Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Would the minister advise the House on the role that coal will play in the world’s response to climate change? Are there any alternative approaches?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for McMillan and acknowledge his keen interest in clean coal technology. We were only recently at Loy Yang announcing the investment from the Low Emissions Technology Development Fund of $100 million into a clean coal joint venture between HRL, an Australian company, and the Harbin Power Engineering Company, from China.

Coal is an essential part of the world’s energy source today. It provides more than half of the world’s electricity. Over the next 23 years the International Energy Agency estimates that coal will deliver 83 per cent of the overall increase in energy demand. Coal will be with us for a very long time. In large measure that is because of the fact that, in the fastest growing economies, and the fastest growing greenhouse gas emitting economies, China and India, coal reserves are to be found in abundance. China, for example, has one per cent of the world’s oil and gas reserves but 13 per cent of its coal reserves. That is one reason why China’s growth in CO emissions between now and 2030 will be double that of the OECD. So Australia, as a big coal producer and coal consumer, has a vital joint vested interest with China in finding the technologies that will clean up coal—because, unless we can clean up coal, we will struggle to meet the very large reductions in emissions that we need to meet by mid-century.

The Australian government has invested more than $400 million in clean coal technology under our Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund. We are doing that bilaterally with China, as I mentioned a moment ago, and we are also doing it through the AP6, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. Our position is clear. We recognise our reliance on coal. We recognise its importance to the world. We recognise that you cannot achieve the big cuts in global emissions needed without tackling emissions from burning coal.

So what is Labor’s policy? Earlier this year the member for Kingsford Smith famously said in a speech in his electorate that ‘the automatic expansion of the coal industry such as we’ve seen in the past is a thing of the past’. Only a few years previously the member for Kingsford Smith told the National Press Club: ‘Our reliance on coal for energy and export puts the Australian economy at risk.’ On the other hand, the leader of the member for Kingsford Smith’s own party in his own state, Mr Iemma, the Premier, who sat alongside of Mr Rudd at the Labor Party conference only weeks ago, has announced that he is looking at establishing a new coal-fired power station. Of course, he previously criticised the member for Kingsford Smith, saying that, in our fight to save the planet, we ought to be sure we do not destroy the country.

What does Labor stand for? Labor stands for symbols, not substance. The Leader of the Opposition wants to have a 60 per cent unilateral cut in emissions by mid-century. We all agree that we need a big cut in global emissions by mid-century, or at least in the course of this century, but for Australia to make that cut without regard to the actions of other countries would be as destructive as it would be futile and it would be sending exactly the wrong message—sending the wrong message to the country that the Leader of the Opposition claims to understand. It would be sending a message to China to the effect of saying: ‘Don’t worry, the developed world will continue cutting; you don’t have to do anything.’ The world cannot achieve the cuts in emissions that it needs without the engagement of the major developing and rapidly industrialising countries like China. The Australian government’s approach is one that recognises the reality of the greenhouse challenge and is taking the measures and developing the technology that will enable the world to meet it.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.