Wednesday, 15 November 2023

Petitions

Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (17:41): I move:

That the petition be taken into consideration.

Labor’s coal-to-hydrogen project is a climate disaster. Before we get into why, can I first thank Friends of the Earth, Save Westernport and the thousands of Victorians who signed this petition to force this debate. It was in fact a very easy petition to get signatures for. People were appalled to find out that Labor is even considering a new coal project in Victoria. It is perhaps telling that we had to force Labor to even discuss the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project – or HESC, as it is known – and I suspect that is because it knows the Victorian public will not buy it. If this project goes ahead, an international consortium of companies will waste billions of dollars burning the dirtiest coal in Australia, generating huge amounts of emissions, all to make a very, very small amount of hydrogen gas. The HESC will then waste even more money and more energy turning that small amount of gas into an even tinier amount of liquid hydrogen, which will then be shipped all the way to Japan, where eventually it might be burnt to power something useful.

The HESC will also waste even more money and more energy on industrial-scale, widely discredited carbon capture and storage technology to inject its emissions into disused gas and oil wells in the Otway Basin. Carbon capture and storage is one of the fossil fuel industry’s favourite Trojan horses. It is a furphy designed to keep coal and gas on life support. Despite billions being thrown at it from Australian governments, it has never come even close to 100 per cent efficiency on an industrial scale. Just yesterday we heard that Chevron’s Gorgon gas project in WA, the world’s largest, has only captured about a third of its promised emissions. Even assuming the HESC system could work at its theoretical capacity, the Australia Institute found that it would still leak up to 3.8 million tonnes of emissions annually.

The climate crisis is here now. We cannot afford any new fossil fuel projects. While some in Labor know this and behind closed doors are arguing against the HESC, others are going in to bat for it. After gifting the ill-fated pilot project $50 million of taxpayer money in 2018, in March this year the Treasurer flew over to watch the industrial-scale proposal receive $2 billion from the Japanese government and throw his support behind it. In the same month, the Legislative Council passed the Greens resolution requiring Labor to provide all briefings, analyses, modelling and consultancy reports on the HESC. Surprisingly, Labor did not meet this requirement, citing time constraints. Back in April they told us they were preparing a response, and we continue to wait. Publicly Labor remains silent on the HESC, neither supporting nor condemning it, but the Treasurer is still keen. He was spotted touring that hydrogen tanker last month along with federal resources minister Madeleine King and other politicians after it secretly returned to Western Port Bay for a free Japan-Australia business summit.

We cannot afford for Labor to keep having it both ways. The world cannot afford the HESC or any new fossil fuel projects. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres perhaps put it best this year:

The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting.

…

Climate breakdown has begun.

The World Meteorological Organization announced we will likely exceed our make-or-break 1.5-degree limit within just five years without drastic, truly unprecedented change. Breaching this limit will be cataclysmic. We must work across all political parties, all levels of government and businesses to limit every fraction of a degree above this threshold.

As the Greens have often said, Victorian Labor is taking welcome action on renewable energy. While limiting warming to 1.5 degrees demands even stronger targets, they are certainly doing a lot better than most of our state and federal counterparts. But increasing renewables is only half the equation; the science demands no new fossil fuel projects. That includes the HESC, and it is long past time for Labor to do what anyone with even the barest concern for the environment, the community or even economics would do: bin it. Bin this ludicrous, polluting, inefficient coal project and get on with creating cheap, green electricity.

Interjections from gallery.

The PRESIDENT: Can I just let people know in the gallery that this is a workplace. There are not just MPs working here. We do not have any contributions; it is not an audience participation place. One set of applause – that is it for now. And if there are any other contributions from the gallery, I will be suspending this sitting, so thank you for complying with that.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:47): I rise to support the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project, as the Nationals and the Liberals do. Now, as you are aware, there was federal and state funding of $50 million each some few years ago in support of this, and I was happy to attend in the Latrobe Valley – the place that has been the powerhouse of this nation, this state, for almost 100 years and still supplies a great degree of our electricity on a daily basis – the launch of the HESC project. I was pleased to see the Treasurer the Honourable Tim Pallas also there, along with the Japanese consortium.

We know that the pilot project came to fruition and delivered a successful outcome earlier this year, and we also are aware that there is a feasibility study that is now being undertaken by the Japanese government, which is prepared to put $2.35 billion on the table for investment into Victorian energy supply. There is a feasibility study that is due out in April of next year, and we look forward to that; $2.35 billion is a significant fund of investment at a time when this state has a massive deficit.

