Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and I thank him for quoting the Rio chief executive officer. I think it would have been better, however, if he'd not stopped mid-sentence in that quote. The member for Page read out part of the quote. Mr Dozol said, 'Unfortunately, all market proposals received so far show future energy prices are not commercially viable'—but there's not a full stop in the quote; there's a comma. He goes on to say, 'and there is significant uncertainty about when renewable projects will be available at the scale we need.' The point is that Rio and Tomago are arguing for more renewables, not less. They are not blaming renewables. They're calling for us to do more, and we agree with them. The opposition are the ones out of touch. The opposition are the ones who are so desperate that they actually have to cut a sentence halfway to make their case.

Rio runs more than one smelter. They also run a smelter in Gladstone, and that smelter is safe. One of the reasons that that smelter is safe is that they have been able to enter into contracts with renewable energy providers—that's why. And of interest perhaps to the House is that some of the renewable energy contracts that the Gladstone smelter has entered into are with Smoky Creek solar farm and another solar farm in the area, Upper Calliope Solar Farm. As well as being the two solar farms that Rio has entered into arrangements with, do you know what else they've got in common? The member for Flynn opposed them both and publicly campaigned against both of them. This is the hypocrisy of those opposite. They rail against renewable energy and campaign against it, when people who actually understand how the economy works, like Rio, support renewable energy and enter into contracts with the very projects that those members opposite campaign against.

They are so out of touch with the economic reality of Australia in 2025, they have to misquote Australia's biggest employers. Just a few moments ago, they were laughing at the chief executives of the Australian Industry Group and Business Council of Australia, and saying, 'What would they know about the economy?' Those geniuses who sit behind the Leader of the Opposition know better than the Business Council and the Australian Industry Group about business and industry! I think that tells us a lot.

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