March 2024 E-Newsletters

I am thrilled to be part of a team in which 44% of Cabinet and 53% of the Albanese Government are women. Our government is committed to advancing gender equality for the benefit of women and men, and celebrated news in late February that the gender pay gap in Australia has dropped from 14.1% when we came to office in May 2022 to 12%, the lowest in Commonwealth history. Last week we released the data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency publishing gender pay gaps for 5000 private companies with 100+ employees operating in Australia. This only came about as a result of legislation we passed 12 months ago forcing businesses to publish their gender pay gaps. With an average gender pay gap of 19%, corporate Australia has work to do and we have put them on notice. And of course, Labor’s cost of living tax cuts will give 90% of taxpaying women, all 5.8 million, a bigger tax cut than they would have received under the Morrison regime. This has happened because closing the gender pay gap, boosting women’s employment and getting wages moving is a deliberate design feature of this Labor Government. 

To top it off, yesterday Minister for Finance and Minister for Women Katy Gallagher announced that, from 1 July 2025, parents receiving paid parental leave will receive an additional 12% paid into their superannuation. While both men and women will benefit from this policy, women are far more likely to take parental leave, and retire on average with 25% less super. This change will ensure that women are not punished for the time they spend raising their kids.

ASEAN leaders gathered in Melbourne over 4 to 6 March for an ASEAN–Australia Special Summit, celebrating 50 years of ASEAN–Australia dialogue. 

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established in 1967 and has ten member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Australia became ASEAN’s first Dialogue Partner in 1974. 

Higgins residents voted for a government that would take climate change and clean energy seriously. Our community will be interested to hear about the concrete climate action being taken by the Albanese Government including cooperation with ASEAN countries. 
 

Our government is laying out the roadmap for our nation to become a renewable energy superpower. To deliver jobs and industries for our communities, to bring down the cost of living with renewable energy, both in the short term and the long term, in the country and the city. As someone with an electrified home, I need no persuasion on the benefits of solar to the hip pocket and for energy security. Now my mission and that of our Government, is to make this a reality for millions of Australians. 

One of the first steps our Government took when elected was enshrining in legislation our new target of 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030, along with a commitment to net zero by 2050. And to reach these goals, we have also set a target of reaching 82 per cent renewable electricity by 2030. We are not arguing about the 'why' but rather, focused on the 'how'. How can we get to net zero faster? What policy settings are needed in human capital (skills, skills, skills) and in industrial capability?

We’re approaching the clean energy transformation with eyes wide open, which means working more closely with our regional and international partners including the US, Europe and Southeast Asia.  

Analysis by the International Energy Agency shows Southeast Asia will have the second highest growth in energy demand until 2050 and Australia could be part of the solution, becoming a net exporter of energy. The Superpower moniker is there for us to grasp provided we stay the course. 

On nuclear ... 
 
I have no ideological problem with nuclear but in Australia it is being left in the dust by low-cost renewables. As a member of the Parliamentary Friends of Nuclear Science, I had the pleasure of visiting ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) in Sydney last year and marvelled at the role of nuclear science in everything from carbon dating to microplastic detection and medical radioisotope manufacturing. The nuclear medical tests I used to order could not be possible without this world class facility.  

On the topic of energy generation, however, nuclear is an uneconomic fantasy for Australia described by experts as implausible. There are no small modular reactors (SMRs) in commercial operation outside of China and Russia. Pulling out of the race to build SMRs in the US was NuScale, after delays and cost blow outs led to a collapse of its share price and the flight of investors. A conventional nuclear facility being built in the UK has been beset with delays and cost blow-outs. Over 31 billion pounds for the Hinkler C nuclear plant in the UK hardly inspires confidence. Imagine going to the Australian taxpayer and asking for an overdraft of $60 billion minimum? And where would you put it?  
 

