Climate Change

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:54): Today I want to talk about climate change, and I begin by acknowledging the incredible contribution made by Senator Christine Milne in the federal parliament. As members would know, Senator Milne stepped down today as the Parliamentary leader of the Greens and Senator Richard Di Natale has been elected, unopposed, as our party's new federal leader.

What is not commonly known is that Senator Christine Milne is far and away the most knowledgeable and experienced member of any parliament in the field of climate change. She was the principal architect of the clean energy package, including the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Climate Change Authority and the related financial and structural bills. This was a world-leading package of legislation, and as history will show, its demolition by the Abbott government is a matter of international shame for Australia and has harmed a reputation amongst developed and developing countries alike.

Senator Milne's legacy is particularly relevant for South Australia. If South Australia was a separate country, it would be one of the top in the world when it comes to renewable energy. Currently, one in four homes has solar panels on the roof, and we are leading Australia in terms of grid-connected wind power. But other states are catching up, and some local councils are even taking it upon themselves to take climate change action in the face of federal government inaction.

In particular, the cities of Melbourne and Sydney already have developed plans to meet 100 per cent of their demand from renewable sources, and I am pleased that just last week Adelaide City Council has also shown some vision in this area. In our state, we cannot simply rest on our laurels. We must continue to innovate and take bold steps to drive investment momentum and create the jobs that our manufacturing and construction sectors so desperately need.

With natural advantages, particularly in relation to wind energy, South Australia has been an obvious candidate for interstate investment, some of it driven by the now-threatened renewable energy target and other investment driven by political processes, including the recent decision by the ACT government to fund a new wind farm development in our state.

Another of my federal colleagues, Senator Scott Ludlam (who was elected as a deputy leader of the Australian Greens today) spent several years developing an energy plan for Western Australia. This plan includes a comprehensive, independently-costed plan for the entire state to be powered by renewable energy by 2029. The modelling shows that for every million dollars of public or private money invested in renewable energy it creates 12 jobs. Contrast this with the gas industry which creates only five jobs per million dollars spent.

We can contrast this with the state government's inconsistent approach to renewable energy and fossil fuels. They claim to champion both and fail to see the inconsistency in this policy. Most alarming is the government's inability to understand the need to leave the bulk of remaining fossil fuels in the ground if we are to avoid dangerous climate change.

We have an environment minister and an EPA who play virtually no role in the approval or regulation of fossil fuel activities. Decisions that are fundamental to the environment, to public health, to the future of the economy are made by a mining department which is a textbook case study in regulator capture. That was the evidence before the Natural Resources Committee inquiry into fracking, and it is true.

Of course, the climate 'denialism' and the outright vandalism of the federal Liberal government is peerless, but just because they are worse does not let state government off the hook. Despite over 13 years in office, they have not moved at all on their statewide plan for electric cars in the state fleet; we still do not have universal access to solar panels on state-owned public housing; and yet they are happy to do battle with rural communities in the South-East who refuse to accept gas mining on their agricultural land.

The energy market is changing at a rapid pace; it is certainly changing much faster than the government energy regulators appreciate. In the last fortnight, the announcement of the Tesla home battery is being described as a global energy game changer. Of course, before we even get that product here in South Australia we already have, or we will soon have, access to a locally manufactured home energy storage product by Zen Energy made here at Tonsley Park in South Australia.

Additionally, we have seen reports in recent days that at least two energy companies are interested in advancing solar thermal technology at Port Augusta. This is a further sign that industry, as well as business and residential consumers, are ready to act. But what we need is something more than vague sentiments from the government. We need a two-pronged approach aimed at promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as moving away from fossil fuels.

This government must accept the reality that unbridled promotion of fossil fuels and urgent action on climate change cannot coexist. The government needs to choose, and the choice is crystal clear: stop undermining the progress being made on renewable energy with crazy notions that fossil fuels have a long-term future, because they don't.