Australia has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redefine its place in the world through the production of renewable energy. I share a vision with thousands of Aussies who believe we can get Australia to 100 per cent renewable energy. This transition not only benefits the planet – it presents one of the greatest economic opportunities for our country in terms of job creation and economic growth over the next 10 to 20 years.

More where this came from: 100 per cent renewable energy is not a pipe dream. Credit:Peter Rae

This isn’t a pipe dream. Australia is blessed with abundant renewable resources. We have huge open spaces drenched in sun and vast expanses of coastline exposed to powerful winds. If you landed on this planet tomorrow and needed to generate solar and wind power, you’d choose Australia. And you’d be spoilt with choice from sunburnt Western Australia to the windy Great Australian Bight.

Moving our energy generation entirely to renewables is an aspirational and achievable national goal, of which we could be justifiably proud. But we can do better than that. We should be aiming to turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower that exports energy into Asia.

Australians are optimistic people. Let’s lean into the positivity of what could be instead of focusing on the negatives. Australia has a strong track record in innovation – we’re famous for our ingenuity. Take Cochlear, wi-fi, Google Maps – all innovations created in our backyard. We already have an incredible track record of grand engineering projects dating back to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Snowy hydro scheme. We can do it again.