The transition to net zero is critical to future prosperity, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told the second annual forum on Australia’s Economic Outlook.
He claimed it would build the country’s economic sovereignty and strengthen its energy security so that the country was “no longer the last link in the global supply chain.”
He told business leaders that the federal government’s Future Made in Australia programme aimed to transform the nation into a “renewable energy superpower” and equip the industry to produce onshore by “investing in clean energy to power a new generation of advanced manufacturing.”
He pointed out that 92 percent of the world economy is committed to net zero, including 97 percent of Australia’s trading partners.
“For the global economy, net zero is the future. And our choice is simple—either we shape that future, or the future shapes us.
“Right now, we are in the early stages of the most significant global economic change since the industrial revolution—and also the most clearly signposted,” he said. “By embracing clean energy: solar power, wind power, green hydrogen.”
According to the International Energy Agency, without any change to current policies, mineral demand for clean energy technologies will double between now and 2030, the prime minister said.
“[But] if countries continue to ramp up their efforts to meet net zero, demand will triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2040.
Albanese Says Nuclear Power in Australia a ‘Fantasy’
He dismissed the Liberal-National Opposition’s alternative plan for Australia’s energy future as “a nuclear fantasy dreamed up to delay real action on climate change.”Rather than simply mining resources and exporting them unprocessed as in the past, he predicted international demand for products manufactured in Australia would increase.
“Because we are moving to a world where the emissions profile of a product will become an increasingly significant consideration and cost factor,” he explained. “That’s part of the new global competition we are in—one that puts a premium on ... co-locating extraction, processing and manufacturing, minimising transport costs and emissions.”
He cited Port Hedland, in the north of Western Australia, as containing processing opportunities.
While he admitted that every nation is seeking to become more economically resilient, he said this meant “diversifying their supply chains rather than becoming entirely self-reliant” and buying “from a broader range of partners, rather than making it themselves.”
He said Australia, too, needed to “deepen and diversify” its trade links to avoid being reliant on any one country or commodity.
“Winning the race for these new opportunities isn’t about cutting wages, or cutting corners. It’s about safe, skilled and sustainable work.
