Senators Madigan and Xenophon ride to rescue of CEFC, while Greens Senator Ludlam makes a speech that should have been made by a conservative.

The future of the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation is looking more secure, at least until the end of this financial year, after Independent MP Nick Xenophon and DLP Senator John Madigan indicated their support for the green energy development bank.

It’s a slightly ironic turn of events, given both are on the record as being anti wind energy, but perhaps a sign that some politicians can look past their bugbears to see the bigger clean energy picture. Or perhaps they are attracted by the CEFC’s promise to invest in new technologies that can compete with wind.

In a speech to the Senate on Wednesday, Senator Madigan urged the government to retain the CEFC, and suggested the move to abolish it was ideologically driven.

“(The CEFC) is not providing grants to fund projects,” he said. “It is not giving away taxpayers’ money. It is a pro-industry development bank that is helping drive private and public investment in lower emission and cleaner energy technologies.

“It is helping our farmers and our manufacturers to reduce their costs and to use energy-efficient equipment. It requires borrowers to be responsible, to deliver on their project commitments and to repay their borrowings. It leverages private capital to invest in areas they might otherwise ignore, like energy generation using methane emissions from farms and industrial processes.”

Madigan also credited the CEFC with “contributing to sane, sustainable, measured investment in the short, medium and long term,” and fostering local industry development on a responsible basis. He said this compared to the “idiocy” of investing $65 billion in infrastructure to support gas exports.

But the prize for best and most impassioned Senate speech in defence of the CEFC would have to go to WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, who repeatedly pointed out the lack of Coalition Senate representatives to argue their side of the debate.

Here are some highlights from Ludlam’s speech: