Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Whiteaker—another terrific advocate for Western Australia joining our ranks. Yesterday the Albanese government announced that we will substantially expand the Capacity Investment Scheme by 25 per cent, and that means we will underwrite the construction of 40 gigawatts of large-scale solar, wind and storage by the end of the decade. In capacity terms, this is nearly twice as much energy infrastructure as the country's existing coal-fired power fleet. This investment is just one of a number of actions the Albanese government is taking to accelerate the rollout of renewables.

Another is taking action to speed up the approvals process. Yesterday, as I mentioned, I announced the speedy approval of the 90-megawatt Summerville Solar Farm, in the Richmond Valley, in the electorate held by the Nationals deputy leader, Kevin Hogan. The news was reported by the ABC under the headline, 'A solar farm approved in weeks shows how renewables rollout could be sped up'. And it's worth noting that the picture used in the article shows what the National Party says is simply not possible; it shows what must be hundreds of sheep grazing under and between thousands of solar panels, proving once again that agriculture and renewables can coexist. I know that's a hard concept to get your head around—I know. You've just got to get out there and have a look that it's actually happening.

This example and other recent quick approvals of renewables projects show that, if you get the system right and everyone is working cooperatively, it is possible to get much faster approvals while also generating environmental gains through the development of cleaner energy. Unfortunately, while there are these sorts of good examples to point to, we need to see more of them. What we want to do is make sure that quicker approvals which meet strong national environmental standards actually become the norm rather than the exception. That is one of the reasons we do need to reform our environmental laws. I look forward to working constructively with all sides of this chamber over the coming months to ensure that these very important reforms can be implemented for the benefit of all Australians.