Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to speak in support of the motion by my valued neighbour in the electorate of Indi. We share rural and regional interests, and one of the things I would recommend that the member do is actually read the Farmer Climate Survey, which indicated that 90 per cent of farmers are concerned about climate change, and for good reason. They're the ones who are going to bear the cost of inaction and the results of the devastation of climate change. In that survey, 88 per cent of those farmers wanted their representatives to do more on this issue, and 80 per cent wanted to move to 100 per cent renewable energy. Of course, we've seen the NSW Young Nationals urge the government to take on board a mechanism to generate the investment needed in this area, and the National Farmers' Federation has also called on the government to move forward on this.

I would urge the member, in the context of what he had to say, to read his own Finkel report. I have read all 212 pages of that report, and it really bells the cat on what the government's had to say on this issue. One quote where it highlights the key deficiency, from four years of drift and a lack of policy, is at page 88. It says:

… a mechanism is required to guide investment in the electricity sector that is compatible with Australia’s international emissions reduction commitments. The existing policies aimed at reducing emissions in the electricity sector are not consistent with Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction goals.

It also says:

The lack of a clear means by which the electricity sector is expected to contribute to this task is hampering investment in the NEM—

the National Electricity market. It went on to say:

The Panel emphasises the urgency of the need for a credible and enduring emissions reduction policy for the electricity sector to provide investor confidence

They couldn't be clearer about what the problem here is. We have seen an 88 per cent drop-off in investment under this government, and that is the issue—generation capacity that could have been there that isn't, because of this government.

Now, we heard talk about prices. The Finkel report said, at page 90, that prices would be higher under a business as usual scenario and, in coal-fired NSW, we have seen a doubling of the price and now another 20 per cent increase since July. The Finkel report said:

The modelling undertaken for this Review found that the CET and EIS policy scenarios both resulted in lower residential and industrial electricity prices than leaving policy settings unchanged under a business as usual (BAU) scenario.

So, they have really belled the cat on that one. They also said:

… consultation with stakeholders suggests that, currently, the uncertainty around emissions reduction policy is having an impact on investment decisions and financing costs for generators.

And that point was hammered home to the Prime Minister in the recent discussions he had with the electricity market companies.

We have heard comments about health—bizarre comments about renewable energy causing deaths of patrons. Look, if they were that concerned about the impact of electricity prices, then why are they trying to get rid of the electricity energy supplement? Around 400,000 pensioners and 138,000 single parents will be affected by that decision. If they are worried about that, they should address that issue. If they are worried about health issues, I have seen plenty of health surveys, some of which have suggested that fossil fuels cause about $6 billion worth of cost to our health bill in this nation and probably kill around 3,000 Australians a year. That is what some of those reports have suggested. So if we are worried about health, then we need to get off fossil fuels as soon as possible.

The biggest single issue that is highlighted in the Finkel report—and there are so many things I could go through, like the opportunities for rural communities, moving to distributed energy resources and the opportunities for saving on power bills—is the urgent need to make a decision on the clean energy target. It set out a time line for implementation of its recommendations, and included, at zero months, an urgent decision on the clean energy target. But what are we seeing from this government? More drift and more inaction. It is what I chose the year are This is what's holding back our ability to create the economic engine that will drive this country forward, particularly, in investment in rural and regional areas. In my own electorate of Eden-Monaro, we saw over a billion dollars come into our region during the previous government's policies. That all dried up. What we need is a decision on the CET now. We need community power networks, we need investment in rural and regional areas, and we need this government to get off its backside and get something done.

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