Grant Chapman (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I direct my question to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. Will the minister inform the Senate of recent steps taken by the Howard government to secure energy resources for Australia’s future? Has the government considered any alternative policies?

Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Chapman for his question. It is very clear to me and to the government—and increasingly clear to governments around the world—that there are two parallel challenges that the world must meet in the next 25 to 30 years. We need to provide for double the amount of energy, so that people can have job security in countries like Australia and so that people who live in places like sub-Saharan Africa or the poorer parts of Asia can get past the age of five and not die due to malnutrition, starvation, malaria or AIDS. We also need to ensure that that power is supplied to the world when we also know that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 50 per cent to 60 per cent in roughly the same time scale, so that we do not suffer the consequences of dangerous climate change.

We know that we need to work within Australia domestically, and we need to work efficiently and effectively internationally to get a global strategy in place. We also need to ensure that all of the technologies that are currently available are brought on stream as quickly as possible and that new technologies, like hydrogen and next-generation solar, are also brought on. The Australian government is, for example, investing hundreds of millions of dollars in solar technologies. We will, by the next stage of the PVRP, the photovoltaic rebate scheme, have rolled out around 11,000 solar cells on school buildings and homes around the country. The $75 million Solar Cities program will see four entire cities transferred to solar energy, with smart meters and integration with the grid, in a world-leading program.

We know that we also need to do wind better than it has been done before. Under Labor, there were 20 wind turbines in Australia. We are on track to build 600 wind turbines in Australia under our policies. We have to invest in projects like geothermal leading renewable energies. We have invested, through the Renewable Energy Development Initiative, $5 million to assist Geodynamics to bring on a process in Innamincka in northern South Australia. We know that we have to do energy efficiency measures, which we have enacted through this parliament and which both the private sector and the industrial sector are engaged in. We know that we need to clean up coal. We know that we need to develop the technologies to capture carbon off the coal stack and bury it under the ground. That is why the Australian government is investing hundreds of millions of dollars, in partnership with the coal industry, energy producers and, very importantly, with the Victorian government and the Queensland government—they are our partners in this.

We also know—and the Prime Minister has shown leadership in this regard—that we cannot ignore any available technology if we are to meet those twin policy goals: reliable secure energy for the future of our people and for those around the world, and much lower greenhouse gas emissions. That is why you cannot ignore nuclear and you cannot ignore our role in the uranium cycle. That is why the establishment of this debate is important. We also have to act effectively internationally. That is why we are very proud, Senator Chapman, that Howard Bamsey will lead a United Nations framework convention dialogue in this regard.

Senator Chapman asked about alternative policies. There is a plethora of them. You have Mr Albanese with one policy on uranium mining. He is going to close it down in South Australia, taking 20,000 jobs from South Australia. Mr Ferguson has another policy, Mr Garrett has another policy, and Mr Beazley has policies all over the place. We know where Labor stand on uranium: they are all over the place. The one policy they seem to have is a policy in favour of another very dangerous commodity for a political party, and that is the policy of pandemonium.