Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator Farrell. IMPEX is one of the most important foreign investors in Australia. Shortly before question time today INPEX's global CEO, Takayuki Ueda, spoke at an event hosted by the Minister for Resources, Madeline King. Ueda-san said in his speech about the government's gas market policies: 'We are concerned that market intervention will only compound the situation of price challenges. Price intervention is likely to discourage investment in exploration and production while simultaneously driving up demand. The energy policy environment in Australia today appears to be driven almost by ideology and domestic concerns that the investment climate in Australia appears to be deteriorating.' I ask Senator Farrell, as the minister responsible for investment: how much does the government believe its interventions reduce investment in Australia? Does the Albanese Labor government accept responsibility for the deterioration in Australia's reputation? (Time expired)

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Zero. Zero is the—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Zero responsibility, yep!

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, zero impact on our relations. Seriously, zero is the answer. It won't have any impact on our international reputation or our reliability or our stability as a supplier of, amongst other things, gas. I've followed the INPEX story in Australia very closely for a long period of time, since my great friend Mr Paul Henderson shook hands with Mr Kitamura all those years ago to start the process of building one the great Japanese investments in this country. To sit and watch those gas ships go out of Darwin harbour, on their way to supply something like 10 per cent of Japan's gas needs, is a wonderful thing. I can recommend it to anybody.

I've met with the gentleman that you referred to, and I have met with Mr Kitamura. In fact, I had the privilege late last year of awarding Mr Kitamura an Order of Australia at the Australian embassy in Tokyo. We're a democracy just like Japan, and companies in Japan can express points of view that don't always agree with the government of the day or, in fact, other— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Birmingham, first supplementary?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ueda-san also said that Australia is competing for global investment, and the changes we are seeing to Australian policy settings will 'choke investment and strangle the expansion of LNG projects in this country'. The consequences of these well-intentioned policies will mean the 'increasing energy demand in our region that will be met by coal and not by natural gas'. Senator Farrell, will Labor's gas market intervention increase demand for coal and, as Ueda-san says, make net zero by 2050 an impossible task?

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

r FARRELL (—) (): No is the answer to that question. We are making sensible decisions in the interest of Australian consumers. After 10 years of doing nothing about these sorts of issues, you left the electricity system in a complete mess.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister Farrell, please resume your seat. Order on my left! Calling out, shouting out, is disorderly, and I'd ask you to stop.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Canavan knows what I'm saying is exactly correct.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order, President. Going to Odgers' explanation to the rules of debate around standing order 193, ministers are to direct their comments through the chair, and Senator Farrell was yelling and pointing at Senator Canavan rather than respectfully answering the question through you.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator McKenzie. Let me first of all remind all senators that shouting out across the chamber—

Senator Canavan! Shouting out across the chamber is incredibly disorderly. That's the first point I'd make. The second point I'd make is that Senator Farrell was directing his comments to me except for a slight deviation. I will remind him to direct his comments to the chair, but I would also remind other senators not to keep calling out to a minister on their feet who is answering a question.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for that protection from Senator Canavan. We were left with a situation where the potential was that, as a result of those 10 years of neglect in the electricity sector by the former government—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order on direct relevance. The question actually related to the gas market interventions. Particularly the question went to the observation by one of the largest foreign investors in this country as to whether those interventions would increase demand for coal. I ask you to draw the minister to the question.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Birmingham, the minister answered the question when he first stood. That's my understanding. He has answered your question directly.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, President. My first comment was a direct answer to the question. With all due respect to Inpex, I don't agree with their assessment of the situation. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Birmingham, second supplementary?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

MINGHAM (—) (): Ueda-san also said:

On the geopolitical front, Australia's 'quiet quitting' of the LNG business has potentially very sinister consequences. The question of who will replace Australian supply into the market is front and centre. 'Alarmingly, the "inconvenient truth" is most likely that Russia, China and Iran will fill the void.'

Will Labor's interventions create new market opportunities for Russia, China and Iran, and why should Australians take the word of Senator Farrell ahead of one of our largest foreign investors and experts in this field? (Time expired)

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Birmingham for his question. You can rely on my word. I'm a minister in a fantastic Labor government. We are all about providing a stable political environment in which to continue to supply, reliably, Japan gas supplies. In the case of INPEX, that's—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's not what they—

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With all due respect, I had a long meeting with the gentleman that you're talking about before that lunch. It was an extremely amicable meeting, at which I made it very clear that this country continues to be a stable, reliable supplier of gas into the Japanese market. Of course, Japan is not the only place we're supplying gas— (Time expired)