"Gas plays a critical role in Australia's economy. It's also an important part of Australia's future, because it will enable us to compete successfully in the global race for jobs and opportunities in a net zero world. But the global shift to clean energy is Australia's biggest opportunity for growth and prosperity ..."

Address to the Federation Chamber, Private Members' Business - Energy

Monday 1 July 2024

I also rise this evening to speak on the member for Gippsland's motion. We wish him a speedy return. This motion is weak on substance and rich in irony, as the member for Bruce suggested. The irony is, of course, that the member for Gippsland was in the ministry for much of the last decade and had input, or potentially a lack of input, into nearly a decade of 22 failed energy policies. Indeed, the member must wake up each and every morning with a big sigh of relief that it's the Albanese government in charge of stewarding the transition of our energy system and not those opposite.

Since coming to government, the Albanese government has taken immediate and strong action to shore up gas supply and manage price impacts by introducing the mandatory code of conduct, strengthening the Australian domestic gas supply mechanism and releasing the Future Gas Strategy. That's right—the motion calls for certainty on our natural gas policy, and to that I remind the chamber that we have strengthened certainty with the release of the Future Gas Strategy. Our Future Gas Strategy is taking a reasoned approach informed by data and evidence. We aren't spending millions of taxpayer dollars on fossil fuel projects. In fact, we aren't investing in gas projects or infrastructure at all. That's the job of the private sector.

This government understands that gas will play a changing role in Australia's energy transformation as we move to renewables. Coal is retiring, and we are well on our way to renewables, but in the meantime gas provides energy security because it makes intermittent sources like wind and solar stable and firm. That's why gas is described as a transition fuel. It's an enabler of the transition. We must ensure that the lights stay on, but for much of the last decade the opposition policy has had an approach of keeping the lights on while no-one has been at home. In the long term, gas will mostly be used in hard-to-abate sectors, such as cementmaking, brickmaking, glass manufacturing and minerals processing. Gas use will need to be decarbonised where possible and abated where not.

Our Future Gas Strategy is driven by net zero because this government is committed to net zero. Principle 1 of the Future Gas Strategy is this:

Australia is committed to supporting global emissions reductions to reduce the impacts of climate change and will reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Our reforms to the safeguard mechanism will drive down emissions across a range of emissions-intensive oil and gas operations covering the emissions of 130 resources sector facilities. New gas fields supplying LNG facilities have been given a zero-baseline allocation for the reservoir CO2 in their new fields. This is law. This means that gas from new offshore fields will be carbon neutral from the start. Since this government came to office, there's been a 25 per cent increase in renewables in the national energy market, and this has driven both total emissions and emissions intensity to all-time record lows.

The coalition's gas led recovery was not underpinned by any sound evidence or analysis. All the coalition did was hand out taxpayer money to the gas industry and threaten to use big sticks. We on this side know that the energy transition will be complex and that the scale of the challenge is immense. We are starting 10 years behind because of the total inaction of those opposite. At the moment, the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Gippsland are giving us an easy choice. Do we want renewables firmed by gas and batteries, or do we want uncosted, untimely nuclear power? After 10 years of no policy, their current policy approach, policy approach No. 23, is based on climate denial and nuclear fantasy.

Gas plays a critical role in Australia's economy. It's also an important part of Australia's future, because it will enable us to compete successfully in the global race for jobs and opportunities in a net zero world. But the global shift to clean energy is Australia's biggest opportunity for growth and prosperity, and the member for Gippsland and his party should come on board and back it.