|
senate vote 2024-08-19#9
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2024-08-24 15:49:07
|
Title
Matters of Urgency — Gas Industry: Middle Arm- Matters of Urgency - Gas Industry: Middle Arm - Withdraw subsidy
Description
<p class="speaker">Catryna Bilyk</p><p>The President has received the following letter from Senator McKim:</p>-
- The majority voted against a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2024-08-19.151.2) introduced by South Australian Senator [Sarah Hanson-Young](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/sa/sarah_hanson-young) (Greens), which means it failed.
- ### Motion text
- > *That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:*
- >
- > *That the Government must withdraw its $1.5 billion subsidy to support a gas export terminal and petrochemical hub in Darwin's Middle Arm. This is not a Future Made in Australia."*
<p class="italic">Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:</p><p class="italic"><i>That the Government must withdraw its $1.5 billion subsidy to support a gas export terminal and petrochemical hub in Darwin's Middle Arm. This is not a Future Made in Australia."</i></p><p>Is consideration of the proposal supported?</p><p class="italic"> <i>More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—</i></p><p>With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerk will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips. I call Senator Hanson-Young to move the motion.</p> <p class="speaker">Sarah Hanson-Young</p><p>I move:</p><p class="italic">That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:</p><p class="italic"><i>That the Government must withdraw its $1.5 billion subsidy to support a gas export terminal and petrochemical hub in Darwin's Middle Arm. This is not a Future Made in Australia."</i></p><p>This motion put forward by Senator McKim is an important motion and one of urgency for this chamber, because we have the current government wanting to spend $1. 5 billion of public money on a project in Darwin Harbour that the community is worried about, concerned about and doesn't support. Furthermore, without being fixed, it would drive the climate crisis to be even worse.</p><p>What this particular Middle Arm project would do is act as a supercharger for the extraction of new gas, fracking and the export of fossil fuels at a time when we know that the climate crisis requires courage and leadership from governments right around the world to stop making the climate crisis worse, to stop extracting more fossil fuels, to stop pouring fuel on the fire. The International Energy Agency says, 'We will not be able to arrest dangerous global warming if we keep opening up new coal and gas mines.' And what this Middle Arm precinct in the Darwin Harbour will do is give a very strong signal for the supercharging of the expansion of fossil fuels. No wonder so many Territorians are worried about this.</p><p>This Saturday is election day in the Northern Territory, and Territorians have the opportunity to send a very strong message to both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party that they don't want their Darwin Harbour trashed for the sake of further expansion of fossil fuels. They don't want their health and their community and their children's future to be sold out to the gas lobby. We know, because we've heard from the health experts and we've heard from the doctors, that the Middle Arm Project, as currently designed—an export hub for gas; a petrochemical hub—will be a toxic pollution factory only kilometres from Darwin residents and their suburbs.</p><p>There is $1.5 billion of taxpayer money being used to create a toxic petrochemical hub right in the heart of Darwin. There is $1.5 billion of taxpayer money being spent trashing the Darwin Harbour. The tourism industry and the fishing industry in Darwin are worried about the impact that this toxic pollution, this toxic hub is going to have on their businesses and on their local environment. The Middle Arm gas hub is a threat to human health, clean air, safe water and, of course, our climate.</p><p>Territorians want their government to listen. Recently, when a Senate inquiry was up in the Darwin area looking into this particular project, seeing how $1.5 billion of taxpayer money was going to be spent, we were inundated with strong community concern. Hundreds of residents spoke out, talked to us as a committee, wanted to engage, wanted to have their voices heard. They're angry that they are being ignored by the current Labor Territorian government and the current Liberal opposition. They're angry that rather than spending $1.5 billion on helping Darwin become a renewable hub, a place where the environment is looked after and celebrated, rather than an injection into local tourism, into local culture, into fixing the hospital system, housing, the education system—all of the things that $1.5 billion could go to helping the local community in Darwin—they are furious that $1.5 billion of taxpayer money is being spent helping the fossil fuel industry expand.</p><p>The Environment Protection Authority in Darwin is turning a blind eye to the very real risks to the environment and human health too. People are furious that the doctors warning signs are being ignored. People are furious that the government is ignoring their concerns about what this means for clean air and clean water. Darwin already has an air quality problem, and this toxic hub will only make it worse.</p> <p class="speaker">Slade Brockman</p><p>Well, here we have, once again in this chamber, an ample demonstration of this radical Green Left tail wagging this dog of a Labor government, and it's a government that doesn't know whether it should be chasing its tail or whether it should be chasing the stick. So, instead, it just chases the parked car. We see a government that's completely unable to make decisions in the national interest. Instead, they get dragged ever further to the left by the radical Greens, their fellow travellers in the environment movement and the radical animal-activist movement. We see a government that's completely incapable of acting in the benefit and the interest of the Australian people.</p><p>Anyone out there with half a gram of sense knows that gas is essential to our economy. It is essential to the future of our energy grids, and it's crucial to the transition that other countries want to undergo in their energy grids. In fact, I was lucky enough just last week to meet with a delegation from the Japanese parliament to this country, who, once again, emphasised to me the importance of Australian gas exports to their country for their own energy security but also for their transition plans to a less carbon-intensive economic environment. Instead, we have the Greens in here trying to drag the Labor government to the left, and, whether it's through ignorance or incompetence, they allow themselves to be dragged because they cannot make a decision in the national interest.