Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting that Senator Ian Campbell chose to end his comments on a point about confusion, because what we have seen here today is a minister who is desperately trying to confuse the issue to distract us from the fact that he has not only specifically undermined the credibility of any environmental protection policy but also has been true to the character of the Howard government—that is, a government that is willing to manipulate and twist issues of genuine concern to Australian citizens. These are issues such as environmental policy, the impact of climate change, renewable energy and genuine environment protection. He has tried to twist these issues into some short-term political gain for the Liberal Party. Environmental protection and action against climate change have been ongoing victims of this type of manipulation by the Howard government, and this environment minister stands by unconcerned and willing to participate. Two examples of this that we have seen are the Bald Hills wind farm and the threat to the orange-bellied parrot, and now we are seeing more examples of this willingness to intervene in a political way.

The political intervention in the approval of wind farms highlights two major issues which I would like to go into. The first is a willingness to bring federal environment protection policy specifically into disrepute. Using it as a political device will forever undermine the genuine efforts of organisations seeking to protect endangered species. It leaves them vulnerable to challenges as to whether or not it is genuine, because no-one will know what is motivating the environment minister. No-one can tell truth from spin or what the difference is between local Liberal political interests and genuine environmental concerns, such is the contempt of the Howard government’s environment minister for these policies. It leaves in tatters the credibility of those acts of parliament that we have debated at length. Who does Senator Ian Campbell think he is that he has the right to undermine environmental policy and the laws of this land in this way?

The second issue this political intervention highlights specifically is the complete contempt in which the Howard government hold renewable energy per se. Many of these projects do provide long-term prospects for creating renewable energy and deriving some triple bottom line return for the Australian economy as a whole. But nowhere can we see evidence of a long-term commitment to renewable energy; instead we see attempts by the Prime Minister to focus on nuclear energy. We have no major leadership role anymore in areas like photovoltaic systems.

As Labor’s environment spokesperson, Mr Albanese, highlighted, Australian wind farm technology is going overseas at a rate of knots. We see it walking offshore—most recently following Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Australia, when a $300 million deal was signed by the Roaring 40s company based in Tasmania to provide three wind farms in China. This same company said they would not be proceeding with projects in Tasmania and South Australia because of a lack of federal government support. It is fantastic that we are exporting this type of technology, but why on earth does the Howard government not have a commitment to helping these technologies to prosper here and allow Australia to maintain our leadership in this critical area of renewable energy?

It is very clear that Mr Howard’s focus on nuclear power is at the expense of clean energy industries, and these examples are testimony to that. Under Mr Howard, Australia continues to say goodbye to clean energy ideas and fails to see the investment lift to an appropriate level. If you need more evidence, we need look no further than the 2006 budget, which for the 11th year in a row did not mention climate change. There were no initiatives for clean renewable energy. This is an area in which the Howard government has systematically and consistently failed to deliver on behalf of the Australian people. All we can see is a minister prepared to manipulate for short-term political gain and undermining the credibility of environmental protection laws in this country. It is a disgrace. (Time expired)