Tony Jones speaks with Senator Ian Campbell
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 25/10/2006
Reporter: Tony Jones
Transcript: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1773739.htm
Hi Windows Video: http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200610/r112838_354002.asx
Extract:
IAN CAMPBELL, ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: "My strong conviction has been, for a couple of years now, that Australia should be and will be the leader in solar technologies in the world. That is already happening, although people on the Left of politics keep putting down our achievements. You can't beat going to Xen Zhen Province and seeing the largest solar photovoltaic installation in Asia, built using and solar cells made at Homebush by BP Solar, and installed by an Australian company in China.
Further Extract:
"I believe that if we're not the top solar country now, we're on track to be that. But I don't want to mislead people by thinking that solar is the only answer; nuclear is certainly not the only answer, nor is solar. It is going to require this portfolio approach and you can't put all your eggs in one basket because you have some ideological attachment to one technology. The problem is so serious that you must have a portfolio approach and you must ensure that your natural and national comparative advantages are pursued with vigour, and that's what this Government is doing with its multi-billion dollar funds."
My comments:
Let us review Senator Campbell's comments in this interview.
First, let's correct a few factual errors. There is no province called Xen Zhen, or any variation thereof. The spelling is likely an error in the transcript service for the ABC.
There is a modern high-tech city called ShenZhen in southern China, in Guangdong Province. It was the first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) established in China, in 1980 under former paramount leader of CCP Deng Xiaoping. ShenZhen is now China's largest port. That is where this solar array has been installed. The Green Garden solar project undertaken by BP Solar is a 1MW installation spread across the roofs of four iconic buildings in Shenzhen's International Garden and Flower Expo Park.
Australian BP Solar in Shenzhen
BP Solar Australia undertook manufacturing of just over two thirds of the panels used. From what I can ascertain, they commissioned and jointly project managed the installation.
The actual installation was undertaken by Beijing Corona Science and Technology Co. Ltd, which is a Chinese company as far as I can ascertain, not an Australian company as claimed by Senator Campbell.
One of the first things the Howard government did upon taking office was to drastically slash funding for renewable energy initiatives that were established under the Keating government.
The Senator talks of us being on track to be the top solar country. If only it were true. I will produce a profile of the various solar countries by amount of PV generation installed soon. My gut already tells me Australia is not near to the top of the list.
People "on the left of politics" are dismayed that they have been advocating for Australia's leadership in renewable energy for over twenty years but it has taken so long to percolate into the consciousness of those who have consistently defended BIG dirty polluting energy. Now they are finally starting to wake up and look at what's needed.
Campbell may praise the virtues of our involvement in a project in China where they have a renewable energy target of 15%, but why does his Liberal government still only have a pathetically low renewable energy target of 2%?
The big irony about Senator Campbell talking up the achievements of Australian companies in China is of course that because Australia has not ratified Kyoto, Australian companies are not eligible to be more than 49% equity partners in such projects. Senator Campbell faced criticism to this effect from Australian renewable energy company Roaring Forties, who said they were only able to be a 49% stakeholder in the $300M wind farm project they were buiding in China, due to Australia not being a signatory to Kyoto.
Roaring Forties also cancelled two wind farms in South Australia and Tasmania earlier this year over an alleged lack of Government support for renewable energy initiatives.
BIG coal, gas, oil and so forth as the means for providing power have been the mainstay of the Howard government's energy policies and only now with great pressure from the general public and progressive political organisations, pushed along by Al Gore's "An Inconvienent Truth" is only just now FINALLY starting to begin to get behind sustainable energy alternatives.
Anthony Albanese, the Federal Labor Shadow Minister for the Environment points out why he thinks Senator Campbell's position is hypocrisy here:
The Howard government also has an Industry Minister, Senator Ian Macfarlane, who dismissed "An Inconvenient Truth" as "only entertainment".
Contrast this with the Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown, who to a massive cheering from the crowd at the Walk Against Warming in Sydney on November 4th, when he called for a target of a 60% reduction in Greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
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