Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will not go into that. I do call them that myself every so often, but I do not think they will do anything significant in this area. But can I remain on point. The Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2015 is a further testament of the Labor Party's commitment to the renewable energy sector and to provide certainty for the industry going into the future. I want to note that this has been a drawn-out process. The Howard government back in 2000 started the process. It was well received then, so it is surprising to me now to hear the contributions the National Party and the Liberals opposite are making.

Sitting suspended from 18:30 to 19 : 30

I am led to believe the National Party, if not the Liberal Party, are crabbing away from their policy position on this. The bill will ultimately reduce the large-scale renewable energy target—LRET—from 41,000 gigawatt-hours by 2020 to 33,300 gigawatt-hours, with this level to be maintained until 2030. It will allow for a full exemption to be provided for electricity used in prescribed emissions-intensive, trade exposed activities so that they do not need to purchase and surrender large-scale generation certificates. It will remove the requirement for two yearly reviews of the operation of the RET scheme and replace it with annual statements by the Clean Energy Regulator on the progress of the RET towards meeting new targets and the impact it is having on household electricity bills. As I have outlined, and the bill will include native forest waste as an eligible renewable energy source.

When it comes to the renewable energy issue more broadly, Labor has strong record in supporting renewable energy. Labor's renewable energy target has been a success not only for the environment but also for jobs and the economy. Under Labor, we saw jobs in the renewable energy sector triple and a huge investment of $18 billion in hydropower plants, wind farms, solar farms and the development of renewable technologies. This industry employs 21,000 people and had been growing well up until the election of—you guessed it—the Abbott government.

Renewable energy and especially solar energy was a particular focus of the previous Bligh Labor government as well. Together with federal Labor policies, the great state of Queensland now leads the nation with almost 33 per cent of Australia's total solar PV capacity. Queensland is also home to the highest number of renewable energy jobs, with more than 6,500 of the 21,000 jobs I mentioned. Again, it is leading the nation. Unfortunately, we saw the previous Newman government attack the successful take-up of solar energy in Queensland with the cutting of the solar feed-in tariff scheme. Fortunately, now we do not have to worry too much about Mr Newman inflicting any more damage to the renewable sector. He went the same way as many before him who made bad decisions.

During Labor's time in office, we saw a drop in Australia's electricity sector emissions of seven per cent and rooftop solar grew from only 7,000 to around 1.2 million. It is an extraordinary and significant increase, which is reducing our reliance on fossil fuels while saving people money at the same time. Globally, investment in renewable energy grew by 16 per cent last year. In one of the largest economies in the world and in one of our biggest trading partners, China, we saw that investment in renewable energy went up by 33 per cent.

In 2013, at the end of the previous Labor government, we saw Australia ranked as No. 4 in the world for being the most attractive place to invest renewable energy in the world. We are now at the 10th spot. We have dropped. Why? It is because this government talks the talks but does not follow through with any of the actions. The statistics reveal that this government is not serious about renewable energy. You had Senator Canavan's extraordinary contribution this evening. One would think that he was arguing against renewable energy at all, but I will leave it to people to make their own judgement. The RET was an important part of Labor's clean energy package and that is why Labor has been fighting against the Abbott government's attacks on renewable energy for the past 18 months.

On the amendments to this legislation, the original version of this scheme was introduced by the Howard government back in 2001 and expanded by Labor in 2009 and 2010. The renewable energy target has enjoyed bipartisanship for more than a decade. That is, until the climate sceptic Mr Abbott was elected and decided to systematically dismantle climate and renewable energy policy in Australia. We know that in September 2009 Mr Abbott told a Liberal Party dinner in Victoria that he thought the science of human caused climate change was 'crap'. Just a few days ago, on 2GB with Alan Jones, Mr Abbott made these extraordinary remarks. I quote the program:

"Well Alan look, I do take your point about the potential health impact of these things," Mr Abbott said.

"When I've been up close to these wind farms, there's no doubt, not only are they visually awful, they make a lot of noise.

"What we did recently in the Senate was reduce, Alan, reduce, capital R-E-D-U-C-E, the number of these things that we are going to get in the future," he said.

"Now I would frankly have liked to have reduced the number a lot more."

The point is that we know the motive of the Prime Minister and his government, because we know they are fundamentally opposed to climate change. They do not believe that they should be doing anything in this area at all, whilst the rest of the world is moving towards the greater use of renewable energy and a greater investment in renewable energy technologies. Why? Because it makes smart business sense. That would mean that this government would also have to make smart business decisions, but I do not think it is capable of doing just that.

Mr Abbott decided to break his promise to the Australian people on the renewable energy target, just like we have seen him break so many other promises since he has been elected. The $600 million commitment for solar roofs in towns and schools was cut down to just $2 million in last year's budget. ARENA, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, had its funding severely cut after the government failed to abolish it.

