Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to tell you that, living in Australia, it almost feels like we are living in the twilight zone. We have some of the largest naturally occurring energy reserves anywhere in the world; we know we have enough coal to power this nation for hundreds of years; we certainly have large deposits of uranium; and we have huge LNG-LPG production which powers countries like Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea. In my electorate of Durack, which is home to the North West Shelf project, they produce some 16 million tonnes of LNG a year. Chevron has two projects—one on Barrow Island and another, called Wheatstone, near Onslow in my electorate. When the Wheatstone project is up and running completely, they will be producing some 460,000 barrels of LNG a day.

I think this energy debate is quite absurd. Australia has the energy and it has the supply, so we should have cheap energy and cheap power, but somehow we have the energy problem. It is quite bizarre, and I really struggle to get my head around this. No doubt it is do to with decisions made not just by federal governments but also by state governments.

As you know, Deputy Speaker, I am the chair of Friends of Mining, and INPEX hosted us the other day. We heard about their fabulous gas project just off the coast of Broome, between Broome and the Northern Territory. They are a Japanese company, with a very small percentage owned by the country of Japan, and 70 per cent of what they are going to produce will go to Japan while about 30 per cent of that will go to Taiwan. Japan does not have gas reserves; it has an energy problem, so they have gone about finding an energy solution.

In Western Australia we are reasonably lucky, because we do have a domestic gas reservation policy. That requires that, for all new gas export projects, 15 per cent, or the equivalent of 15 per cent, of what they are going to export be reserved for the domestic market. That is good news. I am very glad that the federal government has recently moved towards a similar system with respect to the east coast, but I am very grateful that these new arrangements will not impact Western Australia, which is what we were very fearful of.

But what we see is that we have governments, like the South Australian government, that have insisted on renewable energy targets of some 50 per cent. We have seen what a devastating effect that has had on that part of the country with the blackouts they experienced last summer and, of course, we are fearful that in other parts of the country we could also be heading for blackouts come next summer. I do not necessarily have any particular issue with renewables, but we all know that in this debate we have to take a very balanced approach. I think that is certainly what Finkel was trying to achieve in his report.

In my own electorate there are hugely ambitious plans to build one of the largest solar panel fields ever seen in this country. You will know, Deputy Speaker, because I know you have been there, that the Pilbara receives some of the most solar radiation of anywhere on the earth, which makes it perfectly placed to develop large-scale solar energy projects. In terms of wind turbines, you see them dotted around places like Denham and Kalbarri and out towards Merredin—and there is no surprise there, because they are incredibly windy places.

But unfortunately renewables are not yet at the level where they are capable of delivering the cheap power we need to keep businesses competitive, and we certainly know the issues relating to storage. Certainly we have a long way to go. I do not doubt renewable energy's ability to power a town of a few hundred people in my electorate. In fact, there are obvious benefits for a farmer leasing land to a power company for a few decades. I know that even in your area, Deputy Speaker Coulton, people have had the benefit of that.

With the time remaining, I just want to focus briefly on carbon capture and the Gorgon project, which is another Chevron project. This is going to be the largest example of carbon capture in Australia. Gorgon will ensure the removal of CO2 from four million tonnes of LNG every year. We know that we have a long way to go. We have the Finkel report, and there is no doubt that there are still many conversations to be had about what is right and wrong in the Finkel report. There are many more models that need to be reviewed, and there is much more debate to be had about this country moving towards security of energy. But carbon capture and storage will surely have a role to play, and I congratulate Chevron for their initiative.