However, let us talk on the merits in relation to the hydrogen supply chain project. We know that there has been in the initial pilot project the gasification of coal, the treatment of it, the liquefaction of it in the Latrobe Valley and the transportation of it through to the Port of Hastings to be taken off to Japan. We also know that the whole discussion around transitioning away from fossil fuels into the future and transitioning towards, we will say, renewable energies, new technologies and the role that clean energy transition can play should be agnostic about the content, and the outcome should be about reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

That should be the long-term goal and focus, but the Greens seem to sit on an ideological hill, always casting aspersions at the Latrobe Valley, which I find quite offensive. What we want to see is a reduction in global CO₂ emissions, and indeed this project can deliver those reductions. It can also deliver long-term jobs to support that transition in the region of the Latrobe Valley and also in Hastings. We know that Yallourn power station will be coming off line in 2028 and Loy Yang A in 2035. These important jobs can then transition over to this very adaptable and important potential for energy.

The other thing that we want to look at is the fact that if the technology is there and the infrastructure is there then the hydrogen can be used for, we will call it, green hydrogen. In a way I would like to get away from those different terms. We should all be talking about carbon intensity. But it can then be used when there is excess electricity formed through wind and solar. That can also in the future be converted into hydrogen for a supply chain. It also is a great opportunity not only for earning export dollars but also for a domestic energy market in a changing environment.

On top of that, we have heard the Greens talk about carbon capture and storage and the lack of credibility. Well, I dispute that in its entirety. I went to the CarbonNet cooperative research centre near Colac, and I walked with and listened to the scientists there. For the last 10 years it has been storing carbon as a prototype, as a test, so there is absolutely the opportunity in the future. There are currently around 200 various stages of development with this carbon capture and storage. Again, let us be agnostic about this. Let us be pragmatic about this. Let us ensure that there is a future and that hydrogen can be on the table.

David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (17:52): I rise to speak in support of this petition on behalf of Legalise Cannabis Victoria, but before I do, let me just highlight that as far as we understand it this is the first time ever that by operation of our standing orders a paper petition has formally triggered debate in the Parliament of Victoria and the second time ever that a petition has caused debate on a citizen-initiated issue to be had in this place. This is wonderful for democracy. It is wonderful that, as of this term of Parliament, if enough citizens express their support for an issue, they directly cause debate on that topic in our state Parliament. Democracy should be accessible to the citizenry. People should feel that they can engage directly in politics and in Parliament. This is what is happening now. But we could also learn much more from other jurisdictions on how we can advance this type of access to our Parliament. In Scotland once a petition is tabled it goes a petition committee, and then that committee considers the actions the parliament should take on it. If a petition tabled in the German parliament received over 50,000 signatures, there would be a public hearing. How wonderful it would be for democracy if a sufficiently high threshold was triggered in Victoria that it caused our Parliament to act on an issue. That we hear and that we act on what Victorian petitioners ask of us is fantastic.

With those points made, let me say on the subject of this petition – and I will speak very briefly here ‍– that burning a lot of coal to make energy, as proposed, is basically a bit nonsensical. We have heard of green hydrogen made from renewables, and that sounds like a potentially spankingly good idea. We have heard of blue hydrogen, which is made from natural gas, and that is being sold as sort of green. But in terms of gas, I think it maybe has more to do with gaslighting than a bona fide environmental initiative. But what is being proposed here, if we stick with the colour analogy – and I am conscious, President, that you have warned me about colourful language in the past – with colour coding, this is brown hydrogen. This, to put it bluntly, makes no sense. Now, let us be clear: we should absolutely be supporting the communities and the workers of the Latrobe Valley. We owe them that. But this is just a bad idea, and it will not be sustainable either commercially or financially in the long run. Let us invest in real renewable energy for the benefit of this planet. We simply do not have time to waste in this most urgent of climate crises.

Interjections from gallery.

The PRESIDENT: I am going to walk out and it is going to finish, so it is all up to you going forward.

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:56): I rise to speak on the Greens’ petition to stop the hydrogen energy supply chain project. I would like to start by saying I support jobs in the Eastern Victoria Region, I support cleaner, cheaper and more reliable power, I support the use of resources in our region and I support the HESC project. Long term, this project would mark the start of putting Victoria at the forefront of the hydrogen market to export cleaner energy from coal to the world. Along with funding from the federal and state governments, the Japanese government along with industrial and energy corporations have committed to funding these projects. Clearly they recognise the importance of Australia’s natural resources in providing energy with lower emissions. The Japanese government invested $2.3 billion from its Green Innovation Fund, and this investment is not only capital but information, technology and skills. Once this is expanded, it is a realistic step towards cheaper, reliable energy.

Most research indicates that this form of hydrogen produces two to three times less-expensive energy than renewables, something that is very important during a cost-of-living crisis. You would think from all this talk about the energy crisis in this state that we are actually having one, but the facts are our nation is so rich in resources that we should not be having one at all. We are lucky to live in a country with an abundance of natural resources. Our key geographical position in the Indo-Pacific region puts us in prime proximity to export this energy to global markets. When I hear that we are experiencing an energy crisis, I find that hard to stomach, because it is not one that is being created due to lack of resources, it is one that is being created by ideology.

