PM: Tomorrow I'll be announcing the Government's approach to carbon pollution reduction, through the release of the Government's CPRS White Paper.
Today I'm announcing that the Government is bringing forward a half billion dollar Renewable Energy Fund to be invested over the next 18 months.
It's time for Australia to begin a solar revolution, a renewable energy revolution, and we've got to fund it for the future.
It's good for jobs. It's good for stimulus. It's good for acting on climate change, and that's what we're on about here.
We need to make this solar energy revolution, this renewable energy revolution real for households across Australia. Real for communities across Australia. And also real for businesses as well.
That's why it's good to be here today with the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, because we're co-investing in this solar farm out at Windorah.
This solar farm is a good investment, a good example of cooperation between the Queensland State Government, the Australian Government, and this local community at Windorah.
Capable of generating 120 kilowatts, this supports what is the normal winter demand for this community and it supplements the current efforts of the diesel power generators which are out here.
But the overall result is this - it reduces the use of diesel and therefore cuts back on greenhouse gas emissions.
So by our Governments co-investing in this solar farm here at Windorah, we are making contributions here at the local level on cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions.
The nation needs a solar revolution, a renewable energy revolution right across the board.
And that's the reason why we begin by bringing forward this half billion dollar investment in renewable energy into the next 18 months.
Over to you Premier.
BLIGH: This is how we beat climate change. Inch by inch. House by house. Town by town.
Today, we start moving Queensland from the sunshine state of Australia to the solar state of Australia.
We have got an abundance of sunshine, we've got plenty of land, and we've got a lot of remote communities like Windorah that need energy.
Last week Windorah became the first Queensland town to be powered by solar energy.
It's the first of a number. We'll move to Cloncurry next.
Bringing solar energy here to Windorah is the beginning of making Queensland the solar state of Australia.
We're moving from the sunshine state to the solar state. We've got many remote towns that, just like Windorah, can be using solar energy.
This is a four and a half million dollar investment between the Federal and State governments to bring solar power to remote parts of Australia. And Queensland is - where else but Queensland could put solar energy right on the world map?
PM: And just to conclude, as the Premier said, this is a nation rich in sunshine.
It's time at the beginning of the 21st century for Australia to harvest this sunshine for our renewable energy purposes.
So this solar energy revolution which we begin, this renewable revolution which we begin, will complement what the Government releases tomorrow, when I release our Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme White Paper.
Over to you folks.
JOURNALIST: Is this going to be endorsing more projects like this?
PM: The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme deals with the management of that scheme to reduce carbon intensity in the economy over time.
Obviously, what does that do? Creates more of a market opportunity for renewable energy into the future.
But we'll have more to say about renewable energy in the New Year.
JOURNALIST: This new fund, will it just be for solar or will it be for a number of alternative energy sources?
PM: It's for solar and renewable, and we are deliberately at this time bringing forward a half billion dollar fund, which is spread out at present across five years plus, into the next 18 months.
And that effectively brings forward about $450 million worth of investment in solar and renewable.
And we will have the guidelines out for the use of that very early in the New Year.
It's part of what needs to be for Australia - a solar energy revolution, a renewable revolution to complement the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
JOURNALIST: Do you know how much emissions that will save?
PM: This one here?
JOURNALIST: Your half billion dollar scheme.
PM: It depends entirely on the forms of investment which would be supported through it. But once each of those is commissioned, project by project, we'll be able to give you a number like the one which applies here at Windorah.
JOURNALIST: Do you see things like this all over Australia?
PM: Look at this technology from this great Australian company. What they've been doing is putting together some unique Australian technology in the blend of cooling systems and the array of panels that you see here before us, specifically designed for remote and hot communities.
Across the Northern Territory, there are something like three projects, with ten of these panel stands currently in existence.
They exist in South Australia. This is the first one here in Queensland.
There are many remote communities across Australia. I would think that the fund that we're talking about would be capable of supporting these projects into the future, across the nation.
BLIGH: Just by way of comparison, this project will save 300 tonnes every year of greenhouse gas emissions.
When we fully price the cost of carbon, this sort of process will become much more competitive in cost terms.
So when we see the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme paper tomorrow, when we see the Prime Minister's White Paper tomorrow, I think we'll have a much better understanding of how these sorts of projects will be competitive with more traditional forms of energy.
But I see this as the future of energy in remote Queensland.
PM: I often say about the CPRS is that it won't reduce the number of flies.
(laughs)
JOURNALIST: Will the Fund can also be used to encourage people in metropolitan areas to take up solar power?
PM: Well, the key thing through the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is to set a price for carbon in a responsible way, and secondly to encourage also other energy uses as well, including clean coal, including more solar, including more renewable energy.
But we'll have more to say about that as the year unfolds.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well a lot of work has been undertaken now between the Commonwealth and States on this very subject.
I've got to say on the question on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and certainly on the question of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, I think the nation has achieved more progress from the last 12 months, than we've seen in the last 12 years.
And that I believe is because the Government, supported by State and Territory Governments, is serious about this mission.
Necessary for the economy, necessary for jobs, and remember the green jobs that are generated out of projects like this, but necessary also to bring down greenhouse gas emissions in this, the driest continent on earth.
JOURNALIST: Can we expect a breakthrough or an agreement on feed-in tariffs next year?
PM: There is some work to be done on that. But everyone is chipping away on it.
But I said we've achieved more progress on these questions on the last 12 months, than it's been in the last 12 years.
The thing is to bring it altogether.
To bring together the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the future of solar, the future of other renewable, the future of energy efficiency, the future of clean coal, so that we have an integrated climate change strategy for the nation as well as a way of doing that responsibly which boost jobs on the way through.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned that Cloncurry is going to be a 24 hour (inaudible) next?
BLIGH: Ergon Energy currently supplies 33 remote communities throughout Queensland, mostly with diesel power.
This is a great example of converting diesel powered energy to solar powered energy.
Cloncurry will be the next town.
We'll take the learning out of Windorah and look at the next possible site in western Queensland.
We haven't picked it yet, but it's on its way.