Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to draw the attention of the Senate to a very important matter regarding the national interest, particularly with regard to Australia's renewable energy future, foreign investment and the security of Australian utilities. That matter is the reputed management of pumped hydro resources by Chinese company Goldwind.

In my great state, New South Wales, pumped hydro plans will be critical to Australia's future renewable energy. Research from the Australian National University has found that there are 22,000 potential sites across Australia for pumped hydro energy storage. Pumped hydro can be developed quickly and is the lowest-cost large-scale energy storage technology available.

Given the pending closure of the Liddell power station, pumped hydro should be a clear contender to replace its impact on the grid, to push down power prices and support the transition to a renewable energy market. Realising this, WaterNSW ran a process to seek input on the development of commercial pumped hydro assets on some of their dams. Yet this process was flawed from the start. A number of bidders have commented that it was like they were bidding for a toll road public-private partnership—a triple-P contract. The process was run so poorly and the proposed terms of the deal so restrictive that large Australian players in the electricity business, like Origin, AGL and Meridian Energy Australia, pulled out of the competitive process.

That brings us to the company which has been rumoured to have won the bid: Goldwind. Why would this company want to invest in a process that other energy retailers don't want to touch with a 10-foot pole? What potential gains did it see that Origin, Meridian and AGL were unable to find in this process? Also, why has Goldwind repeatedly lied and obfuscated about its relationship with and indeed ownership by the Chinese Communist Party? I am deeply, deeply troubled by these rumours and the prospect of a major utility with access to critical New South Wales energy assets being owned and managed by a company with major ties to a foreign power. What's even more troubling to me is Goldwind's desire to hide their ties with the ruling Chinese Communist Party. They have repeatedly denied any links to the CCP.

Let us look at the facts. Goldwind was established in the 1980s. It was owned by the Chinese Communist Party until it was listed. Over 40 per cent of the current investors in Goldwind, just gathered from among the top 10 per cent shareholders, are unquestionably state owned corporations. All companies within the People's Republic of China are ultimately controlled by the government. More troubling facts emerged the more I heard about Goldwind. It was reported in the Beijing Business Today publication that, in the midst of the pandemic, Goldwind shipped critical medical supplies to China from Australia and other countries. I quote from the translated article: 'In the early stage of the outbreak, Goldwind technology used the company's global business network and channels to purchase medical surgical masks, protective clothing, medical isolation goggles and medical gloves in many countries and regions, such as the United States, Germany, Australia, Turkey and Ukraine; a variety of domestically needed anti-epidemic materials; received active local help; and provided strong support for the domestic fight against the epidemic.' This is what Goldwind appears to have done with medical technology that Australia and its medical professionals needed to fight the pandemic. Should this company, Goldwind, be trusted with infrastructure critical to Australia's future energy needs? If it cannot be trusted with medical gloves and masks, how can we expect it to act in Australia's interests with our dams and our power grid?

It's also very surprising to find that a process led by KPMG would allow a company like Goldwind to participate in bids for critical Australian infrastructure. I was troubled to learn that, while KPMG were running the process for WaterNSW, they were also receiving large contracts from Goldwind, advising them regarding their wind-farm business. This is yet another example of dual loyalties or conflicts of interest from one of the big four firms that throws a cloud over the entire process.

I will reiterate that I have been informed of these troubling matters, about the acquisition of these dams by Goldwind, by concerned citizens who have contacted me because of their genuine desire to protect national security and concerns about the L-NP's failure to protect our sovereignty. We have seen from the Chow Tai Fook Alinta Energy purchase scandal earlier this year that strict conditions actually need to be enforced with foreign investors when they purchase Australian utilities; otherwise, Australians are put at risk. Goldwind's alleged behaviour during the pandemic does not give me great confidence in their ability to run our utilities should another crisis of the scale and impact of COVID-19 hit Australia.

Pumped hydro will provide the energy for Australia's future, provide much-needed jobs in regional New South Wales and ensure that Australia fights climate change in a responsible and orderly way. This is a critical piece of infrastructure, a critical infrastructure asset, and we can't afford to bungle it. The purchase of a key national water security asset intimately entwined with stable electricity supply is not a process that we can allow to be bungled. It's not a process that should enable acquisition and control by those who have so clearly shown during the COVID-19 crisis that they do not have Australia's best interests at heart.