Senate debates

Wednesday, 30 November 2022

Statements by Senators

United Nations Climate Change Conference

1:56 pm

Photo of David VanDavid Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I was hoping to give a 10-minute piece on this but the government did away with senators' statements, so I will try and do it in two minutes. Visiting COP27 in Egypt the other week was a life-changing experience, as some of my colleagues who have been there will already acknowledge. It was clear to me that the whole world was there. There is no doubt that the world is committed to decarbonisation. With other world leaders there, including President Biden and Prime Minister Sunak, it was a shame that our Prime Minister didn't go and that Minister Bowen only showed up for a couple of days. There were more coalition members there than ALP and Greens members combined. I acknowledge that our Acting Deputy President was there. Why? Why weren't we there?

We need to care about a cleaner, healthier planet. We also need to care about sovereign energy security. It is why the coalition is there at the table. We recognise that the transition is vital but it's also going to be long, hard and very expensive—far more expensive than the government is currently telling you. Rewiring the Nation is going to cost an awful lot of money and the estimates that the government are telling you are blatantly wrong. We should be putting these renewables where the energy is needed, not hundreds of kilometres away. That is going to cost families huge hits on their energy bills and electricity prices are only going to go up. The other issue being ignored by Labor is the firming of those renewables and batteries won't do it. It was reassuring to hear John Kerry talk about the role of nuclear power in firming up renewables to decarbonise the planet.