Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to speak tonight about two aspects of discussion in the House today that impact very heavily on the city of Gladstone, in my electorate. It is a very fine city, an industrial city that wins tidy town awards. So it is very switched on to its environment. Tonight we have heard this business of green energy. We have heard about greenhouse gas emission reductions, and I broadly support that as a concept. But in having a national agenda we have got to make absolutely certain that we reduce these various emissions in such a way that we do not cripple our own country.

Gladstone’s great attraction is that it has amongst the cheapest coal-fired power in the world, and it has good steaming coal. So compared to current-day coals it is relatively clean. Also, as the House is aware, the government is spending over $400 million on various projects to improve power stations, coal burning, sequestration and the like. All those things are well known to the House. I commend those and I want those for Gladstone. But I do not want to see the price of power doubled and the aluminium industry, the alumina industry, the potential magnesium industry, the chemicals industry and the nickel industry move offshore.

When this proposition was put to Kim Beazley at the last election, when he was in Gladstone, he said, ‘We should ratify Kyoto.’ And they said, ‘But Mr Beazley, the one city in Australia that would be disadvantaged by this is Gladstone.’ And do you know what his pathetic response was? ‘I will get special arrangements for Gladstone.’ Not a soul in Gladstone believed that. Gladstone exports 12 per cent of Australia’s—

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