"Everyone recognises that for the foreseeable future . . . we are going to be relying on coal for most of our stationary energy, most of our power station energy," he said.

"The critical thing is to clean it up and to do so efficiently and cost-effectively and that is where Australian technology is vital."

Mr Turnbull, who visited Newcastle yesterday, inspected Crucible Carbon and its bio-char technology at the company's Mayfield West research and development centre.

Mr Turnbull's visit came a day after he spoke at the Young Liberals conference in Canberra about the Coalition's new climate change policy, the Green Carbon Initiative.

Investing in technology such as the bio-char machine is part of that policy.

He said Crucible Carbon and its bio-char technology had been neglected by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Federal Government.

The machine turns forest waste, straw and wood chips into charcoal that is then returned to the soil. The charcoal improves the quality of the soil and is one way of storing carbon.

"The technology we've just been looking at is innovative, it's exciting, it's Australian," Mr Turnbull said.