Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a pleasure to speak on these motions that are drafted by the Greens. Sometimes I wonder whether Senator Canavan drafts them himself and sends them to the Greens so that he can have an opportunity to speak about his favourite subject, which is all the things the Greens are doing wrong—not what the government is doing right. While I don't agree with every aspect of this urgency motion there are parts that I agree with and that we need to discuss in this place.

I do agree that policies should be science based, and that is a real problem for this government. We've been recently dealing with the pandemic and we've had alternative facts from members of this government—alternative facts about cures, processes, the coronavirus itself and vaccines. This government has been unable to deal with members of its caucus who can't accept science, who rally against science and who see science as something that should be debated. The Deputy Prime Minister said in an interview that sometimes facts are up for debate. But science shouldn't be up for debate when it is so crucial and so important for public health.

We know there are members of the government who rally against the science of climate change. They rally against the science that is about protecting public health. Climate change is a risk to public health. This government has members sitting on the benches over there. I have sat in committees where scientists have been attacked, derailed and questioned about the science that they are presenting. It is extraordinary to witness that sort of behaviour from a government that should be applying the best possible science to its policy making. We know that that doesn't happen, and that's why this government has really struggled to make any headway when it comes to climate action and when it comes to dealing with carbon emissions. It's why there is a real risk of not getting our health response to this pandemic correct.

I do agree with the part of this motion that says that this is an urgent matter. It's urgent because there's not enough certainty for businesses and workers. There's not enough urgency about a plan for targets, carbon emissions and our energy market. Businesses are looking to the government for guidance. They want to make decisions about the future. These businesses aren't making 12-month plans; they are making 10-year plans and they need to know from this government what parameters they will be working with. But, unfortunately, we know what happens with the LNP is someone comes up with an idea, then the Nationals come over to the joint party room and say, 'That's not going to happen. We don't want to do that,' and everyone gives up and walks away. I do agree with the inference in this motion that it would be much better for workers, for jobs, for our trading exporters if members of this government, particularly the Nationals, were kept as far away from energy and manufacturing policy as possible, because all they have managed to do is hold back our regions and industries.

We know that parts of regional Queensland—the parts of our country that members opposite talk about all the time in terms of protecting jobs and standing up for the regions—are parts of our country that could have a jobs boom when it comes to renewable energy and getting our energy mix right. We have in Far North Queensland a real problem when it comes to jobs right now. I have spent a lot of time in this chamber arguing that this government should step in and support tourism operators. They are not doing what they should be doing when it comes to supporting tourism operators. But what the government also haven't done is, over the last seven years, given a town like Cairns a plan to diversify its economy. They haven't been able to say where other jobs might be able to come from. We know there might be another pilot strike, might be another COVID-19, but, for seven years, there has been no diversification of jobs.

When it comes to renewable energy, we can create jobs in Far North Queensland. We have wind, we have solar and we can create thousands and thousands of jobs if we get the settings right. We've got a fantastic wind farm in Far North Queensland called the Mount Emerald Wind Farm. I visited it recently. It's got 53 wind turbines. Every single one of those wind turbines was manufactured overseas. I look at this huge construction and the workers that take so much pride in maintaining that facility, but it’s a missed opportunity that we haven't been able to manufacture those wind turbines right here in Australia. So we are talking about targets, talking about plans, talking about the federal government walking away from net zero emissions in 2050. On this side of the chamber, we're talking about the jobs that are going missing.

It's the businesses that don't have certainty. It's the businesses that are crying out for cheaper energy prices so we can manufacture things like wind turbines, so we can build trains in regional Queensland, so we can build and maintain ships in regional Queensland, but they can't do it if they don't know what the energy setting policies will be over the next five, 10, 15 years. We ask these business, these fantastic family and local businesses, to make long-term investments in our regions. But without knowing what the policy settings will be, they are unable to do that, and the Morrison government has repeatedly refused to commit to a target of net zero emissions by 2050, declaring that the government's plan is to achieve net zero emissions in the second half of the century. You really have to wonder why they are unable to commit to this target alone. The Deputy Prime Minister and members of the National Party have made it clear that the reason that they don't want to commit to a 2050 target is that they won't be in parliament in 2050. It's that sort of short-sightedness that really irks members of the public in regional Queensland. It is that sort of short-sightedness that has led to a situation where we don't have diversification of our economy in regional Queensland. Jobs in renewables could boom by 44,000 jobs by 2025 but only with the right policy. With the right policy support, renewable energy could employ as many as 40,000 Australian workers, almost doubling the 25,000 workers in the sector right now. But that is only with the right policy settings, only with a commitment from this government and only with the establishment of a robust and secure workforce.

In Far North Queensland we know that when it comes to science, saving jobs and taking action on climate change there is no better example of what's at risk than the Great Barrier Reef. Right now we are trying to support business operators whose hearts are breaking at the moment. In the last week or so I've spoken to tourism operators who are really struggling. They are really struggling because this government has shown a complete lack of concern about their businesses. Grown men are crying. Their hearts are breaking because they know that their businesses are at real risk if this government isn't able to support them.

The risk going forward through the pandemic is that, if we don't get our climate action settings right, the impacts on the Great Barrier Reef will be irreversible. Without flights with international visitors coming into Cairns right now, our tourism businesses are struggling, but if there's no reef to visit then those planes will stop forever. We need to back-in these businesses and local jobs. The only way to do that is by giving some certainty around targets.