Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am relieved to hear Senator Ciccone express his support for the red meat industry, and I look forward to not only having a steak with him soon but also perhaps enjoying some of that Grains Council barley used to produce some pretty cracking beers. But I do welcome the end, hopefully, of the ALP targeting the cattle industry with their ridiculous notions around methane emissions from cows.

The Morrison government absolutely understands that Australians are looking to reduce emissions into the future. They're looking for a future that is clean air and clean water and a great environment for their children, their children's children and even their children's children's grandchildren. However, we do understand the pressures that everyday Australians and their families face, and we stand here looking to technology, not taxes. The reason we want to look to technology is that we will never support the imposition of a carbon tax on family. We will not support the imposition of an ETS—or whichever acronym, you guys, on the other side want to dress it up as. Heaven forbid the government benches are ever graced by those opposite again, because we know the first thing we will see is an effort to tax those everyday Australians.

What we do also understand on this side of the chamber is that net zero by 2050 does not mean zero emissions. I know the far end of this chamber have a little bit of an inability to decipher that fact, but we know that families rely on energy to keep their homes and their businesses running and the certainty that, when they need the power, they can turn it on, but this security is not achieved through taxing them and by pandering to some left-wing anti coal and gas agenda. What's also important to note, as Australians, is that 40 per cent of our emissions are actually the result of our export products. They're actually the result of how this country engages with the world and, in fact, the only two countries that have similar economies to us in this matter are New Zealand and Canada. When it comes to reducing emissions, we are streets ahead of both of those countries. We have done this through adopting a suite of technology products and continuing to support the markets and businesses to invest in this technology to drive emissions lower, without imposing additional tax burdens on families, small businesses and everyday Australians.

One of the things that this government is incredibly enthusiastic about is seeing the hydrogen sector grow. We've only recently opened up a new round of grants for seven potential hydrogen hubs, one of them in the Hunter region, an area that I get to spend a great deal of time in, and I am absolutely thrilled to see that a bus company from the Central Coast Hunter region is already looking to move its fleet of buses to hydrogen. We are going to see more and more hydrogen as part of the heavy vehicle, energy and transport mix.

I also had the privilege and the absolute pleasure to work with Energy Renaissance and turn the sod on the first ever lithium-ion battery storage factory being developed in Australia. For those who don't understand the importance of this, what this means is that when we start to develop lithium-ion battery storage we will actually be in a position to capture energy. One in four households currently have solar panels, as Australia has led the way in solar panel uptake. By bringing lithium-ion battery storage into the mix, particularly at the household level, you can then harness that energy; you can hold that energy that's created at two o'clock in the afternoon when the sun's at its highest and use it when you're watching Netflix at 9.30 that night. By using storage facilities and with that storage becoming cheaper and more portable, we will see household emissions reduce.

But we do understand that heavy industry, like aluminium smelters, require affordable, reliable baseload power. That's why those opposite saw the resignation of the fantastic member for Hunter—who I am going to miss—Joel Fitzgibbon. Joel knew the importance that coal was going to have in this energy mix for a substantial period of time to come. Coal is not going anywhere soon. I know it upsets these guys—they are very upset about it—but coal will be with us for a while. Do you know why we need it as well? It's not only for our heavy industries. It's actually racist to want to take it away. Our coal helps developing nations move their countries forward.