Remarks at Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative (ETI) Pathways to Industrial Decarbonisation reports release, Sydney

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, thanks very much, Simon. And can I begin by celebrating the fact that this is the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. And just down the road here, 235 years ago, eleven ships sailed through those magnificent heads and changed the lives of our indigenous people forever. And later this year, we'll have the chance for our most important ever act of reconciliation and I'm sure the Australian people will join as one in endorsing that act of reconciliation.

I also at an event like this, recognise the fact that there's no inequality in the world that climate change doesn't make worse, including indigenous inequality. Whether it is our Torres Strait Island brothers and sisters living on low-lying islands dealing with rising sea levels, or people in remote housing dealing with increasing days of searing heat with no air conditioning. There's inequality in the world, that is made worse by climate change. But also, our first peoples who have had stewardship of our lands for 60,000 years, have plenty to tell us about how to manage our country, including as is recognised through our carbon offset system, savannah burning and carbon reduction. And we have a lot to learn.They're part of the solution, as well as being an imperative need for action.

Well, I'm delighted to accept the invitation to help you launch this very substantive report. There's a lot in it, so I thought I'd summarise it and take two or three hours to give you a few high-level comments. Simon referred to the fact that we are currently in a national discussion about how to reduce emissions for our largest emitters. Almost inevitably, a little controversial. That's fine, I'm a bit used to that. But vital, we don't reduce emissions in Australia unless we reduce them for our biggest emitters. Our 200 largest emitters are responsible for 28 percent of our emissions. We're not going to achieve our targets unless we have a proper framework to get those emissions down sensibly. And that's exactly what we are setting about doing and what we will do.

That's important. It's important both in terms of the challenge, but I think in terms of the opportunities. We are a great industrial powerhouse of a nation. We're an energy superpower. We've made a lot of coal and gas over the years and exported it to the world and will continue to be an energy powerhouse, but that will increasingly become a renewable energy powerhouse. And I'm very upbeat about our opportunities to do that.

I'm just back from Europe the week before last, where I cannot begin to tell you how keen and intense the interest in Australian green hydrogen is. From Berlin to Rotterdam, right throughout the continent, Brussels, people wanting to know how we're going with the plans because they know that they can't do it themselves, they need countries like Australia providing that.

But of course, we need to do it domestically as well. Now, it's not easy. If it was easy, it would have already been done by now. We're talking about hard-to-abate sectors, hard-to-abate technologies. But it's absolutely vital and it can be done, as this report indicates. It will take some time and we need to provide some flexibility as we do that. We have urgency and we have agency. It's not, I believe, it's not too late to hold the world as close as possible to 1.5 degrees, but we have to act very fast. But acting fast means different things in different cases. Acting fast means transitioning our national energy market to 82% renewables, which we're well advanced in doing. We've put away Rewiring the Nation's deals with the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, with more to come in the not-too-distant future. We’ve negotiated our capacity investments scheme unanimously with the states and territories which will underpin billions of dollars of investment and unlock gigawatts of renewable energy, dispatchable renewable energy. We're doing all that, that will happen, and that's important for industrial decarbonisation. But of course, electricity can't fix everything or can't fix everything immediately.

So, these plans that are encapsulated in this document are very important. Some people say you still hear it sometimes, less often now, but you still hear it. I regret to inform you still hear it in the Australian Parliament House. The argument that Australia's one percent of emissions, so we don't need to worry. I can't think of a more fallacious argument. Of course, we need to worry. We're also, as well as being either the highest or second highest, depending on definitional matters, per capita emitter in the world. We're also the 13th largest absolute emitter in the world, even though we're one percent. So that is to argue that the twelve countries who are high metres and us should do something about it and 177 or so others shouldn't bother. Of course, that's a fallacious argument. Australian troops were one percent of the troops deployed in World War II. We wouldn't diminish or disparage their role in that important event in our history. One percent is important when it comes to global decarbonisation and it's also a story of optimism for Australia.

I do believe that by harnessing the power of Australian innovation and ingenuity, remembering that the modern solar panel is an Australian invention. Invented a few kilometres down the road at the School of Photovoltaic at the University of New South Wales, we can harness that and all the ingenuity that is going into developing Australian green hydrogen and all the other wonderful technologies and remain a very serious and substantial industrial nation that makes things and provides renewable energy and the infrastructure of renewable energy to the world.

And my final message is this, this won't happen here, it won't happen in the CBDs, won't happen in the suburbs. Where this will happen is in the regions of Australia, areas that have powered Australia for so long and provided so many industrial jobs. Hunter, Central Queensland, North Queensland, the Illawarra, Collie Bunbury, Portland. We all know the areas. These are the areas with the space for renewable energy. The room for big industrial innovations, to strengthen the strongest energy grid, the skills which go into providing energy for generations and making things for generations. These are exactly the sorts of things which will mean that these regions, which have powered Australian manufacturing and power the rest of Australia, will power Southeast Asia and Europe and industrial manufacturing for many years to come. With the right policy settings in place, it won't happen by accident.

Around the world, the world is moving fast. 20 countries have national hydrogen plans and another 26 have them under development. Just because we have one does not mean that we are any better or more special or more advanced than anyone else. It's an ever-receding finishing line. We were all competing against each other to do more and faster. And I see that very much a race to the top. Race to the top, which I believe the right management, the right passion, the right policies in place, we can do very, very well in indeed. Thank you for the leadership that goes in this report.

I'll finish with this point. I do agree with Simon. This is a big task. This is the biggest change in our economy since the Industrial Revolution and we are undertaking it at much greater speed. 2030 is important. Some sectors will reduce their emissions very substantially by 2030. Electricity, transport and others. What we do between now and 2030 is vital. It's 83 months away. That is a lot faster than it took the Industrial Revolution to occur. But other sectors will use that time in investing in the thought leadership in the thinking and the innovation and the entrepreneurship, so that they are playing a role in those crucial years just after 2030. And I think some of the elements encapsulated in this report, which I took great pleasure in reading in detail over the weekend, will ensure that Australia is very well placed to lead the world in many ways and to give Australians jobs right across our country in which workers can know they are playing their part in keeping our economy ticking over and a vital role in decarbonising their country and our world. We have to be all in to do it - governments, State, Federal, local, unions, industry, think tanks, universities, multilateral development banks, all in because this is not a whole of government effort. This fastest transition since the Industrial Revolution is and must be a whole-of-society effort. And I believe we can do it. Reports like this are important people thinks to do so. So thank you very much.