Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, 2016 was the hottest year on record, and last decade was the warmest ever. Climate change is getting more and more urgent. If we do not take action now, our children will pay for our mistakes. There is no doubt that the Abbott-Turnbull government has been loath to accept the scientific realities of climate change. By removing a price on carbon, reducing the RET, and ignoring expert advice advocating an emissions intensity scheme, the Abbott-Turnbull government has completely destroyed the policy plan for certainty of investment in our energy sector. This failure is impacting on Australians through higher electricity prices. In their submission to the Finkel review, the Australian Energy Council stated:

…the lack of national policy certainty is now the single biggest driver of higher electricity prices. … the electricity cost of sustained national policy inaction is effectively equivalent to a carbon price in excess of $50 a tonne.

That is the view of the Australian Energy Council. This government has overseen a dramatic reduction in investments in renewable energy. In 2014, investment in large-scale wind, solar and other clean energy sources fell by an astounding 88 per cent to $240 million, the lowest since 2002, putting us behind countries like Panama, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. While coal will play an important part of our energy mix for the foreseeable future, all Australians realise our nation must make a transition to a cleaner renewable energy.

Governments need to plan to manage this transition. Labor's emissions intensity scheme is widely considered by industry experts and stakeholders to be the most affordable approach to providing investment certainty while supporting our transition to clean energy. An EIS encourages electricity generators to reduce their carbon emissions and to invest in newer, cleaner technology and gain a financial advantage. This ensures a competitive advantage for clean sources of electricity whilst minimising the impact on wholesale electricity prices.

Under the Turnbull government, emissions have continued to rise, with recent data revealing a 2.2 per cent increase in emissions in 2015-16 from the 2014-15 levels. So, instead of improving our situation in Australia with respect to global warming and climate change, we are actually going backwards. An EIS would reduce emissions and keep power bills up to $15 billion lower over a decade. A gradual transition to renewable energy sources is the right move for our nation not only in terms of easing environmental impact but by creating new and high-skilled jobs for Australians.

The solar sector employs 2.8 million people globally and, in the US, solar now provides twice as many jobs as coal. Costs associated with solar power continue to plummet, dropping 58 per cent in the past five years, with an expected fall of 40 to 70 per cent by 2040. This government's unwillingness to tackle the issue head-on is condemning future generations to clean up the mess whilst denying them those jobs and opportunities that would flow from embracing a solid transition to renewable energy.

This is also costing us a lot more money on our power bills. Because the private sector, which owns most of the generation assets in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, is not investing in new base-load technology and new base-load power, we are all seeing constrained supply, and it is pushing up our power bills

The Turnbull government recently announced that they want to use taxpayers' money to invest in new coal-fired power stations, which are only marginally less polluting than the current coal-fired power stations and twice as polluting as gas. The CEO of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Oliver Yates, recently stated that ultra-supercritical coal plants do not meet the CEFC's definition of low-emissions technologies and are thus ineligible for funding. Mr Yates also said that new coal plants are not commercially viable, because of the strong likelihood of future carbon liabilities.

Clearly, seeking to use the CEFC's fund to fund coal-fired power is a backward step. The Australian public deserves better than a government hell-bent on crazy coal plans, bashing renewables and attacking Labor, particularly when the security and future wellbeing of generations are at stake and when it is pushing up electricity prices.

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