using solar energy and facilities for green ammonia production, gas and critical minerals processing for use in energy storage batteries and precursor battery materials.

Gas remains an important energy source for Australia, and we don't shy away from that. The NT government is also working alongside Larrakia Energy and Korea Midland Power Co, and they've also signed an MoU to achieve a rapid development of the green energy project, which is going to support a 300-megawatt solar farm in close proximity to the Middle Arm precinct. It is a mixed-use facility, and the whole idea of the government investment is the shared infrastructure to help us reach net zero.

These projects are also going to provide significant economic benefits and an estimated 20,000 jobs in the Territory. This project is a valuable contribution—

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

( ): Thank you, Senator Grogan. Senator Cox.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to also support this urgency motion moved by my colleague Senator McKim, and I wholeheartedly support the comments of our previous Greens speaker Senator Hanson-Young. Let's be really honest about what the Middle Arm precinct or hub is. It is a petrochemical and gas project. It always was—and always will be, if this government does not get serious and admit the truth. This project was hatched out of the 'gas-fired recovery' under the previous government in this place, the Morrison regime. It was hatched by, or was the brain-child of, Andrew Liveris, who worked with the Morrison government to create this petrochemical and gas hub, right there in the Middle Arm development in Darwin Harbour.

As to what we know about this and what we found out through the course of this inquiry that has been run by my colleague Senator Hanson-Young, I, respectfully, want to say to those in the government: stop greenwashing this. Stop greenwashing the fact that there are petrochemicals and fossil fuels. The 'gas-fired recovery' has just been reheated as your new Future Gas Strategy. That's all it is.

What you've done is to say to the Australian taxpayer: 'You're going to give $1.5 billion to make sure that industry is the tail that wags the dog of the government in this place.' And it continues to do that. The Minister for Resources continues to allow the fossil fuel industry in this country to dictate policy in this place. They continue that revolving door.

We heard Senator Brockman come in here and talk about meeting with the Japanese government. They have a transition plan. They don't want any more gas from us. It might be under contract, but they don't want that oversupply of our gas.

It's billions of dollars in their pocket, that they are making—to the detriment, mind you, of people like the Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation in Beetaloo, who attended this inquiry and said: 'We don't want fracking on our country. We don't want our gas being piped into Larrakia country, into Middle Arm.' The ignorance of these people! They've ignored the traditional owners who fought Santos many times in the Federal Court over the Barossa project, and ignored the Nurrdalinji people of the Beetaloo Basin, who've said the same thing: 'Stop ruining our water in the Northern Territory by fracking gas'—for export, not for domestic use. It's for profit, for your donors—the people that are happy to be the tail that wags the dog in this place. And that's what Middle Arm actually does.

We're not protecting sea country. We heard from many, many traditional owners: from the Larrakia people, during this inquiry into Middle Arm, who talked about the importance of protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage in the Middle Arm area. They talked about being locked out of that area under the Darwin LNG agreement. For many, many years, they haven't been able to return to that area.

For $1.5 billion of taxpayer money, we can fix the hospitals, as Senator Hanson-Young said. We can make the area a tourist hub. The ecotourism operators in this area have written a petition, which we supported, because of the destructive effect that Middle Arm will have on their businesses.

So for the Labor government to sit here and say, 'No, we don't agree,' is ridiculous. They don't care about the people in the Darwin Harbour precinct. They care more about Middle Arm—this petrochemical and gas hub—than they do about the local people.

We've already heard about the impact on air quality. It is all there—all that information is laid bare in the report that is coming as part of this inquiry. Stop giving $1.5 billion to these people—

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Cox. Senator Faruqi.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2021, the International Energy Agency said no new fossil fuel projects and, if the world is to reach net zero by 2050, no new coal and gas. In 2023 they repeated this call, and what are Labor doing? They're doing the exact opposite. They're approving new coal and gas; fracking for gas in the Beetaloo basin, which will increase Australia's emissions by 11 per cent; and throwing $1.5 billion of public money, taxpayer money, to export this gas through the Middle Arm project. This Labor government was supposed to be different from the disastrous climate-denying coalition government. They spoke big about net zero, about a 2030 emission reduction target and about transitioning to clean renewables. But, as usual, it was all hot air. Labor is all talk and no action.

