Parliamentary Speeches
BIOFUEL (ETHANOL CONTENT) BILL 2007 ( 26/06/2007)
Mr DONALD PAGE (Ballina) [8.33 p.m.]: I support the position taken by the Leader of the Nationals. I have spoken both inside and outside this House on the need to support alternative renewable sources of energy, including biofuels, specifically ethanol. Whilst the bill purports to mandate a minimum of 2 per cent ethanol volumetric content as a percentage of the total volume of petrol sold in New South Wales from 1 October 2007 onwards, in reality there are so many escape clauses in the bill as to render it bordering on tokenistic.
It seems that the Government, having dragged its feet in relation to promoting more use of ethanol as a fuel for our motor vehicles, has decided it needs to be seen to be doing something when in fact it has done, and is doing, very little in relation to ethanol promotion. The mandate of 2 per cent is flexible and can be switched on or off, depending on market conditions such as the price of ethanol, the price of grain, water constraints and any other external shocks. Notwithstanding that, I do not oppose the legislation because at least it is a step in the right direction, albeit a small one.
The record shows that the National and Liberal parties have always backed the expansion of the ethanol industry. We introduce legislation to mandate the use of E10 in the New South Wales government fleet wherever practical. We also allocated money to help service stations refit their tanks so that E10 could be available. We support ethanol because it burns cleaner than petrol, and this of course helps to reduce greenhouse gases; it reduces our dependence on imported oil, which will become an increasingly important issue in the future; and it will create hundreds of jobs in regional New South Wales through the growing of biomass and its processing at ethanol plants throughout regional areas.
In 1991 I saw first-hand the benefits of ethanol production in Brazil. At that time around 60 per cent of the entire car fleet of Brazil ran on 100 per cent ethanol. I saw first-hand how the ethanol production industry, using predominantly sugarcane as the source of biomass, had strengthened the regional economy and living standards of ordinary Brazilians. I believe there is an enormous potential for ethanol production in Australia, not only in its own right but to complement the addressing of salinity problems in some areas.
The biomass—trees or whatever—can be grown to drop the water table and reduce salinity levels. Later on, some of those trees—but not all, of course—can be harvested for ethanol production. It is a win-win situation. I note a major ethanol plant is coming on stream soon at Gunnedah and that it is expected to employ about 50 people directly and up to 350 people indirectly, injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into the local community over the next decade. These types of projects can be replicated across the State, indeed across the nation. In summary, whilst the legislation is deficient because it is not strong enough, it is better than nothing, and I do not oppose it.