</p><p>I've been lucky enough to travel north in Western Australia in the last few weeks, particularly over the winter recess. I took the opportunity, once more, to visit the Burrup Peninsula and look at the quite remarkable development that's going on there—the thousands of jobs for the current construction of the Pluto Train 2 and the ongoing jobs and high-quality investment in infrastructure that the gas company provides in that local area.</p><p>But I was also lucky enough to travel to an area that's actually been decommissioned, Thevenard Island, where, once upon a time, about 15 years ago, there were two large condensate tanks, a massive pipe right across the island and, obviously, a workers' quarters. Now you go to that island and not a trace of that activity exists. The large concrete jetty that was there, which was obviously very tall to deal with the massive tides in the north of Western Australia—and I've seen that jetty in the past—is now no longer there. In fact, it has gone without a trace. The two large condensate tanks—and, when I say large, I mean that they would just about fill this chamber—are not there anymore. In fact, they're gone without a trace. In fact, even more remarkable is that the gas and oil rig that was a few miles offshore and could be seen last time I was out there has gone. It's been redeployed elsewhere to generate new economic activity and to generate new supplies that are needed not just domestically for our own energy system but internationally for countries like Japan and their energy transition.</p><p>Instead, we get phrases, particularly from state Labor governments, like 'load shedding' and we get bans on new gas in homes. We pay industry in Western Australia to close down rather than have them put pressure on the energy grid, because this Labor government, being wagged by the tail that is the Greens, wants to go for a renewables-only approach to energy supply. That simply doesn't stack up when it comes to industrial development. It simply doesn't stack up when it comes to manufacturing.</p><p>The fact is that the Greens, dragging Labor with them, have never seen a mine or an industrial development that they like, but they have the jobs that will be the future of Australia.</p> <p class="speaker">Karen Grogan</p><p>The government will not be supporting this motion. We, on 5 September, supported the Greens in referring this issue to an inquiry by the Environment and Communications References Committee, and that inquiry has not yet reported. This is somewhat pre-empting the outcome of that inquiry process, which would pose the question: why did you bother with the inquiry in the first place? But that report will come forward, and that will give an outline, exactly, of the evidence that was heard and the challenges that were put forward.</p><p>In relation to the Middle Arm development, the Albanese government has made a commitment to invest in the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct to support industries that are critical to meeting our commitment to net zero. We do understand that there are a range of views and perspectives on this project, but we are committed to working with the NT government and the community to ensure that the necessary assessments take place before the project proceeds. Those assessments are under way, and pretty much all of the commentary is pre-emptive of what those assessments are going to show us.</p><p>Before the Commonwealth takes a final investment decision, we are going to look at all of those assessments. That includes Infrastructure Australia's assessment of the stage 3 business case. The NT government is working with Infrastructure Australia to progress the projects through the stages of that process, and, through that, we will find out more. We will see the details of what the reality is. What we have heard, for a couple years now, are an awful lot of assumptions. We've seen various changes in how this development is going to roll out, and yet what we've seen from the Greens is their cherry-picking of the bits that sound as explosive as they can. They have been cherry-picking those bits and overblowing what they see as negatives. The final decision that we make will consider the most appropriate funding structure to implement the government's commitment to shared infrastructure, to funding and to providing resources for the shared infrastructure.</p><p>We've already seen Infrastructure Australia support and approve the stage 2 business case, and one of the comments they made, which I think is quite critical, is that the project will support the transition of Australia's exports to high-tech, low-cost, low-emissions energy sources. Let's just be really clear, because there's an awful lot of muck and bother being thrown out there: the project will be required to meet all regulatory approval processes, and that includes the EPBC processes. That includes the NT government's own processes, and any Commonwealth funding that's going to go towards infrastructure that supports industries critical to meeting our commitment to net zero needs to be clear.</p><p>This development is also going to include hydrogen and the manufacture and export of lithium batteries. The proposals being progressed include a hydrogen facility using solar energy and facilities for green ammonia production, gas and critical minerals processing for use in energy storage batteries and precursor battery materials.</p><p>Gas remains an important energy source for Australia, and we don't shy away from that. The NT government is also working alongside Larrakia Energy and Korea Midland Power Co, and they've also signed an MoU to achieve a rapid development of the green energy project, which is going to support a 300-megawatt solar farm in close proximity to the Middle Arm precinct. It is a mixed-use facility, and the whole idea of the government investment is the shared infrastructure to help us reach net zero.</p><p>These projects are also going to provide significant economic benefits and an estimated 20,000 jobs in the Territory. This project is a valuable contribution—</p> <p class="speaker">Penny Allman-Payne</p><p> ( ): Thank you, Senator Grogan. Senator Cox.</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>-
-
|