But we can see through the noise. We can see through this greenwashing. We can see that you are not listening to climate scientists. We can see that you are not listening to First Nations people. We know that you didn't even consult First Nations elders who have warned about the risks of this climate bomb. The only people this Labor government listens to are big coal and gas corporations and their shady lobbyists. The Middle Arm project is the perfect example of how dirty politics operates under Labor. The reality is that both Labor and the coalition cannot be trusted when it comes to climate or to listening to First Nations people.

Luckily, for the people in the Northern Territory, they will have the chance this weekend to send a strong message to the major parties, to the old parties, that they deserve far better than parties committed to wrecking the planet. The Northern Territory Greens are running a phenomenal campaign, with more candidates than ever and a membership base that has quadrupled in the last 18 months. Amazing women like Asta Hill, Suki Dorras-Walker and Kat McNamara are running to ban fracking in the NT; stop Middle Arm; urgently meet the needs of young people, rather than criminalising them; implement a rent freeze; and get dirty money out of politics. The Northern Territory Greens have a chance to make history on the weekend. I wish them the best of luck for this weekend, because the planet and its people depend on it.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor's decision to pump $1½ billion of public money into a petrochemical hub at Darwin's Middle Arm is actually a middle finger to the people of this country. It's a middle finger to everyone who wants climate action. It's a middle finger to young Australians, who are going to inherit the worst impacts of the climate calamity that is currently being driven in this country by the Australian Labor Party.

Middle Arm, the middle finger to Australians, shows where Labor's true priorities lie. They are doubling down on the fossil fuel corporations, doubling down on publicly subsidising the burning of fossil fuels and doubling down on taxpayer handouts to bolster the already obscene profits that fossil fuel corporations are making in Australia. The decision to publicly fund Middle Arm is reckless and morally indefensible. Labor is propping up a dying industry and sacrificing the future of all Australians for short-term profits and short-term political benefit.

The duplicity of Labor MPs is nothing short of staggering. They post Canva graphics on social media. They cluck their tongues about how they hate their party's climate-destroying policies. They pose with koalas. They mouth platitudes about protecting the environment. They pretend to care about the climate calamity and they pretend to be taking climate action. But, when push comes to shove, they turn up in this place and they vote for the very policies they claim, on social media, that they oppose, and they smile while they're doing it. Those Labor MPs want us to believe they're different—that they're allies of the climate movements—but their actions tell the real story.

By backing Middle Arm, they are complicit in cooking the planet. They are contemptuous and they should be held in contempt by every Australian. They are doing nothing other than serving their fossil fuel donors and betraying young people, who are going to bear the brunt of their sellout.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's be very clear. Middle Arm is a publicly funded climate disaster in the making and it must not proceed. In the middle of a climate crisis, Anthony Albanese wants to use a whopping $1.5 billion of taxpayer money to subsidise a gas export and petrochemical hub a mere three kilometres from the centre of Darwin. This Middle Arm precinct will generate 15 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year and will open up the Beetaloo Basin to fracking, contributing to a catastrophic 11 per cent increase to Australia's emissions.

It is incomprehensible that, while communities are experiencing more extreme weather and mere weeks after the world experienced its hottest day on record, Labor would not only support new coal and gas but spend $1.5 billion of taxpayer money to fund it. There is enormous community opposition to the toxic gas and petrochemical hub that would be Middle Arm. The health impacts are clear. First Nations concerns, as my colleague Senator Cox outlined, are well established, and the lack of consultation with the Larrakia traditional owners has been woeful. Climate change is projected to disproportionately affect Northern Territory communities, and Darwin is expected to become a climate change sacrifice zone and uninhabitable in coming decades. Northern Territory residents are already at risk of extreme heat, rising sea levels and increasing natural disasters. The government must withdraw its $1.5 billion subsidy to support Darwin's Middle Arm precinct—because, frankly, Labor, you cannot have it both ways. You can't put in a bid to co-host a UN climate conference while spending billions in public money investing in dirty coal and gas expansion. Labor, you can't promote a future made in Australia while you're wrecking Australia, its climate, its biodiversity and the health of its communities.

Territorians will go to the polls this weekend, and they have a chance to send a strong message to the government that they oppose the toxic and dangerous Middle Arm hub. Territorians who feel betrayed by the major parties and want to protect the health of their region can send a strong message by not voting for the major parties, who continue to degrade and pollute their local environment. Territorians have a choice to vote green for a clean energy future.

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the urgency motion moved by Senator McKim be agreed to.