This means that the energy crisis is us putting our thoughts and our beliefs above what the community actually needs. While we export our coal to the world, allowing others to benefit, Victorians are currently having a cost-of-living crisis, and we often hear from the Greens that people in this state have to choose between whether or not they buy groceries or whether or not they use heating and cooling. According to the Hydrogen Council, hydrogen could soon supply one-fifth of the world’s energy needs and generate a market worth US$2.5 trillion by 2050. This is something that we should have a stake in.

Our abundance of brown coal puts us in a prime position to produce liquefied hydrogen at a scale to supply the world. As we enter the so-called energy crisis, activists have continually intimidated ordinary Australians into having to pay for expensive imported energy. Liquid hydrogen is a cleaner alternative. Hydrogen is a clean energy source of the future. Scare campaigns have sought to demonise this project as the second coming of coal burning in Victoria, but gasification sees hydrogen extracted from coal and biomass under high pressure and temperature with the inclusion of oxygen. Under this project the majority of CO₂ is captured and will be safely stored in soon-to-be-made carbon net zero CO₂ storage systems. The pilot project was successful. As the CSIRO notes, the pilot project for this technology was successful in 2021 and 2022. At possible future scale the HESC project has the potential to reduce global CO₂ emissions equal to that of getting rid of 350,000 cars. That is a good thing. Questions have been asked about the project’s practicality at a commercial level, but the Greens are calling to scrap this project before a feasibility study has been conducted. To me this seems extremely irresponsible and very wasteful.

Lastly, with my last 30 seconds, jobs in the Eastern Victoria Region have been under attack for many years. While nothing can reverse the damage that Labor’s war on Gippsland’s power industry has done, this project will offer employment and hope to those devastated communities. Modelling from KPMG found more than a thousand jobs per year would be created in the operational phase, and the number would increase during construction. These jobs would be split between Mornington and the Latrobe Valley, and these are areas that desperately need them. Businesses in regional Victoria have repeatedly had their communities ripped apart by successive Labor governments. First it was the power industry, then it was the native timber industry – (Time expired)

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (18:01): I am pleased to speak in support of this petition to oppose the government’s coal-to-hydrogen project, and I thank the thousands who signed it. Firstly, it is really disappointing that the Labor government did not have the guts to front up to this debate today. They have not put even one speaker forward as yet in this debate.

This petition is about Labor’s continued support for new coal and gas projects in a climate emergency. Fifty million of Victorian taxpayer dollars was given to the pilot of this project by this Labor government, and earlier this year the Labor Treasurer Tim Pallas travelled to Japan to meet with their government and explicitly express the Victorian government’s support for this project. Labor do not want Victorians to know they are supporting new coal and gas, because they know it is unconscionable in a climate crisis, and if the community knew they would be furious. But the community is now starting to find out. In fact this petition has thousands of signatures of people who now know that Labor is supporting new coal and gas, and these community members will not be silent. In fact their voices will only grow louder.

Sadly, this is not the only coal and gas project Labor is supporting. Labor actively signed off on new gas drilling near the Twelve Apostles. Labor actively signed secret deals that no-one is allowed to see with the Loy Yang and Yallourn coal power stations to keep them open beyond when the market would probably shut them down. Nobody knows what is in these contracts. A few years ago they extended the life of licences for brown coal mining in Victoria by several years, and Labor actively lifted the moratorium on conventional gas drilling across Victoria. It was banned; now it is not.

We now have over a dozen new gas drilling projects on the cards here in Victoria, both onshore and offshore. This is unacceptable in a climate crisis. The eight hottest years on record have been the last eight. The summers are getting hotter. The winters are getting hotter. Sea levels are rising. Sea temperatures are warming. Ice shelves in the Arctic are melting. The rains are getting heavier. The fires are starting earlier. We can barely recover from one disaster before the next one hits. Just talk to the people of northern Victoria, who fear that every heavy rainfall event now will mean another devastating flood. Countries are starting to prepare for the safe movement of people when the whole-island countries they live on get submerged. That is the world we are living in. That is the future we are facing because these old parties have refused to care about the future of young people. They have plundered and exploited this earth and are leaving devastation for future generations to inherit. They have refused to talk about coal and gas – the fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis – and they refuse to stand up to the fossil fuel lobby, their donor mates in fact.

All power to the students striking for climate this week – those young people who had the courage to come to Parliament yesterday and the young people who will take to the streets this Friday and in the coming months. You have our full support. You are the hope for the future. Keep raising your voices and keep taking to the streets, because that is how we are going to create change, and that is how we are going to save our climate.

Interjections from gallery.

The PRESIDENT: I am vacating the chair, and I might come back tomorrow at 9:30.

House adjourned 6:10 pm.