Peter Garrett MP
Member for Kingsford Smith
Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Environment

E & O E Proof only

Subjects: John's Howard sacrificing renewable energy jobs for ideology; Labor's 20 per cent renewable energy target; Howard Government climate change approach

GARRETT:  How can Australians trust the Prime Minister who two years ago was prepared to sacrifice jobs in the Australian renewables industry and yet who today is having second thoughts about Labor's renewable energy target?

This has been an extraordinary day for the Howard Government with news that a former Environment Minister wrote to the Prime Minister in 2005 specifically warning him that jobs could be lost offshore an that Australian businesses might have to close down or come to a halt, to use the words reported, because of the Government's tiny mandatory renewable energy target.

So the Prime Minister was on notice from his own Environment Minister that Australian jobs were at risk because of the Government's failure to support a renewable energy target and make it a decent one.

The Prime Minister then comes out and says, and I quote, "an expanding MRET would impose substantial new costs on the economy and would benefit too few technologies."  Asked whether the Government would increase the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target in 2007: "No. I mean the Labor party's argument in relation to MRET is an argument for a subsidy." And so he went on and on and on.

In fact all the Prime Minister ever came up with was a proposal for Australia to have 25 nuclear reactors to deal with the problems of climate change. The Prime Minister is completely exposed by being on notice two years ago that Australian jobs were being jeopardised because of the failure of this Government to have a fair dinkum renewable energy target.

Labor has a fair dinkum renewable energy target. The question is will Mr Howard, if he's serious about jobs, support it?

The second thing I want to say is that it is clear that the investment opportunities the Mr Howard was on notice [inaudible] as going offshore [inaudible] . here we have Global Renewables saying they'd have to move some operations and invest $5 billion in the UK because of Government policy failure. We have Pacific Hydro taking $500m of investment offshore to Brazil because of Government policy failure. We have Roaring 40s - wind manufacturers - taking their jobs to China because of the Government's allergy to renewable energy targets.

Consistently through this entire period Mr Howard was on notice of the impact on Australian jobs that his failure to support a renewable energy target was producing. Business were taking jobs and investment offshore and he failed to act.

This was a profound absence by the Prime Minister in public policy formulation which shows that you just can't trust him on climate change.

And I make one more point. With Minister Turnbull and Minister McFarlane criticising the Labor Party for sensible policy around a renewable energy target, and the Prime Minister sort of having a bob each way it's impossible to know where this Government is on climate change policy.

Yet today again we have these World Bank report figures which show that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are predicted to spiral.

This is the Government who in their term of office have lost control of climate change policy. They have no plan to reduce Australia's emissions and the World Bank report tells us that emissions are spiralling out of control.

So this Government when it comes to climate change are nowhere to be seen. Mr Howard wants to play the politics but today he's been caught. He was on notice that Australian jobs were at risk and he did nothing about it.

Any questions?

JOURNALIST: With your MRET target Mr Garrett, why did you not wait until Professor Garnaut finished his analysis next year - he's looking at targets as part of the emissions trading scheme - why did you base it on research commissioned by the renewable energy sector?

GARRETT: There have been a number of pieces of research detailing the advantages that a renewable energy target will produce. The Government itself has recommendations from the Parer Review the extent that a renewable energy target can produce decent results in terms of reducing emissions over time. And it's very clear as well that the renewable energy sector is geared up and ready to go now.

Why wait when we have a climate crisis on our hands?

Why wait when we have $20billion dollars worth of investment just waiting to emerge?

Why wait when Pacific Hydro have said they have ,.5 billion dollars in wind turbine projects ready to go.

Why wait when we employ Australians in renewable energy. That's the Labor plan. That is the Rudd Labor plan.

Why wait any longer when it come to actually putting policy like this out in front of the people for the election.

JOURNALIST: Is the economy going to be able to absorb that sort of change over 20 years?

GARRETT: This economy will not only absorb that kind of change in terms of meeting our renewable needs. This economy will not only be able to absorb meeting our energy needs from renewables but critically we will build a renewable energy industry here in Australia under Rudd Labor, when under the Howard Government the renewable industry has had to go offshore.

Let's not forget that Australia led the world in solar research. Let's not forget that Australia is abundantly provided for in terms of solar, wind regimes, even wave power. Let's not forget that there is an enormous investment pool just waiting to be identified, waiting to be sourced and waiting to be put into practice.

If we're serious about our economy in Australia and if we're serious about jobs, then we've got to be serious about renewable energy as well. Rudd Labor is.

And it's clear that the Prime Minister isn't serious about it. He was on notice in 2005 of the impact that his policy failures would have on jobs and he did nothing about it.

Now, he has an opportunity to do something about it. Will he accept Labor's 2020 target is the right target for renewable energy?

Will he use the sun and the wind and the waves to generate energy to reduce our emissions or will he continue to play politics on climate change, which has been the characteristic of the Howard Government from day one.

They haven't taken climate change seriously. They are still full of sceptics like Mr McFarlane and Mr Vaile running around saying there's no connection between climate change and the terrible climate conditions that we face.

All you see from Mr Howard is the playing of politics.

One final thing, Mr Turnbull made it clear this morning that he identifies that the Kyoto process now as a being a place we the world will discuss and secure a treaty for reducing emissions over time.

We know that Mr Turnbull took a submission Cabinet for a ratification of Kyoto and it was knocked back by the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister says that Kyoto's dead - we don't agree.

JOURNALIST: Mr Garrett the energy industry has expressed pretty strong concerns not about a renewable energy target but the size of the target - did you consult with them before deciding on 20 per cent?

GARRETT:  There's been significant consultation with both Chris Evans and myself. The views of the industry have been listened to very, very intensely. And I am confident that we have the capacity in Australia not only maintain a healthy economy in terms of energy provision, but increasingly to produce low emission energy and have that available in the marketplace.

Let's remember that Mr Howard's only solution to climate change is 25 nuclear reactors dotted around the landscape - major infrastructure which can only come online in 10, 15 or 20 years. If it should happen under a Howard Government that Mr Howard's plan for 25 nuclear reactors were imposed on us then the impacts on industries, including on the coal industry, would be significant.

This is about getting the balance right, it's about getting mix of energy sources that reduce emissions and drawing them through, this is about sustaining regional economies, this about being serious about climate change, something the Howard Government has never been.  And by the strength, and on the strength of the letter we've seen reported this morning in The Australian, the Prime Minister is condemned for knowing that Australian jobs would go offshore and yet he failed to react and do anything about it at all. 

Thanks everybody.