‘To start, we will want the reassurance of seeing them [SMRs] work safely and well in Europe or North America before deploying them here. After that, we would need to beef up the regulatory system, find the first site, license the first operator, establish a waste-management system, run the environmental and safety regulatory gamut, and respond in the streets and in the courts to the inevitable protests. It is hard to imagine first operation before 2040. Given this time frame, we must continue our investment in renewables.’
- Alan Finkel, Former Chief Scientist, AFR, 2 August 2023
 

Resist the spin from the nuclear cheer squad, it is a distraction designed to slow our transition and chain us to coal. It was telling that no one in a packed audience for Minister Chris Bowen’s Higgins Climate Forum last year, asked a single question on nuclear energy. Why? Because they know it is a non-starter for Australia and we cannot waste time after a decade of denial and delay by the Liberals and Nationals. The faster we transition to renewables, the faster we end our toxic marriage to coal. 

We're all grappling with the same challenges. Increasing generation capacity to meet  growing demand, accelerating renewables to reduce emissions, deliver cleaner, cheaper energy for our people, and improving grid reliability. 

For shared risks, we need a shared approach. It means taking communities in the regions along with us. in fact, they will have most to gain from the net zero transition. Farmers co-existing and benefiting from wind farms? I’ve seen it first-hand!

In our neighbourhood, we are working across ASEAN to support the climate and clean energy transformation. 

• We have announced a $200 million climate and infrastructure partnership with Indonesia. 

• We are mapping EV supply chains and building new business to business links.  

• We're also stepping up climate cooperation with Vietnam through our $150 million package to support Vietnam's energy transition. 

• We have signed the world first Singapore Australia Green Economy Agreement, integrating trade, economic and climate objectives as no two countries have done before.  

• We are exploring supply chain opportunities across green hydrogen and ammonia, green metals, refined critical minerals and clean technology manufacturing, including battery and solar supply chains. 

• In October last year, we announced the Placements and Internships Pilot Program for Young Professionals. In the pilot phase of the program – to be launched this year – 100 people will be placed in sectors that support Australia’s strategic objectives, including clean energy and the digital economy. Placements and internships will be between 6 and 12 months, giving young professionals from Australia the opportunity to work across Southeast Asia, and for young professionals from Southeast Asia to gain experience in Australia. 

Most Southeast Asian countries have announced net zero emissions and carbon neutrality goals. And collectively, ASEAN has committed to 35 per cent installed renewable capacity by 2025. That is a huge economic opportunity for Australian businesses, innovators and manufacturers. 

Many current ASEAN–Australia initiatives are a result of Nicholas Moore’s report, available at: Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 (dfat.gov.au). 

• We announced a $2 billion fund to boost Australian trade and investment in Southeast Asia.  

• Australia will launch Investment Deal Team hubs in Singapore, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City, with additional Deal Team representatives across the ASEAN region. The Deal Teams will work with governments and business in Southeast Asia to identify and facilitate outbound investment opportunities for Australian investors. The $70.2 million Deal Teams involve experts from Austrade, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Export Finance Australia (EFA). 

• Details of the first business mission under the $19.2 million Australia-Southeast Asia Business Exchange (SEABX) were also announced by the Albanese Government at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit. The first mission will visit Singapore and Malaysia in April this year and focus on driving trade and investment in the clean energy transition. 

'ASEAN is where the action is, and we want a bigger slice of the action for our workers and for our businesses and what this new investment facility is all about is making sure that we can turbocharge that two‑way investment which is so important to the region, but also to our country, its employers and its workers. We recognise that when the region is more secure and more prosperous, our people here in Australia are more secure and more prosperous as well.'
- Treasurer, Jim Chalmers 

ASEAN is not just about strengthening our regional alliances but also about capturing commercial opportunities in the fast-growing economies of Southeast Asia. Working in our mutual interest, working towards a shared goal of net zero will be the foundations of our future prosperity. 

Labor knows that grocery prices are putting Australians under pressure. That’s why the Albanese Government has asked the ACCC to investigate the supermarket sector. 

This is your opportunity to tell the consumer watchdog how supermarket pricing affects you and your family.

Have your say at https://www.accc.gov.au/inquiries-and-consultations/supermarkets-inquiry-2024-25/consumer-survey