Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

When I was elected to this federal parliament and had the privilege of representing a forward-looking, modern liberal community like the good people of Goldstein, they elected me because they believe in having a balanced approach to leading this country. Yes, they want leadership. They want economic leadership. They want to be able to create jobs and opportunity for Australians for the next generation, to steward the economy so that those who inherit it get something better than we inherited. They want social stewardship. They want cohesion and social stability. They want a meritocratic society where there's social mobility. They also want environmental leadership. They want environmental stewardship. They want their children to inherit a cleaner, healthier planet than the one they received. That in the end is the vision and the objective of this government, because we want to provide—and are providing—the leadership that this country needs in order to deliver the sustainable future for future generations.

You heard it from the minister right at the start, when she talked about the consequences of what our opponents are advocating versus what we are advocating. What we're advocating is sustainable, lowest-cost emissions reduction. Modelling of Labor Party policy has been done whereby it's going to cost $120 per tonne of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions reduction and abatement. The coalition's able to deliver it for between $11 and $12. Yes, all right; that's more efficient—and it is. But, more critically, it means that we can do more with less. We can cut more greenhouse gas emissions more cheaply than the opposition can.

At the heart of what we are seeking to do is an agenda based on innovation and growth, for every Australian—while the only pathway our political opponents are seeking to advocate is one built on taxes and decline. Our plan is comprehensive. We are not just looking at the one-third of emissions that come from stationary energy, though that's a critical part of the discussion. We are looking at what we can do to deploy renewables so we can provide stability, reliability and affordability to the energy sector. We are looking at the expansion of the Snowy Hydro project to take in Snowy Hydro 2.0. There has been an incredible amount of forward investment in solar PV cells and we are also getting more thermal solar plants established in South Australia.

But, more critically, we are looking at what we can do to develop the assets we have in this country to be able to create more renewable and sustain energy for Australia and the world. In particular, I reference the project in the Latrobe Valley around hydrogen—and there is also a project around lithium and being able to use batteries. But, more critically, we are looking at how we can be more efficient, because we do not want to waste a single drop of energy that sits within the grid in the marketplace to be able to deliver the energy that people need and to find ways to deal with reducing the demand so that companies are more efficient and reduce their environmental footprint, their emissions footprint and, of course, their cost footprint as well. But, critically, we are also looking at the two-thirds of emissions that come from areas outside of stationary energy. We are looking at what we can do to be able to drive change in land use and agriculture, in transportable energy and in making sure we can reduce every aspect of the environmental footprint that sits at the heart of our economy.

That's what leadership is. It's not just about going down one rabbit hole and thinking you're able to deliver a solution to the Australian people without any sense of proportionality or understanding of the impact that it will have. It is about recognising that we as a country have a responsibility to take lots of measures that work with the Australian population and recognise that we have to take the whole country forward together. We can't have a situation where pensioners can't afford to heat their homes in winter and cool their homes in summer. We have to have reliable energy, sustainable energy and affordable energy as well. And considering what this government has achieved—we have the lowest emissions in 28 years despite 27 years of sustained and continuous economic growth—that balanced framework is working. We see the future and the opportunity of renewables to be able to drive the transition for our economy and our energy market. We see the potential of reducing emissions in the non-energy sector. We see the jobs and opportunity that will help build this country's growth. We Liberals know that the future is going to be awesome.

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