Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister does not lie; apparently, he just 'misspeaks'. Well, he made a whopper 'misspeaking' when it came to the renewable energy target. Before the election, he told the people of Australia: 'We remain committed to a renewable energy target.' But, as we know, the renewable energy target was set at 41,000 gigawatt hours. This figure was deliberately set in terms of gigawatt hours, rather than a percentage of energy consumed, as this is the certainty that industry needed to invest billions of dollars into renewable energy. Now the government has tried to cut the figure by 40 per cent—a cut that would not only compromise existing investment and be a massive compromise of sovereign risk but would virtually stop any new commercial-scale projects. Now the minister for industry is spreading the word that he will compromise with a target of 32½ thousand gigawatt hours. That is a poor joke. It is simply not enough to get this 21st century industry rebooted after the Abbott-created stalling and the massive job losses in this sector. Ideally, the Abbott government would honour its election commitment, but that appears to be a bridge too far. But please, give the renewable energy industry and all Australians concerned about climate change a Christmas present and put a decent workable target on the table so we can get this industry back on track in the New Year.