Speech to Parliament by Libby Coker MP on 3rd August 2022:
This bill delivers on our election commitment to Australians to restore national leadership on climate change. The Climate Change Bill 2022 is long overdue. It's an opportunity for parliament to end the climate wars and affirm a national commitment to net zero emission targets. I thank the Minister for Climate Change and Energy for introducing this significant legislation.
Australians voted at the election to end a decade of denial and delay on climate change. In my electorate of Corangamite—which includes the Great Ocean Road, the Bellarine and parts of Geelong—people were fed up with government inaction on climate change, the most significant threat of our time. They were frustrated by a government which had 22 attempts at an energy plan but failed to land any of them.
People across our nation are concerned about the state of the environment their children will inherit. They worry about the changing weather patterns and environmental damage they see in their communities across the nation and the globe. A vacuum of political leadership federally has led to crippling uncertainty around investment by business and industry in energy transformation projects.
Australians understand there isn't a day to lose in tackling climate change. Yet under the previous government Australia lost a whole decade. That's why it's crucial that we act decisively right now. It's crucial to ensuring confidence and producing certainty for industry, for investors and the wider community. Only confidence and unity of purpose will drive multipronged energy transformation.
Our target is to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 by 2030 and to net zero by 2050. It's backed by business associations, unions and environmental groups who've come together to support the government's emission targets. This commitment brings Australia into line with other nations, including France, Denmark and Spain, that have legislated net zero by 2050.
The 43 per cent target by 2030 is ambitious, but with the government's Powering Australia plan, it is very achievable. The 43 per cent is a floor, not a ceiling, on Australia's emission reduction aspirations. And it has been arrived at carefully, based on extensive modelling and the science.
The bill sets out a plan for industry, states and territories and the Australian people to work together to reduce emissions in the coming decade and beyond. The comprehensive Powering Australia plan is central. It will deliver 604,000 jobs across the nation and bring renewables to 82 per cent by 2030. It's part of the government's plan to make more things here in Australia. Reducing emissions and making more things here need not be mutually exclusive; we can do both. The Powering Australia plan recognises that our electricity grid is outdated and needs to be fixed. If it's to handle the move to renewables, the grid must have capacity for both large and small volume renewable energy to be fed to many locations and to be moved around the nation to where it's most needed. Manufacturing regions, like mine in the Geelong region, will have the opportunity to contribute to the grid upgrade and to other aspects of Powering Australia, creating new jobs—local jobs—and new business opportunities.
The wider Geelong region, which includes much of my electorate, has an enviable manufacturing history; great researchers; innovative, forward-thinking businesspeople; and a willingness to be at the front of innovation. I'm encouraged by the enthusiasm which businesses and local councils in my electorate already have. They are looking for ways to reduce emissions as part of their day-to-day operations. All they needed was a government willing to provide a plan, giving them the certainty and confidence to invest. Australia has the highest uptake in the world of home solar, but just one in 60 households have battery storage, because the upfront costs are still too high.
This government plans to fix that for up to 100,000 Australian households by installing 400 community batteries across the country. Community batteries offer great economies of scale, better than household batteries, with lower capital, installation and maintenance costs. They also store and distribute electricity more efficiently by allowing excess solar power to be shared with households unable to install solar.
The Minister for Climate Change and Energy announced one such community battery will be installed to service the community of the Sands Estate in Torquay in my electorate. That community has extensively researched and understood the multiple environmental and financial benefits of having a community battery. Many other communities across the nation will similarly benefit from this program over time. The government is committed to allocating up to $3 billion from the National Reconstruction Fund to invest in green metals such as steel, alumina and aluminium; clean energy component manufacturing; hydrogen electrolysers; and similar manufacturing.
I know that my electorate of Corangamite and the adjacent electorate of Corio are positioning to play a role in some of these opportunities. I recently brought together business, manufacturing, research and government leaders in my electorate to discuss the possibilities within the National Reconstruction Fund—organisations like the Geelong Manufacturing Council; G21, the Geelong Regional Alliance; the Committee for Geelong; Deakin University; and Regional Development Victoria.
Our government is committed to reducing transport emissions. It's making electric vehicles more affordable, so that families who want them can afford them and help reduce emissions. The government has moved to introduce a fringe benefit tax exemption to apply to non-luxury battery electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell electric cars and plug-in hybrid electric cars. Moving to cleaner fuel transportation is important. In Australia, transport makes up around 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Just 1.5 per cent of cars sold here are electric or plug-in hybrid, compared to 17 per cent in the UK and 85 per cent in Norway. In total, there are only around 24,000 registered electric cars on Australian roads, of around 15 million total cars. The government will also work with industry, unions, states and consumers to develop Australia's first national electric vehicle strategy. This will encourage Australian manufacturing of electric car components like batteries.
This bill also sets clear objectives and functions for a range of government agencies. It'll ensure the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency are fully focused on contributing to Australia's emissions targets. It will require that targets be taken into account by Export Finance Australia and Infrastructure Australia and it recognises the CSIRO's contribution.
Transparency is at the heart of everything this government does, including climate change. The minister for climate change will report annually to parliament on the progress towards meeting our emissions targets. The government will also restore the role of the Climate Change Authority to provide independent advice to the minister and to help inform public debate.
The importance of everything in this bill comes into sharp focus when we see the real impacts of climate change. Internationally we've seen raging wildfires in North America and record heatwaves across Europe. Unusual weather events are becoming common within Australia. People in Queensland and New South Wales have been subjected to multiple devastating record-level floods. Homes are destroyed, crops swept away and lives taken. Fires have ravaged eastern Australian states over recent years, more devastating than ever. People of the Torres Strait are battling to stop their island homes from disappearing under rising sea levels.
Perhaps the most significant indicator of all that has happened recently is the State of the environment report. This review, completed by scientists last year but held back by the Morrison government until after the election, shows some devastating impacts on the environment. It has found abrupt changes in some Australian ecosystems over the past five years. The health of Australia's environment is poor and has deteriorated over the past five years due to, in large part, the pressures of climate change.
In my electorate, coastal communities are seeing the impact of rising sea levels on coastal erosion. Flood-prone uninsurable areas on maps are creeping further inland. The people in my electorate are passionate and motivated about addressing climate change. I meet often with these groups, who do wonderful, practical things to raise awareness and reduce emissions at a community level. They are surfers, they are mothers of young children, they are university academics, they are tradies. They care. These people care.
My own climate change challenge among local schools is a project that is now in its second year. The challenge encourages teachers, students and members of their families to take action in their school and at home, to assess and find practical ways to reduce the carbon footprint of their daily lifestyle. People want to play their part and make a difference. So too does the Albanese government. Together we can achieve real change.
In this place, we deal with legislation on many important issues. However, there is no more important issue than addressing climate change. This bill resets Australia's ambitions, our approach and our commitments on reducing emissions to tackle climate change. That's what the people of Australia voted for at the election, and it is what we must vote for in this place.
