Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2009 and related bill. I will go into some detail in a moment as to why I support it, highlighting some of the aspects of this legislation. But first I must say I listened with great interest to the previous speaker’s contribution to this debate. I was interested to hear her say that those on the other side of this House understand renewables and that they know what to do. For a party—or parties—that know and understand renewables, their record is pretty damn deplorable. Renewables went backwards—note that: they went backwards—when they were in government. If they were serious, they would have done something in government. But they are the ones that understand renewables. They understand them so well that they actually went backwards under them when they were in government. ABARE figures show that renewables contributed 10.5 per cent of our electricity supply in 1997 compared to 9.95 per cent in 2007. There are the figures that demonstrate just how committed the opposition are to renewable energy. They give lip service. They are the sceptics on that side of the House and they are actually working to see that we do not have a strong renewable energy industry. It is interesting to note that in 2003 the Howard government’s own review recommended an increase in mandatory renewable energy targets above five per cent to ensure investment was not stifled. This was rejected time and time again.

The interim arrangements will set aside the link between a RET and CPRS legislation. We have decided that we will agree with the decoupling, and this will sever the link between the two pieces of legislation. Now that this link has been severed, I would expect the opposition to wholeheartedly support this legislation. I pointed out some of the flaws in the opposition’s approach to renewable energy—how their so-called commitment and knowledge of the renewable industry had benefited Australia to the extent that there had been a decline in the renewable energy sector. If you compare that to the Rudd government’s record of support for renewable energy, you will find that in 18 months this government has done more to support renewable energy and associated jobs than those in opposition did in 12 years.

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