Senator John McGahon- speech from 9 Feb 2023

Thank you very much. Minister, thanks for coming to the House. I think what the concept of this bill really is, it's contingency planning if some sort of god-awful thing happens that is totally unforeseen. So it's prudent from that perspective. It's prudent from the perspective that over the last year, I think all governments, not only of Europe, but the world, are more focused and concerned about energy security than ever before. And again, this is another prudent measure to add into our arsenal the, you know, it's another prudent measure to help us with energy security. should anything unforeseen ever happen when it comes to oil or the restriction of oil coming into this country. So I think from that perspective, it's really just a case of the government being prudent for something that may happen in an emergency situation or a disaster type situation. And to be clear about it, that it really would be something, you know, it would have to be something, it would have to be something hugely, hugely substantial to actually happen that would be affecting governments right across the European continent for this legislation to actually be enacted, not enacted in law, but for it actually to have to be put into use by the minister. But all being said, I think it's a prudent piece of legislation and that's why it's important that we have the minister on a statutory footing, being able to react to what could be a very passage, a very fast paced situation at some point in the future. So from that prospect, I think the legislation is good and I think it's prudent from that point. It leads into a wider discussion as well over the last year about two things. First of all about energy security and also about how it really showed us the need to speed up our transition to renewable energy by the end of the decade. And the two things about that, what I've always said when we've talked about the kind of cost of living crisis and the energy crisis over the last couple of months is what we've tried to do as a government is that we were never going to be able to insulate people fully from the effects of this energy kind of crisis. But what we have tried to do as a government is to insulate people as best as possible. And I think we've done a very good job at actually insulating people from that, whether it's through the electricity credits, whether it's through the fuel allowance that Senator O'Reilly took, which is really, really substantial funding going back into people's pockets. And we've been able to do that because of the prudent economic management of this country over the last six, seven, eight, nine, ten years. When we come to speeding up our removal to renewable energy, again, it just highlights why we have to get to our targets that we want to get to by 2030 and further on even quicker than ever before. Because the sooner we move our energy economy and our energy systems over to renewable energy, where the vast majority of this country is powered through renewable energy, then what's happening in Europe, what's happening with gas, what's happening with oil, you know, it won't be something to be hugely concerned about. And that has to be the end goal. And it's kind of really exciting when you think about it, that that's where we're going to get to, that the renewable energy that we're going to be so energy independent, for want of a better word, that the energy that we produce in this country is not only going to be able to fuel and drive our country, we're going to be able to be a net exporter as well, like producing, like exporting wind energy to other countries, for example. And it takes us away from an interdependency on gas and oil that, while no one a couple of years ago, even, I know we're approaching the anniversary now of the Ukrainian invasion, but if you were to talk about war on the European continent only 12 to 18 months ago, you know, nobody saw it coming. And we don't know what could come along in the future either. So the sooner we escalate our transition over to renewable energy, the greater energy security that we as a country will have overall. But just to conclude, the final concept of this bill, like I said, it's contingency planning. It's putting something in the back drawer should an unforeseen circumstance ever happens when it comes to oil. And from that prospect, I think it's prudent. And I'd just be keen to hear your views on that. Thanks. Thank you.