Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, , 7:59:16 to 8:03:57
The hearing concludes with a debate on the transition to renewables versus coal-fired power, followed by questions regarding the department's failure to comply with a Senate order for document production.
Topics: Renewable energy, Orders for documents, Electricity grid
Speakers: Hon Tim Ayres, Malcolm Roberts, Varun Ghosh, Dennis Barnes, Unknown Speaker
>> Thank you Mr. Barnes. It seems ludicrous that you compared batteries because batteries are not industrial scale. You also have admitted there's a peak periods that are out of sync with demand and so we're going to plunge $50 billion into this mess just to overcome an inherent flaw in solar and wind.
>> So obviously
>> what's wrong with just building a coal fired power station and be done with it?
In my job as CEO of Snowy Hydro is to power Australia's uh renewable energy future. That's in our statement of expectation and that's what Snowy 2 will
I first called for the project to be scrapped. Well actually as an adviser I I call for it to be scrapped in 2017. On October 25th as a senator 2023 years ago I called for it to be scrapped. At the time some cost was only $4 billion against a project cost of 12 billion. Minister, in your pursuit of an ideological goal net zero, that other countries are moving away from, your government has wasted $12 billion on this foolard project and wants to waste another $40 billion, including transmission lines, which were never imagined to be needed. I can't and who knows how much in interest payments over the next 30 years, which we haven't got a figure on. Minister, will you put this idiot idea out of out of its misery and get back to building base load power
uh use that um kind of language to uh the the people and the project that is that are going on here. It's important project for Australia. Previous government, I'm sharply critical of their failure to plan. Uh but the previous government recognized this was an important project uh for the country. Uh the alternative as you say is uh wallto-wall outdated technology being installed to take Australia backwards, lift our costs, make us uncompetitive, force industry offshore. Um installing coal fired power which appears to be your alternative your your alternative proposition.
>> Their footprint is incredibly small and and high energy.
>> I I listen patiently to what you said even though I sharply disagree with it. Uh all of it. Um, I don't want to be interrupted. I didn't interrupt you. Uh, your your prescription, uh, Senator Hanson's prescription and Mr. Joyce's prescription for the country is to take us backwards, to lift our costs, to force industry offshore, uh, and to take us, um, you know, to a lower growth, lower employment, lower wages future. Um, I understand that's what you want to do. uh uh but uh that's not what the Albanian government is going to do. We're going to finish this project because it's in the national interest to finish it. Now, you'll have to put up with uh over the course of the next short while. Uh Senator Watt, who's going to be delighted to um
>> Minister, how did we go from the cheapest electricity in the world to the most expensive?
>> I don't want to I don't want to spend the night explaining uh how technology evolves. You know, some things that are cheap in 1950 are expensive in 2026.
>> Qualified is the cheapest in the world.
>> Uh well, you know, I I I don't know how to I don't know how to persuade you, Senator Roberts, because I know you're not listening. >> Everything technology changes. >> Uh the the the relative economic cost of technologies changes. uh their uh productivity changes. That's the first point. Second point is Australia has a different geography uh to other countries. So our relative competitive advantage is different to other countries because we have
limitless space energy.
>> We have limitless space uh enormous wind and solar resources that no you would you would not want to be anywhere else on earth. >> right? you want to lower our future >> and lower our future productivity, keep keep on with it. Um but uh you know that is not the approach that this government's going to take.
>> Um thank you. Thank you, Senator Roberts. Um at this opportun moment, I'm going to release officials from the Sydney Harbor Federation Trust and the Director of National Parks. I thank my colleagues for their cooperation. Uh we welcome back uh Minister Mari Watt to the table and I will hand the call over to the coalition.