Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): This is an important bill that every member in this chamber should support, though clearly some will quibble on their way to supporting it, as the member for Warrandyte has done in a bizarre attempt to paint Labor as pro-fracking in the same breath as labouring to support our fracking ban. This bill protects our communities, safeguards our agricultural sector, preserves our environment and moves Victoria even further on our path toward a clean energy future.
In 2017 the Andrews Labor government led the nation by putting a permanent ban on onshore fracking and coal seam gas activities. We listened to the community, we listened to our farmers, we listened to the experts. Onshore fracking is dangerous for our environment and our agricultural sector, with the potential to cause groundwater contamination and create instability in the subsurface. On this basis alone it should be strongly opposed by all parties.
Our ban was welcomed by Victorians, and now we are going one step further in strengthening these protections. In 2018 we pledged to enshrine these prohibitions in Victoria’s constitution, a commitment that was resoundingly supported by the people of Victoria at the last election. Now we are delivering on that pledge. The Constitution Amendment (Fracking Ban) Bill 2020 enshrines in our constitution a prohibition on onshore hydraulic fracturing and the onshore exploration of mining and coal seam gas. Some may argue that this additional step of embedding the ban in our constitution is not necessary; I disagree. This bill will make it hard for any future government to reverse these protections. A future government will not be able to repeal, alter or water down these prohibitions without the same three-fifths majority in this house. That is what gives this provision the added protection it deserves. It will be more difficult to, for instance, reduce the current penalty for breaching the bans, narrow the class of persons liable to a penalty for breaching the bans or reduce the geographical area to which the bans apply.
This is a great outcome for the people of Victoria and for our agricultural sector, which is second to none. I look forward to the Liberal and National parties’ wholehearted support. Victoria is renowned internationally for our clean, high-quality produce. Victorian farmers are Australia’s top food and fibre producers, contributing over $12 billion per year and employing approximately 190 000 people. This bill gives them the certainty and security they deserve.
Now, I know there will be those in this chamber and the other place who will try and claim the fracking ban and every other environmental protection introduced under Labor as victories of their own. The Greens taking credit for Labor’s environmental achievements has become a cliché, if not a bad joke. The reality is it has been Labor governments from day one that have delivered for Victorians when it comes to climate action and energy policy. It has been Labor governments that have put in and continue to put in the hard yards to deliver the investment and policy reform required to transition to net zero emissions. Why do we do this? Because we believe in it. We believe in real action to move our state to net zero emissions—not empty marketing, real actions.
What we are not in the business of doing is destroying Victoria’s economy, which the Greens political party simply does not care about. No doubt they will stand up to speak on this bill to simultaneously take credit for the ban on fracking, blame the government for gas price increases and call for a complete end to all gas usage, including exploration in all its forms. Perhaps they fail to see the contradiction inherent in that position. Disallowing any further gas exploration immediately, whether onshore or offshore, will only result in drastically limiting the domestic supply of gas and driving up gas prices even further, but this is exactly what the Greens are pushing for. No-one can take them seriously.
We do need to transition our economy to renewables. We do need to move homes off gas. There is no doubt about that, and that is why our government is investing billions to make it happen fairly and feasibly. Our state needs energy security, and that means gas is going to have to play a role in our economy for a while yet. It will especially be needed to provide backup for an expanded renewable energy sector when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining.
Labor recognises that households and businesses will not be able to shut off gas immediately overnight and our renewable energy sector will need gas backup for some time to come. Sweeping statements about getting Victoria off gas are immature and unhelpful, but that is not to say progress cannot be achieved. Last week I had the honour of hosting the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change at a virtual forum for my community in Northcote. We spoke about the steps Victoria is taking to reduce our reliance on gas while supporting a thriving economy and household budgets. This includes $1.6 billion in clean energy initiatives in the last state budget, the largest investment of its kind in any state government.
We will bring even more renewables online, make homes more energy efficient and support energy innovation projects like hydrogen and offshore wind. Six renewable energy zones will bolster the system, unlocking more clean power and more jobs for Victorians. Our wind and solar projects will create enough energy to power all our public transport, schools, hospitals and government buildings. We are backing local clean energy projects like microgrids, neighbourhood batteries and community-owned renewable energy projects.
Perhaps less well known is our Victorian energy upgrades program. This program is helping households and businesses to upgrade to energy-efficient products and services and legislates to ensure energy retailers are driving these upgrades. This single measure is delivering 7.3 million tonnes of emission reductions in 2025—that is equivalent to taking 8.5 million cars off the road. Considering we only have about 4.5 million motor vehicles on the road in Victoria, that is a lot. It was only last year that I stood in this chamber to seek changes to the plumbing regulations so households can choose whether they want their solar water heaters connected to gas or not. A simple and targeted amendment to the regulations would allow households the choice of installing either an efficient gas or an electric solar water heater in their homes.
Critically, this government is about giving Victorians choice and reducing household costs, not taking choices away and driving up energy prices. We will never get the support for climate action that we need by leaving parts of our community behind. That is not the answer, and all it achieves is to give fuel—excuse the pun—to conservative interests that push back on progressive climate policy. The Greens need to stop doing damage to the environmental cause, stop putting slogans and marketing above real action and progress, get out of their virtual bubble and try to think about hardworking Victorians and think about the economic, environmental and political challenges we have to transition.
As it worked towards a permanent prohibition on unconventional gas activities in Victoria the government also undertook an extensive evaluation of onshore conventional gas resources to see if it was viable and most importantly safe for our community and our environment. The process was evidence based and led by the science. It was the most detailed investigation undertaken by a government into our gas program, and it ultimately found that an onshore conventional gas industry would not compromise the state’s environmental or agricultural credentials, would have no significant impact on water quality or quantity and would have significant benefits for energy security as well as likely push down energy prices. It is on this evidence-informed basis that an orderly restart to onshore conventional gas will commence midyear. Critically, that restart will involve much more robust consideration of social, economic and environmental factors when decisions are made, and our Premier has already indicated that any gas produced from future onshore production licences will need to be prioritised for the domestic market. I am sure that none of this will impress the Greens political party, but what Labor knows is that gas prices are heavily impacted by the decision of private companies to export gas rather than supply to the domestic market. The Morrison government needs to seriously consider a domestic gas reservation policy to mitigate this.
The worst enemy of progress is cynicism. We on this side of the chamber are not cynical. We are determined, we are motivated and we have a real plan to put sustainability at the heart of Victoria’s economy. Getting the balance right is absolutely crucial for our environment and for the people of Victoria, and we know that only Labor governments do the hard work necessary to get this policy mix right. We put in the work because that is what the people of Victoria want and deserve. Cynicism gets you nowhere; slogans get you nowhere. This is a historic bill, another tangible step forward for our state. It is accompanied by a balanced conventional gas policy to keep prices down and a strong renewable energy policy to secure our future. Only Labor delivers these economic, social and environmental benefits. We are the party that gets the balance right, ensuring that our farmers, our workers and our vulnerable households have the support and tools they need to transition away from fossil fuels. That is what our Labor government is delivering, and for that reason I commend this bill to the house.
