Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

I've sat here and endured rot and drivel from those opposite, because they will always take every opportunity to talk down Australia and Australians. They do it all the way through question time, and we've just heard 10 minutes of it. But let me give you the facts, because the facts are a really good starting place and these are facts that Australians can be proud of. Emissions are now at their lowest level since records began in 1990—20.1 per cent below 2005 levels. In 2020 they were more than 100 million tonnes, or just under 20 per cent, lower than forecast by Labor when they left government—with a carbon tax. Let me be clear about this. We took away the carbon tax, and emissions are more than 100 million tonnes lower for 2020 than they forecast. That's an extraordinary outcome and one that all Australians can be proud of. Between 2005 and 2019, Australia's emissions fell faster than in the OECD: faster than Canada's, faster than New Zealand's—indeed, theirs barely budged, when ours are now down by 20.1 per cent—and faster than the United States'. In electricity our emissions fell 5.6 per cent last year alone.

That record low is driven by a record level of deployment in renewables, and we set a new record just last year. Last year alone we saw 7,000 megawatts of solar and wind being constructed—installed—in Australia. That's the equivalent of four large coal-fired power stations, last year alone. That is more than was installed in the whole time Labor was in power over six long years. So in one year we saw more installed than in six long years when Labor was in power, when we saw only 5,600 megawatts, as against 7,000 last year and 6,900 the year before that. So, twice over now, we've beaten Labor's record over their whole six years. And they like to boast about their achievements!

Well, we deliver. Australia deployed renewables eight times as fast as the global per-person average and four times as fast as in Europe or the US. We on this side know there are ultimately only two ways to reduce emissions: technology or taxes, innovation or elimination. Those opposite want taxes and they want elimination. This is a shadow minister who is not committed to technology. He's committed to taxes. He wanted a retiree tax, he wanted a housing tax, he wanted a car tax and now he's decided that since he can't impose a tax himself he's going to ask other countries to do it for him. One way or another, he's seeking to impose taxes on Australians, and he's doing it gleefully. Our approach is technology based. That's why we're driving $80 billion of investment over the next decade through our technology investment road map—160,000 jobs, clean hydrogen, carbon capture, healthier soils, and low-emissions steel and aluminium. These are the things that are really going to drive the next decades of emissions reduction, just as we've seen dramatic reductions in emissions over the past decade.

But we do need to get more horses in the race. We do need to make sure there are as many technologies available for those hard-to-abate sectors as we can possibly get. That means working with our trading and strategic partners. In the past few days we've seen Australia sign agreements as part of more than $560 million committed to technology partnerships. Australia has signed partnerships with Singapore, Germany and Japan, one of our biggest energy customers. We've signed agreements with them to advance technologies that are going to bring down our emissions and bring down emissions across the globe, because we in this country are an energy powerhouse and we can play a leadership role. Our special adviser on low-emissions technology, Dr Alan Finkel, is leading that charge, and he's driving those partnerships that will deliver real and tangible outcomes.

Sadly, those opposite have nothing to contribute but hollow words. The member for Hunter put it beautifully when he said Labor hasn't made a single contribution to reduce emissions in 14 years of trying. That's damning, from their own side—not a single contribution to reduce emissions in 14 years of trying. You only need to look at their efforts in the last 24 hours. Yesterday, under the leadership of the member for McMahon, Labor voted against the creation of 1,400 jobs and $192 million of investment for ARENA. They voted against funding that would see ARENA deliver more electric vehicle charging stations—against supporting carbon capture technologies and supporting efficiencies in heavy industry and in heavy freight. Only yesterday, to take one of those technologies where we see enormous potential, Australia's former Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, who I mentioned earlier, said this about carbon capture and storage:

The role of CCS … is being promoted by the IEA, the United Nations, the Biden administration: We won't get to net zero without CCS and the companies that can do it and can do it really well are the oil and gas companies of Australia and around the world …

We saw the latest demonstration of Labor's hypocrisy when it comes to energy and emissions policy when they voted against funding for an agency that they established. They will stop at nothing to cosy up to green activists rather than take practical and responsible action. But, yesterday, where was the member for Hunter on that issue? He was absent. He didn't show up because he knows how absurd the member for McMahon's position is. As he rightly put it, it's just bad politics.

The member for McMahon isn't interested in his own climate ambitions. He isn't interested in reducing emissions or creating jobs, seizing trade opportunities or export opportunities. He's not interested in supporting industries like hydrogen. He's not interested in driving down emissions in steel and aluminium. He's not interested in healthier soils. He's not interested in standing up for the interests of blue-collar workers across Australia. No, it's not about his climate ambitions. It's about his personal ambition, because since being sacked as the shadow minister for health—in the middle of a pandemic—he's been reinventing himself as the darling of the Left. He's donned the skivvy and he's become the No.1 ticket holder for Labor Environment Action Network. He's the No. 1 ticket holder. In the last month, he's been a regular on the LEAN speaker circuit. He's been to far more LEAN meetings than he's been to electricity generators. From Canberra to Gippsland, in Parliament House or on Zoom, he's there at the LEAN meetings in his skivvy, late-night tea and biscuits with the same crowd who oppose gas, who oppose oil, who oppose fossil fuels and who want to shut down our resources industry and shut down jobs. That's where he's focused. Don't be fooled, Mr Speaker. He'll say LEAN is a stakeholder he needs to manage, but it's more than that: he thinks he can have a shot at being leader. He thinks he can have a shot at it. Everyone sitting behind him knows it—that that's his ambition. Everyone in the press gallery knows it, and no doubt the Leader of the Opposition knows it as well. This is a man who knows his way around an attempt at a political assassination. He had a go. We all remember that one. He had a go back in the Rudd days. It turns out he can't count how many cylinders there are in his own car, but, I tell you what, he can have a crack at counting the votes when it comes to a political assassination.

We will get on with the job, as we do every day, of delivering emissions reductions as we deliver affordable, reliable energy for all Australians in this great country. We'll do it through technology, not taxes. We're doing it through innovation, not elimination. Those opposite can't help themselves. We know what they want. They want taxes. They want to destroy jobs. We're getting on with the job of creating jobs for Australians, creating opportunities for Australians and bringing down our emissions at the same time.

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