Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to celebrate the fantastic end-of-year news that CSIRO has signed a lucrative international deal to license technology that was designed right here in Australia—indeed, in my electorate of Newcastle. The deal will see Beijing based solar company Thermal Focus produce, sell and install CSIRO's patented concentrated solar thermal technology in China. This has the potential to generate millions of dollars for our national science agency and to showcase Australia's smarts and technology on the global stage. I am very proud to say that the work was pioneered at the CSIRO's national energy centre, which is located in my electorate of Newcastle. It is a fantastic organisation with amazingly talented people of world-class research standard. This is not just good news for the CSIRO and the people involved in the project; it is a vote of confidence in the quality of the research sector and it cements our place in the international clean energy economy.

However, this deal could have played out very differently if Labor had not managed to hold off the government's most recent attacks on the renewable energy sector. In fact, the Turnbull government directly put this work in peril when it tried to axe the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which provided funds for this project only a few months ago. At the time, I met with staff and management from CSIRO and they impressed upon me the importance of the ARENA funding for the work they do in Newcastle. Thankfully, Labor stood up to the Turnbull government's plans to destroy ARENA, and we managed to secure funding of $800 million over the next five years.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science, Greg Hunt, certainly did not mention this when he said of the deal yesterday: 'Australia is a leader in clean energy technology and this partnership is an important step in realising this advantage.' I was absolutely astounded to read the minister's comments, not because I disagree with his words—I certainly do not—but because of his sheer breathtaking hypocrisy given that he is a key member of a government that has tried to cut the very funding that supports this world-class work. He is a key member of a government that has spent much of the past three years engaged in a vicious and senseless war on the renewable energy sector. In fact, he also cut ARENA's funding back in 2013 when he was the environment minister—not to mention halving the million rooftop solar program, abolishing the Climate Commission, trying to axe the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and signing off on a miserably low climate target.

Those who thought the Turnbull government might be different have quickly had their hopes dashed. Only last month—after an extreme weather event knocked out key parts of South Australia's energy infrastructure and saw the Prime Minister himself out there making the ridiculous claim that renewable energy is a threat to energy security—all those opposite still had no policies or plans to address climate change after 2020.

But it is not just renewables and the climate that those opposite have waged a war on. Science and research have also taken a massive beating. In fact, the Liberals have cut a staggering $3 billion from science, research and innovation since coming to power. The Turnbull government likes to talk about the importance of innovation and an agile economy, but they have cut millions—indeed, billions—from the very bodies that need to help us achieve that.

Another thing that those opposite like to talk about—or at least something that they like to say a lot—is jobs and growth. The CSIRO concentrated solar thermal deal, which was announced yesterday, is a real-life jobs and growth case study. We know that, if we have to build a prosperous future and create those new jobs while maintaining our standard of living, we need to drive high-value, high-skilled industries like research and development and renewable energy. These are the industries that will help us build a diverse economy. These are the industries that will open up new markets in a rapidly evolving global marketplace. These are the industries that will generate growth. And these are the industries that will create those key jobs for the future. If those opposite really want to deliver jobs and growth, they need to get over the senseless animosity and stop attacking the very industries that are going to deliver what Australians so desperately need.