Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

My concern is the fact that Mr Walker had clearly private discussions with the Prime Minister about the development of nuclear power and the establishment of a new company to prosecute that case. Those conversations are no longer quite as private as they once were. I am very concerned that the establishment of a new entity to prosecute the case for nuclear power on a commercial basis occurred just a very short time, some days, before the Prime Minister established Mr Switkowski’s inquiry. Just five days after Mr Howard’s discussion with his friends from the Australian Nuclear Energy company, the government announced the nuclear futures inquiry.

I am concerned that the government has brought forward an inquiry which has been so heavily criticised by people as senior and as knowledgeable as Senator Minchin himself. He has drawn to our attention the fact that the proposals brought forward in that inquiry were unrealistic, badly costed and out of touch with the harsh realities of this industry. I am very concerned that the government is so divided on this issue because it would appear that Mr Macfarlane does not share Senator Minchin’s concerns about the fact that it would take so long for these things to get off the ground and is rushing headlong into this dangerous field, which could have such profound consequences for Australia. I am particularly concerned that the government has been so poor in dealing with the questions of research and development, in particular with regard to the coal industry and the importance of research and development in the industry to ensure that we are able to export a high level of expertise in the treatment of coal so that we are able to burn it more efficiently and reduce its greenhouse gas impact.

We would have thought that, given the resources in the coal industry that are available to this country, the government would pay much more attention to the science required to ensure that new technologies are brought on stream for new power stations to be developed in a timely manner in order to ensure that this country’s energy resources are best used and that our supply of clean and efficient electricity is brought forward in a cost-effective manner. I would have thought the provision of such technologies would be an enormous benefit to the world in terms of our capacity to help other countries develop new forms of power generation through the use of coal.

Instead we have a half-baked proposal from the Prime Minister, a political stratagem to deal with a political problem arising from the fact that this government has been negligent on the issue of climate change. It has been such a strong advocate for the climate change sceptic argument—until very recently when the opinion poll data came in that showed Australians no longer take the view that this is a matter that can be treated with complacency. Instead of developing a long-term view about investment in the country’s future this government sought to opt for a short-term political fix. (Time expired)