Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance proposed by Senator Siewert of the Greens. I have to say, I'm not surprised by the breathtaking level of economic illiteracy on display. As everyone in this place knows, Australia's carbon footprint is a minuscule percentage of global emissions and, even if we were to slash our carbon output to zero, it would have no impact on global temperatures.

The government is taking strong action required to protect Australian industry, to protect Australian jobs, to keep the lights on and to comply with our international obligations. Those opposite would rather see working Australians out of a job as those jobs are moved offshore to countries with much cheaper electricity than Australia, often with electricity that's generated by burning Australian coal! The irony of that should not be lost on anybody.

When the South Australian Labor government demolished coal-fired power stations, the stations were having no impact on global temperatures but the government were condemning their state to a second summer of brownouts, potential blackouts and energy rationing. Obviously, it's almost impossible—it's very, very difficult, indeed—to keep a viable manufacturing sector going if you have those sorts of pressures. Conversely, the government have a plan to make our electricity supply more reliable and more efficient while, at the same time, meeting our international emissions reduction obligations. Through the coalition's National Energy Guarantee, we are bringing to an end government subsidies for renewable energy, which will bring us back to a technology-neutral energy policy which will allow energy providers to invest in the reliable, baseload capacity that Australians need.

The National Energy Guarantee is made up of two parts, integrating both energy and climate policy. The first is a reliability guarantee that is set to ensure a reliable level of dispatchable energy is always available from ready-to-use sources such as coal, gas, pumped hydro and, potentially, batteries. This guarantee will be set by the experts—the AEMC and the Australian Energy Market Operator. The second is an emissions guarantee, which will be set to ensure we continue to meet our international commitments. The level of this guarantee will be determined by the Commonwealth and enforced by the Australian Energy Regulator. The National Energy Guarantee is a practical, workable, pro-market policy to increase the affordability and reliability of our energy system whilst also meeting our international commitments.

Once again—and I think this is a very important point—we have to highlight that the policy is technology neutral. Our policy allows energy providers to make decisions on the source of supply whilst maintaining reliability. 'Reliability'—it's another word for keeping the lights on. I reiterate: there will be no subsidies, no taxes and no emissions trading scheme. This policy will provide power generators with the certainty they require to invest in the latest technologies—whatever technology is most efficient and effective for meeting their obligations. It could be batteries; it could be the next generation of low-emission, high-efficiency coal-fired power stations. Who knows? One day we might see a fourth-generation nuclear reactor or some new technology that, quite frankly, nobody in this place even knows about yet. These cutting-edge, low-emission technologies can produce cheap, reliable energy for Australians while simultaneously reducing our dependency on gas and our vulnerability to fluctuations on the price and supply of LNG.

Our policy isn't based on ideology; it's based on a deliberative evaluation of the evidence. The government doesn't engage in knee-jerk, ideological policymaking. That is why we commissioned the Finkel review into the future of the national energy market, following the disastrous statewide energy blackout experienced in South Australia in September 2016. It's simply not acceptable that, in a First World country as prosperous and energy-rich as Australia, we'd find ourselves in a situation where we cannot keep the lights on just because it happens to be a bit warm. We're used to it being a bit warm.

In addition to implementing the National Energy Guarantee, the coalition is already implementing a number of Finkel review recommendations in conjunction with state and territory governments, including the energy security obligation, which provides the necessary support services that have traditionally come from coal generation and assist in stabilising the system as the level of intermittent generation increases. We're also implementing a requirement that there be a three-year notice of closure, requiring large generators to give notice before closing their facilities. This gives the market time to plan and invest in the system. Whilst some will jump up and down, bemoaning the end of the renewable energy subsidies, I would remind them of the words of Australia's Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, who described this plan as 'a credible mechanism'—this is from the country's most authoritative voice on energy matters.

When we're thinking about the guarantee, we should look at who is out there supporting it. We have seen support for the plan from across a wide range of industry groups and industry sectors. We've seen it from the BCA, ACCI, AiG, Manufacturing Australia and the Energy Users' Association. We've seen it from employers like BHP, BlueScope and JBS meat processors—large energy users. We've also seen support from the energy industry itself: Origin, AGL, EnergyAustralia and Energy Networks Australia. We've seen it from the irrigation sector. We've seen it from the grocers. We've seen it from the mining industry. We've seen it from the forest products industry. We've seen it from groups involved in infrastructure. We've seen it from the Grattan Institute and from energy consumers. The CEO of BCA, representing more than one million Australian jobs, says:

It is the most practicable, workable thing we've seen in business for quite some time.

The CEO of BlueScope, Australia's largest manufacturer, said:

It turns the game around—where now, the effective functioning of homes, businesses, schools and hospitals is the priority.

That's a very important point. We need to get back to reliability again. The effective functioning of homes, businesses, schools and hospitals is the priority. Surely no-one in this place would say that should not be the priority of anybody setting Australia's energy policy going forward?

We've also seen from the coalition government a significant amount of work in this space on the domestic gas supply. This affects the eastern states much more than my home state of Western Australia, where we are very fortunate to be very gas rich. In fact, part of what the coalition government is doing is undertaking a feasibility study in an east-west pipeline to see whether the vast resources of gas in Western Australia can be economically transported to the eastern states, which would obviously open a new market for Western Australian gas but would also add to the reliability and put downward pressure on costs in the eastern states, which currently have some of the highest energy prices in the world.

On the east coast itself, the coalition government secured a deal with the gas producers that will cover projected shortfalls in domestic gas supply in 2018 and 2019. This has already delivered results, with Origin committing to put 41 petajoules into the domestic gas market starting 1 November 2017 through to 2018. Again, we're making sure there is enough gas for Australia. This is about providing the reliability of supply to keep our manufacturers in business, to keep the turbines spinning and to keep the power going into people's homes, people's businesses, hospitals, banks and schools. This is a very positive outcome and it was a welcome relief to Australian households and businesses who have been struggling with the lack of supply and high prices.

The long-term solution, as I've said, is the National Energy Guarantee. We obviously need to keep working on the detail of this policy with the state and territory governments, but this is a plan that will deliver real benefits to the people of Australia. This is a plan that will deliver a reliable energy supply to the households and businesses of Australia whilst meeting our international obligations—again, very important. We are meeting our international obligations and I'm very proud to be part of a government that is doing so.