The review of the RET, led by a known climate sceptic, which caused uncertainty in the industry, was a shocker by this government. However, even the PM's own review, and even the climate sceptic himself, found that the current renewable energy target of 41,000 gigawatts will put downward pressure on household prices in the medium to long term. The current RET of 41,000 gigawatts is driving investment in Australia's renewable energy industry. The RET is reducing Australia's carbon pollution, and the renewable energy target is creating jobs in Australia.

The review was a political exercise, which ultimately recommended the abolition of the RET, or severely cutting the target. Despite this, the findings spoke for themselves. He found that he could not change the facts. He changed the ending, but that is not surprising when you look at the record of this government and what they sought the reviewer to find. As to the benefits to the economy and our environment, the facts spoke for themselves. They were clear and unequivocal—they create jobs, investment and opportunity. What we have seen here on display by the Abbott government, once again, is the extremism of the Abbott government's agenda. It is not even a purely neo-con, or a traditional centre-right, agenda. Their party seems to have a very confused agenda to an outsider when it comes to environmental policy.

We see them oppose a market-based mechanism for dealing with carbon pollution—a price on carbon that was to be determined by the free market. Instead, their policy—to the extent that you could call it a policy rather than a collection of actions—is quite Stalinist in style. It is central government controlled, hugely expensive and taxpayer funded—the so called Direct Action policy. Even the Greens do not support such a wasteful government funded program. Let me be kind though. It did take them a couple of times to finally support an emissions trading scheme, but at least they got there in the end. Now, we have a policy mechanism in the target that is obviously working—it is creating jobs; it is encouraging development of new technologies; and it is not a burden to the householders of Australia. Those opposite would argue, and continue to argue, the mistruths that renewable energy costs householders. It flies in the face of the facts found even by their own reviewer, all reasons why the government should support the renewable energy target. But, instead, their twisted agenda sees them being dragged kicking and screaming to this outcome. I would have thought that they might have ignored the National Party in this debate, but it seems they have let the National Party off the leash when it comes to renewable energy, particularly wind farms. I suspect that they have been able to garner a leave pass.

Ultimately, I will remind you once again, the outcome will see almost 25 per cent of Australia's energy generation come from renewable sources by 2020. It is a great outcome for the fight against climate change. The survival of this and the work that will be put into this is worthy of note. It is part of a wider set of policies that need to be implemented to see Australia leading the world on the development and generation of renewable energy. What I worry about is that this government is not committed to funding the science and the work that will need to take us into the future of clean energy. From this side of politics, it shows Labor's willingness to negotiate an outcome that is in the interests of the country—not just opposing the government for the sake of opposition.

The Abbott government walked away from more than a decade of bipartisanship on this issue, which was disappointing. If we are going to make a difference in this field, we need bipartisanship. I would encourage the Liberals to ignore the Nats on this one. We have fought the government's attempts to completely get rid of the renewable energy target, and we have outcomes in this bill that will see RET retained for the future. It will see the extension of exemptions for emission-intensive trade-exposed activities such as the aluminium smelting industry. The Clean Energy Council has predicted the new target of 33 gigawatts will drive close to $40.4 billion in investment and create more than 15,000 jobs. This will provide certainty for the industry so that it can start investing again in jobs and development.

Through Labor's negotiation, we achieved: no change to the small-scale solar scheme, which includes rooftop solar, solar panels for small businesses such as nursing homes and all the other small businesses that have invested in this technology; full exemption for emissions-intensive trade industries, which relieves some pressure on those industries that are enduring a downturn and difficult times; and the removal of two-yearly reviews, which provides the long-term certainty the industry so desperately needs to survive and to thrive.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my contribution, Labor will oppose the government's proposal in this bill for the burning of native forests as part of the RET. Burning native forests for energy is neither clean nor renewable. The government's definition of waste in this legislation in relation to native trees is not just woodchips but can include large parts of tree as well as entire trees. I would have thought that the Abbott government would have learned from the Howard government and from the Tasmanian experience. If you allow that to occur, you do not have the whole of the tree being used properly; you end up with the whole of the tree being used for wood waste. The experience there needs to be very carefully considered.

The Abbott government, as in all its dealings with environmental policy, does show its true colours here—just as we saw with its dismantling of Labor's clean energy package, its abolition of the ETS, its attempts at abolishing ARENA, its attempts at abolishing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and its attempt at abolishing the renewable energy target. We now see, in this compromise from the government, that it cannot help but to include the provision which allows for the burning of our native forests. Of course, sneaking in this provision, which vandalises our environment and does not protect it, shows who really sit opposite in this debate—climate changes deniers, environmental vandals and those with only the interest of big business in their mind, and not a balanced view of how you could create new jobs and new technology, and support environmental outcomes.

Because of the principles which we hold in the Labor Party, the environment and the jobs of the future, in renewable energy generation and development, will be a part of Australia's future—despite this government, I suspect. This government will find that it will not be able to sustain its unsustainable position in the light of significant advancements, because—as people have also spoken about—renewable energy is here to stay.