Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Brisbane knows that the energy debate is about delivering on a detailed plan. Labor in government, and even in opposition today, have absolutely no plan for storage, for dispatchability or for how the transition to Australia's targets will actually take place month to month and year to year. Their lack of planning caused electricity prices to nearly double.

This government is delivering on its plan. Last week, the Prime Minister called on the biggest electricity retailers to ensure that more households and small businesses are moved on to better plans with lower prices. The government is taking action to redivert some of our abundant gas supplies back to meet our country's needs. That's already bringing down the price of gas and, therefore, the price of electricity right now. This government started implementing recommendations from the recently released Finkel report, focused on the engineering and the economics that we need to help guarantee the reliability and the security of our electricity supply. This government is also removing the ability of energy companies to use limited merits review—lawfare, effectively—to undermine the pricing decisions of the regulator. When it comes to future planning, the government are continuing to invest significantly in R&D. And, of course, we're building the biggest new addition to storage and generation capacity that Australia has seen in a very long time: Snowy hydro 2.0. We're getting on with the job.

See this speech in context