Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting Bill 2017 and related bill. It is always interesting to follow a member of the Labor Party from South Australia after he gives us a lecture on energy prices. We all know that the policies that South Australia followed to give certainty to the South Australian industry have delivered the highest electricity prices in the entire world. That would take some special achievement, a special set of skills, a special set of policies, to have the highest electricity prices in the world, but that is exactly what the Labor Party have done in South Australia.

We have members of the Labor Party from South Australia coming in here and lecturing us on energy policy. Recently, we saw the disaster in South Australia with their beautiful, wonderful renewable energy target for the clean, green state of South Australia in order to keep the lights on over this coming summer: they're bringing in banks of diesel generators that will chew through 80,000 litres of diesel fuel an hour. Just think about that: 80,000 litres an hour. That's the equivalent of four large petrol tankers every single hour to keep the lights on.

Yesterday, we had the announcement of a solar thermal electricity plant. No-one in their right mind or no-one who cared about the cost of energy generation or about making sure that the investments are what is needed in this country would invest in a thermal plant. Just look at some of the recent costings, Mr Deputy Speaker, to see how completely and hopelessly uncompetitive a solar thermal plant is. These are from America's US Energy Information Administration. These are the latest numbers for the levelised cost of electricity generation for new plants entering service in 2019: advanced-cycle gas, $48.80 a megawatt hour; wind, $57 a megawatt hour; solar PV, $77 a megawatt hour. So we have $48 for gas, $57 for wind and $77 for solar PV, but for solar thermal it is $217. It is three to four times the cost of wind and five times the cost of gas. It is completely and utterly insane, if you have any concern about the cost of energy in this nation, to invest in a solar thermal plant, but this is exactly what we're seeing in SA—and we wonder why the cost of electricity in this nation is so high.

If the member for Port Adelaide is so concerned about the cost of electricity, I say: join with us, join with me, and let's freeze the subsidies. There is already $3 billion—that is, three thousand million dollars—that is going to be added to consumer bills this year, and there will be more next year and more the year after, to subsidise the renewable energy target. If the member for Port Adelaide is really concerned, let's freeze that target. If we want policy certainty, let's give some policy certainty to industry and freeze that target, because it is adding an incredible $3 billion annually. And they are only the direct subsidies. Of course, there are all the hidden, indirect subsidies. There's the additional cost of distortion in the market. If we want certainty, we know the way forward.

But the market can't have certainty. The paralysis is because anyone that invests, whether it be in coal-fired generation or gas-fired generation, needs to get a return for at least 20 to 30 years and they are terrified that in those next 20 to 30 years a mad, crazy, green, Left Labor government will come in and pull the rug from underneath them. That is why the investment is not occurring in this country. That is why we are punishing consumers with such high electricity prices.

The member for Port Adelaide complained in his speech about Australia's emissions from electricity being much higher than America's. There's a simple reason for that. The Americans have a thing called nuclear power. If we want to match America's emissions in our electricity sector, maybe we should copy them in having the same percentage of nuclear power plants. Maybe we should encourage more drilling for gas, like the Americans have done, because the other reason they have lower CO2 emissions per unit of electricity generated is their gas. Yet we see Labor governments—state Labor government after state Labor government—wanting to ban any further exploration and drilling for gas.

These bills establish the compulsory collection of data on the production, refining, trade and stockholding of certain petroleum products, something that we need to make sure we are closer to our obligations under the International Energy Agency's commitments on energy fuel.

I understand there is some urgency in getting these bills to the Senate. There's one point I would like to leave on in my comments. The Labor Party want to have a Paris Agreement target of 40 per cent. That accounts for all sections across the economy. Fifteen per cent of our nation's CO2 emissions come from liquid fuels for transport and aviation. I would like any member of the Labor Party to explain to the Australian public how they will get a 40 per cent reduction in the use of our nation's liquid fuels by 2040. How are you going to get that? How will you get that in the aviation sector? How will you get that in transport? How will you get it in cars? What will you do with the price of petrol? Come and explain it to us. Put your cards on the table and explain to the Australian people how you will get a 40 per cent reduction in liquid fuel usage by 2030. They won't, because they know the havoc, the chaos and the disruption that that would cause to Australian families, industries and businesses. Instead, they'll go down the track that has caused the disaster in our electricity sector and they'll cause it in our transport sector.

I will leave my comments there. I commend these bills to the House. I call on Labor members: if you are really concerned, in your hearts, about Australian families having difficulty paying electricity bills, put aside that renewable energy target. Put aside those subsidies. Let's join as one and say that we actually care about Australian consumers' electricity bills—not some Green-left frolic of ideology and idiocy.

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