Josh Dolega (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm also a senator from regional areas, from regional Tasmania, and it's great to talk about climate change in this place today. On this side of the chamber, we actually do believe in climate change. We believe in the science, and we believe in having a solid plan to transition our country to renewable projects. That's a stark contrast to those opposite, who, over the last decade, have had so many different climate change policies that I've lost count, and the transition to net zero is literally eating them alive as a party and probably as a movement.

When it comes to regional people and regional affairs, people want to have certainty and people want to be able to invest, and what you see under this government is a considered and consultative approach to transition to the future, which is renewables—wind, solar and, as we have in the great state of Tasmania, hydro. We have one of the best hydro systems in the world, and the rest of the country is indeed looking at Tasmania and thinking, 'We want your power.' Part of what Minister Ayres announced was the Marinus Link, which presents amazing opportunities for Tasmania to provide electricity to the big island. Who would have thought that the little state would be able to power the big island? We've seen investments and announcements in Tasmania that we're expanding into solar and wind, and Marinus will play a key role in us being able to sustain the big island with power, moving into the future.

Marinus also presents opportunities for Tasmania when it comes to data. There are going to be great opportunities to increase data coming through the fibre cables, which will have dozens—if not hundreds—of times the capacity that Basslink and Telstra currently use to bring data into Tasmania. This will enable more investment from tech companies to be able to create data centres in Tasmania. We've got the greatest and most stable land. And we don't have the weather events that a lot of the country has, so Marinus Link is going to be part of our link to be able to provide energy certainty to Tasmania and the mainland.

I spoke before about hydropower. It's been incredible to see the people and the workers at Hydro Tasmania. I was very lucky to have a tour through the hydro system and the Hydro building in Hobart not long ago. The staff are really considered and well trained. They manage the Tasmanian electricity system to within a millimetre or a millisecond—I can't remember the exact term. Every single minute, or in five-minute blocks, they are looking at and making bids into the national electricity grid to make sure that Tasmanians are getting the best energy at the cheapest price.

Sometimes we might be net importing power and being paid by other states to take power. Marinus Link is going to give us more opportunities to take power and to get paid to take power from the mainland when they're producing excess. We can then divert our assets away from generation like hydro, for example. We don't need to spill the water out of the dams at that point. Then, when night-time comes and people get home and start using their devices and cooking their dinner, the mainland electricity systems will start to buckle under the pressure and Tasmania will be able to service the mainland and provide good, clean, efficient power to it, which will benefit everybody. Thanks for the opportunity to speak about climate change and net zero and the great role that Tasmania has to play in a sustainable future.