Mr BAYLEY – Just on the weekend, your federal colleagues confirmed a policy position to absolutely abandon net zero. You spoke very proudly of net zero as a state achievement in 2020, you said. If we’re proud to have net zero here in Tasmania, how do you feel about your federal colleagues dumping it at the national level? Does that make you ashamed and you’re willing to condemn them for that?
Mr DUIGAN – I certainly won’t be condemning anybody. What’s really important to recognise is that the Tasmanian context is very different from the national context. All of us benefit enormously from the decisions that were made a long time ago to lean on hydropower to be our baseload generator.
We are now, very thankfully, not facing the very challenging circumstance of needing to shut down baseload generation and look at what will come next and how we’ll replace that and how we’ll do that on what are very tight time lines. With the federal Liberal Party, what they are looking at is an entirely different set of circumstances to what we are looking at, so I would make that point very clearly.
For Tasmania, we are a renewable energy powerhouse, and this is a very, very opportune time to be that.
Mr BAYLEY – Noting, of course, it was protecting forests that tipped us over the edge of net zero. But do you not acknowledge that your –
Mr DUIGAN – I would also note that things like Project Marinus, Robbins Island wind farm, are massive carbon abaters. You can’t have it both ways ‑ do we support our reserving of forests, that’s very good for our carbon accounting, but so too is Marinus, and so too is Robbins Island.
Mr BAYLEY – You’d have to acknowledge then that –
CHAIR – Order. Vica, you’ve had two questions. I want to move on, and can we please keep it relevant to Tasmania.
