Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are here today to talk about coal. I want to reflect for a moment on the importance of coal to our society and our economy. Coal powered the Industrial Revolution. It took many societies from serfdom to the wonderful standard of living that many of us enjoy today, so I am a big supporter of coal. In 2013, we had a redistribution which brought the coalmining town of Collie into my electorate of O'Connor. O'Connor was already an electorate that represented mining interests in gold and nickel. Agriculture and tourism were the main industries, so I welcomed the addition of Collie to my electorate. They are good, hardworking people—Labor voters for the most part. I welcomed them into my electorate and I am determined to look after them. As the member for Bendigo said earlier, it is all about looking after the people who live in our small towns.

I also want to touch on the energy mix in Western Australia. At the moment, as we can see on the AEMO website, currently 13 per cent of Western Australia's power is generated by wind, 49 per cent is generated by coal, with most coming out of the town of Collie, and 37 per cent is generated by gas. When I looked the other afternoon, the amount of generation from wind was zero. There was no wind blowing, so the energy mix saw gas and coal having to step up to fill the baseload requirement. We need to bear this in mind. The previous speaker talked about baseload renewable energy. I am looking forward to seeing some facts around that baseload renewable energy. Anyway, we also heard about consultant reports and modelling that talked about renewable energy being cheaper than coal fired power or gas. That may well be the case when the wind is blowing, but at the end of the day you still have to have the baseload capacity ready to go when the wind drops off, and that is the fundamental issue.

As I said, we have heard about modelling and consultants reports and we have heard other experts talk about the various costs. As all of us in this place get lobbied by all sides and we see reports written with one point of view or another in mind, but let us look at a real-life example. South Australian Premier Mike Rann referred to South Australia as an experiment, or the canary in the coalmine. South Australia has pushed its renewable energy component up to a theoretical 41 per cent of the state's electricity supply. I do not think I need to remind everyone in this place of the disaster that has been. We saw massive power blackouts, costing, I think, business in South Australia around $110 million to $120 million. We have seen small businesses paying increases in their power bills of up to 75 per cent just in the last 12 months. We all remember the celebration of the South Australian government when the Port Augusta power plant was demolished. 'What a great day for the state,' the South Australian government said. But, since then, we have seen that Arrium, the steel producer, is looking at removing its business from South Australia, and other major businesses are looking to move on.

On the weekend before last in Western Australia, we had a new Labor government elected. I congratulate them and I hope they are a very good government. Let us look at what Western Australian Labor were talking about just a few weeks before the election. According to The Australian, the Labor energy spokesperson, Bill Johnston, told the National Environmental Law Association on 27 October, in answer to a question about whether WA should have its own renewable energy target:

The Labor Party's target is at least 50 per cent by 2030. We don't believe that that is going to push up prices because we believe it will be done on a competitive basis and, as I say, I think setting a target leads to policy action and I think there are a lot of policy actions that are required.

That is what Mr Johnston said, but, importantly, this is what the re-elected Labor member for Collie-Preston, Mick Murray, thinks. Once again, I quote The Australian and an article written by Andrew Burrell:

Labor abandoned plans to unveil a 50 per cent renewable energy target in Western Australia after Mick Murray—the party's veteran MP in the coalmining town of Collie—threatened to quit his marginal seat before next week's state election.

…   …   …

It is understood Mr Murray had heated discussions with Labor energy spokesman Bill Johnston and others in the party who … would have set a 50 per cent renewable energy target for WA …

I look forward to working with Mick Murray to oppose the federal Labor Party's 50 per cent target. (Time expired)

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