Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is fortunate to have a beautiful and diverse natural environment. From the sandy shores of Sydney's beaches to the desert plains of Western Australia and everything in between, this land is truly amazing. With this great fortune, though, comes great responsibility. We must protect these natural wonders from the damage of climate change and preserve them for the next generation. History will be unkind to those who ignore the impact that global greenhouse emissions are having on our environment. Climate change is not something we can ignore. The Black Summer bushfires were an awful reminder of the effect that rising global temperatures are having on our planet. No Australian can forget those fires—the tragedy of the fires, the homes destroyed, the smell of smoke as it covered our cities, and those horrific images of the country burning on our television screens each night.

It is critical we act now and utilise technology to lower our emissions and tackle the effects of climate change. This is what the Technology Investment Roadmap is doing. Australia's road map is a plan to reduce emissions while also creating jobs and cutting costs. Our technology-first approach will see Australia meet and beat our emissions reduction commitments, because in Australia we do have a good record of tackling climate change. Australia now has the highest solar capacity per person of any country in the world. We beat our 2020 Kyoto targets and we are on track to meet and beat our 2030 target, as we said we would at the last election. Between 2005 and 2018, we reduced emissions faster than many similar export-orientated economies, including Canada, New Zealand, Japan and the United States. The latest data has Australia's total emissions at 19 per cent, below 2005 levels. My constituents want action. They know this is possible without imposing taxes.

Our technology-not-taxes approach is already delivering results. We are reducing emissions without imposing new costs on households, businesses or the economy. The road map is expected to guide $20 billion of government investment over the next 10 years and drive at least $80 billion of total new investments in low-emissions technologies in Australia by 2030. Our plan will support 130,000 jobs by 2030 and avoid in the order of 250 million tonnes of emissions by 2040. Investing in low-emissions technology will contribute to Australia's continued success in meeting and beating our emissions reduction targets. Getting new energy technologies to parity will enable substantial reductions in global emissions in both developing and developed countries.

Through the 2021-22 budget, we are investing in the future Australian hydrogen industry, with $275.5 million for four additional clean hydrogen export hubs in regional Australia. This builds on investment for an initial hub in the 2020-21 budget. Hubs are regions where hydrogen users, producers and exporters are co-located. Hubs seek to concentrate demand for hydrogen in one geographic region, helping to reduce costs and share information. The Morrison government funding for hydrogen hubs is expected to leverage significant co-investment from the private sector, state and territory governments, and international counterparts. Hydrogen is a priority low-emissions technology, and the Morrison government is now backing the sector through almost $1 billion in direct investment. This funding will advance the goals of the Technology Investment Roadmap as we ramp up our effort to reduce emissions while supporting economic growth and lowering energy costs. We want Australia to be a world leader in the hydrogen industry. An Australian hydrogen industry could generate more than 8,000 jobs, many in regional areas, and over $11 billion a year in GDP by 2050. That's why we worked with all states and territories to release Australia's National Hydrogen Strategy in November 2019, because we know that one level of government will not solve this issue; to tackle climate change, we need a holistic approach that brings together all levels of government, industry and every Australian. We can only prevent the effects of climate change if we act together. (Time expired)

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