ADJOURNMENT
Senator LIDDLE (South Australia—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (16:42): I'm delighted to share these thoughts from Chase, who lives in the electorate of Spence in Adelaide's northern suburbs. I'll now read their submission which was part of the Raise Our Voice in Parliament campaign. Chase has rightly identified the energy decisions you make today will shape the Australia and future generations tomorrow.
Chase says: We need reliable, low-emission electricity for decades to come, yet we continue to prohibit one of our greatest opportunities: nuclear energy. Australia holds around one-third of the world's economic uranium resources, roughly twice the share of Kazakhstan, which ranks second. We mine it.
We export it. Yet we refuse to seriously consider using it ourselves. Renewables are important, but nuclear offers something different.
Wind turbines typically last 20 to 25 years, while modern nuclear plants can operate for 60 years or more. Nuclear produces electricity day and night, regardless of weather with a comparative footprint of less land. Nuclear should also be judged by modern technology, not Chernobyl.
Modern reactors operate under vastly different safety standards. Nuclear requires investment and responsible waste management, but these are challenges to solve, not reasons for prohibition. At 16 years old, Chase is asking parliament to remove the nuclear power prohibitions contained in the EPBC Act and the ARPANS Act.
Australia's uranium has been mined since 1954. It is the largest known uranium resource in the world, at almost a third of the global total. Australia has the capability.
Australia needs the courage to use it. Chase, you have thought deeply about this. Thank you for recognising the importance of an energy mix that includes nuclear to power Australia and reduce emissions.
I'd like to continue on the theme of resources and the energy mix, because we do need energy from sources that make sure that we can keep the lights on and prices low. I'm talking about the energy mix: Chase talked about nuclear; I'm talking about coal; I'm talking about renewables; I'm talking about gas; and wind—it's all in there. It's all necessary to keep our prices low and the lights on.
Earlier today, I heard the Labor Party talk about economic development for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A little fact that people often forget is that one of the biggest employers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is actually the energy sector—bigger than the Commonwealth government. How's that!
And they've been doing it for years. People are employed across a range of industries—not just in the industry itself, but also in supplying and providing services to the industry. We need to make sure we support those industries that support the local communities that live around them.
Economic participation and opportunity are critical and they ensure that people can participate in society in the way that they wish to. We met, this week, here at Parliament House, with the Australian Energy Producers, and hosted a group of people who are benefiting from the industry itself. They were telling us they worked in contracting; they worked in engineering; they worked in aviation; they worked in cultural heritage.
They were all committed, and supportive of the jobs that are created by the energy sector. It was really terrific to hear their stories. This week we also heard about the big fail that was the decision of a Commonwealth minister in the McPhillamys goldmine.
A Federal Court judge has found an Aboriginal protection order that halted an approved goldmine was invalid. Who'd have known! A local traditional owner said they didn't know about that bumblebee, but, no, the government went ahead and declared it invalid.
Well, that's what the Federal Court just did. But in that time there's been a lost opportunity for jobs and employment. I heard from people who were ramping up the opportunity to take up those businesses, all the time while this project was delayed by the stroke of a pen by a minister who got caught up in ideology rather than common sense.