Senate debates

Monday, 9 September 2019

Motions

Energy

5:01 pm

Photo of Larissa WatersLarissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 88 standing in my name for today, relating to clean energy jobs.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Clean Energy Regulator's The Renewable Energy Target 2018 Administrative ReportThe acceleration in renewables investment, highlights the record investment in large scale, commercial and industrial and household renewables over the last year,

  (ii) the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that jobs in renewable energy in Queensland grew by 1,550 in 2017-2018, an increase of 44 percent on the previous year,

  (iii) the Green Energy Markets 2019 update report, states that 2,012 full time equivalent Queenslanders were employed in the installation and sale of rooftop solar PV in June 2019,

  (iv) the recently announced shortlist for the Queensland Government's Renewables 400 tender includes ten renewable energy generation and storage developments projected to collectively deliver 3,000 jobs in central and far north Queensland, including 350 direct jobs created by the Clarke Creek Wind and Solar Farm, west of Rockhampton, and

  (v) the Adani Carmichael mine, if it proceeds, is expected to create between 800 and 1,500 jobs in the construction phase, with 100 ongoing jobs; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to:

  (i) deliver real jobs that last, by backing the job-creating, climate-fixing clean energy industry, and

  (ii) fund industry development, training and other support to ensure that regional workers and communities, including coal workers, have secure long-term futures.

Comments

Mark Duffett
Posted on 10 Sep 2019 12:42 pm

Contrary to the premise, renewables investment is falling off a cliff, for reasons long predicted by those who have bothered to look hard at this stuff and not blindly follow ideology. On the ABC yesterday: "the realisation that wholesale prices can dive deeply negative during the optimum time for solar generation, has already caused a dramatic slowdown in building new projects" https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-09/negative-power-prices... Do try to keep up.