In comments that would make even the Prime Minister blush, speaking last night on ABC’s 7.30 program, Energy Minister Chris Bowen declared that, “I never quite bought all the hype on green hydrogen.”

Chris Bowen has been the key architect of this technology, even releasing the Government’s so-called National Hydrogen Strategy 2024, where he stated, “Hydrogen is central to the Australian Government’s vision for a Future Made in Australia.”

Mr Bowen is on the record on countless occasions backing green hydrogen. Just a few of his choicest comments about green hydrogen include:

• 13 April 2023: Today’s release of the annual State of Hydrogen report reinforces that Australia has the foundations to become a global leader in green hydrogen.
• 23 May 2023: Now some people might think, oh, you know, is green hydrogen real, is it going to happen? Well, it’s already being manufactured right there in Gladstone …
• 18 December 2023: And if we’re going to play our role in decarbonising that is one of the key and essential roles that we can play, developing an Australian green hydrogen industry and exporting it.
• 18 January 2024: Firstly, of course, our Government wants Australia to be a hydrogen superpower, a green hydrogen superpower.
• 1 May 2024: Second, while technologies like green hydrogen will be vital – and I am very optimistic about Australia’s role in the global hydrogen supply chain – there are not yet substitutes for gas in many industrial settings.
• 20 March 2025: Hydrogen – green hydrogen, is really the only game in town when it comes to ultimately supporting the Australian and international industries as they move in the longer term to get off gas. And Australia is one of the few places in the world which can be home to a serious green hydrogen industry.
• 4 July 2025: It shows that green hydrogen does have a future in Australia. Australia is one of few countries in the world that has the capacity to develop a green hydrogen industry big enough for export.

As revealed by the Opposition last month, three regional hydrogen hubs, Townsville, Gladstone and Kwinana, have collapsed under Labor, with taxpayers left out of pocket.

Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Dan Tehan said the Energy Minister’s comments were a sick joke.

“Chris Bowen is a complete fraud,” Mr Tehan said.

“The Albanese Labor Government, at the full-throated urging of Chris Bowen, has ploughed billions of taxpayer money into green hydrogen projects that simply haven’t stacked up.

“For Chris Bowen to now turn around and claim he never ‘bought’ this green dream is an insult to the intelligence of Australians.”

To date, the Albanese Labor Government has committed:

• $6.7 billion allocated to the hydrogen production tax incentives;
• $500 million for the regional hydrogen hubs; and
• $2.25bn for Hydrogen Headstart.

ENDS

Media contact: Phil Connole M | 0417 063 605